Operation Downfall
In April 1945, Somervell sent him to the Philippines to report on preparations for Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan. The Supreme Allied Commander in the South West Pacific, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, asked Styer to become head of a logistics organisation for Operation Downfall. Styer accepted the offer, but when he returned in May 1945 to assume the post, he found it was not what he had accepted. Instead, he became the commanding general of Army Forces, Western Pacific, a command co-equal with Lieutenant General Robert C. Richardson, Jr.'s Army Forces, Middle Pacific, which included logistical units, but also combat forces, while the planning responsibilities remained with MacArthur's General Headquarters.