Quote:
Originally Posted by ShadoWarrior
For Operation Olympic, the first stage of Operation Downfall, it was estimated that there would be a quarter million to a half a million US casualties, over 100,000 of which would be fatalities. And if the operations took longer than anticipated, casualties could/would climb upwards of one and a quarter million. Those were the estimates by US military officers. The estimates by outside (civilian) consultants were about 4-5 times higher!
Plans were also being made to drop up to 15 atomic bombs on and behind the invasion beaches, with troops following just 48 hours later. Needless to say, this would not have been very good for the invading troops.
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Would have been some invasion force all the same;
20 Aircraft Carriers, 36 Escort Carriers, 20 Battleships, 52 Cruisers, 460 Destroyers and Escorts, 5 USAAC Air Forces including 1,000 B-29s, 1 Armoured Division, 9 Infantry Divisions, 1 Airborne Division and 3 Marine Divisions. Plus 6 British Aircraft Carriers and the rest of the British Pacific Fleet, 22 RAF Bomber Squadrons and 20 Australian fighter squadrons.