[dragoon500ly]

I was reading the other day yet another book on WWII in which the author tried to put forward what the Japanese should have done (with him in charge...I think).

There were two points that he made that left me sitting in my armchair, laughing.

The first point was that the Japanese should have invaded Australia. And the second was that they should have invaded the Hawaiian islands.

Sorry, had to stop and laugh after the last one.

Of all the world powers, Japan entered WWII with the greatest disadvantage. Now to be sure, Japan had a fairly modern military, but Japan, as an island nation, relied upon imports to fuel her military machine. And she didn't have the merchant hulls to do so. As much as 40% of her imports were carried in foreign-flagged vessels and that stopped when the Pacific erupted in war.

Since the Japanese started the war with a shortfall in merchant hulls, how then could the Japanese support Pacific conquests, not to mention a major war in China. The short answer is that they didn't.

The Imperial Japanese Army committed less than a dozen division-equivalents to the Pacific. Their primary focus was on the war with China and the advance into India/Burma. This was were the IJA sent its best troops and equipment. Indeed, right up to the very end of the war, most of the IJA was stationed in China.

From this standpoint alone, any Japanese invasion of Australia would have lacked the troop strength and the logistic support needed to capture and hold it.

So what about the invasion of Hawaii?

As part of the post Midway planning, the IJA committed two divisions for follow-up operations in Hawaii. A Japanese occupation of the island chain would have seriously hampered US operations until they were retaken. And the fall of Hawaii, would have had serious implications for the "Europe First" doctrine.

The island of Oahu offered the best ground for conducting military operations, as well as being home to the military installations that the Japanese would have needed to maintain control. On Oahu, the US Army already had two infantry divisions (the 24th and 25th), plus the Hawaiian National Guard, various support and Army Air Force troops, as well as numerous Navy and Marine personnel...as well as some very elaborate coastal defenses.

Shortly after Pearl Harbor, the US moved the entire 27th Infantry Division (an older 'square' division with four regiments) as well as several battalions of tanks, artillery and antiaircraft guns. By March 1942, there were neary 75,000 combat troops as well as over 100,000 support troops on Oahu. Not to mention lots of new aircraft.

In order to cover the invasion, Japan needed Midway...too be sure, bombers could have reached Pearl Harbor, but Midway is a small atoll and could handle, at most, some 100-150 aircraft. Primary air support would have come from the IJN's First Air Fleet made up of their six first line carriers. These would have had trouble going up against an alerted American air defense network, especially with the Pacific Fleet's three carriers lurking in the wings. Such an operation would have tied up even more of an already stretched thin merchant marine.

It is doubtful that Japan could have supported either operation.

So to those budding authors that want to write "historical fiction", please, take the time to do a little research.....