Operation Downfall

Operation Silverback

United Kingdom

Australia

China

France

Federation

Aram Zhukov

David McDonnell

Yuri Ilyin

Sashenka Tikhonova

Oleg Sidorenko

Aram Komulakov

Georgy Zhukov

Boris Shaposhnikov

Aleksandr Vasilevsky

Semyon Timoshenko

Aleksei Antonov

Ivan Konev

Ivan Bagramyan

Konstantin Rokossovsky

Vasily Chuikov

Nikita Khrushchev

Kostya Danilov

Konstantin Bandanov

Vanya Shvernik

Lev Filipchenko

Konstantin Bandanov

Yoshijirō Umezu

British Armed Forces

Royal Federation Army

**Operation Downfall** (also known as **Operation Red Star** by the Soviet Union)is the codename given to the Allied invasion of Japan at the end of World War II. In the alternate universe presented in the TACITUS saga, since the Manhattan Project failed, West Rome had no choice but to invade the Japanese home islands. This decision was soon backed by the Soviet Union, who still wanted retribution for the death of Stalin, the international organization known as Raven (which saw Imperial Japan as a threat to their own interests) and the United Kingdom, which wanted retribution for the assassination of Winston Churchill.

## American side of the Battle

### Operation Olympic

Operation Olympic, the invasion of Kyūshū, began on X-Day, on Novembet 1, 1945. The combined Allied naval armada (the largest ever assembled), included ships from both the US, French, British, and Australian Navies.  Fourteen US "division-equivalents" (13 divisions and two regimental combat teams) participated in the intiial landings, which was similar to D-Day. The Allies used Okinawa as a staging area to launch Operation Olympic.

To protect Olympic, another operation, codenamed Operation Pastel, was used. The Americans falsely portrayed a threat of an American-led invasion against ports in China via attacks on Formosa, along with help from the British, French and Australians.

While the Japanese had their backs turned, America activated its satellite weapon, codenamed *Asgard'**,***and laid waste to Kyūshū, destroying military bases across the island in an attempt to cripple the Japanese military.

The Japanese fell for this and were left totally unprepared for the Allied invasion of the Southern Japanese island of Kyūshū. The Imperial Japanese Army scrambled to repel the invaders.

To further cover the Allied advance, the responsibility of providing air support was given to the  Seventh, Fifth, and Thirteenth Air Forces. They supplemented the Asgard kill-sat as it laid waste to Japanese airfields and transportation arteries on Kyushu and Southern Honshu, as well as gaining and maintaining air superiority over the beaches.

Additionally, bomber groups in the Eighth Air Force were reassigned to Okinawa, to conduct strategic bombing raids in coordination with the Twentieth.

Prior to the main invasion, the offshore islands of Tanegashima, Yakushima, and the Koshikijima Islands were captured following an American amphibious landing.

When the invasion began, the Sixth United States Army invaded Kyūshū at three points:  Miyazaki, Ariake, and Kushikino. While Miyazaki was virtually undefended, Ariake, with its nearby good harbor, was heavily defended.

After months of heavy fighting, the southernmost third of Kyūshū was captured. It was time for Operation Coronet.

### Operation Coronet

Operation Coronet was the invasion of Honshu. This was a joint operation between the West Roman Armed Forces and the Royal Federation Army. It occurred on March 1, 1946. It was bigger than Olympic, with with up to 40 divisions earmarked for both the initial landing and follow-up. Unit 93, the special operations unit of the Federation, augmented the American military divisions, invading at Kujūkuri Beach, on the Bōsō Peninsula, while the Eighth Army, utilizing air support from the Royal Federation Air Force and ASGARD, invaded at Hiratsuka, on Sagami Bay. From there, it was a race to Tokyo.

## Soviet side of the battle

### Operation Red Star

The Soviets had their own invasion plan alongside the Americans**.** By tis time, the Soviets had successfully driven the Imperial Japanese Army out of Manchuria and was now using the former Japanese-occupied nation of Korea as a staging area for their own invasion of Japan, codenamed **Operation Red Star**. This side of the battle targeted the northern island of Hokkaido. Unlike the Americans, which launched an amphibious invasion, the Soviets invaded primarily by air.

This battle was even more brutal than the American side of the battle, mostly because both the Soviets and the Japanese absolutely slaughtered each other during the invasion of Hokkaido. Soviet soldier Yuri Belov described it as a "bloodbath", with the Soviets being absolute "savages" to the Japanese, with Yuri's team witnessing their comrades slaughtering civilians at one point, even those that were not armed. At one point, Yuri witnessed his men shooting up a school full of young children, apparently seeking to "avenge Stalin." The event changed him so much that it eventually led to his discharge from the Soviet Army at the end of the war.

The brutality of the Soviet Armed Forces swept Hokkaido as it smashed through the Imperial Japanese lines. Along with the Americans, the Soviets were racing to Tokyo. However, unbeknownst to the Soviets, the West Romans would reach Tokyo first.

## Battle of Tokyo

Operation Downfall climaxed in the **Battle of Tokyo**, AKA Operation Silverback, a full-blown assault on the capital city of the country in order to take down the Japanese emperor. Here, both the United States and the Soviet Union fought tooth and nail against the Japanese forces, killing both soldiers and civilian militia alike. The Volunteer Fighting Corps, civilian armed defense units set up by the Japanese in anticipation of the invasion, fought like never before. Even the Soviets were surprised at the brutaility of the civilian militia groups. Though weapons, training and uniforms were generally lacking, with many being armed with nothing better than antiquated firearms, molotov cocktails, longbows, swords, knives, bamboo or wooden spears, and even clubs and truncheons, the civilian militia proved to be a formidable foe, with many on the West Roman and Soviet sides describing them as "Oriential Savages."

The Battle of Tokyo lasted from May 15 to June 19 of 1946 and when it was over, the city had fallen to the West Romans and Emperor Hirohito had been executed. The Imperial Empire of Japan was no more.

## Legacy

The battle was the bloodiest battle since the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. For the West Romans, there was an estimated 1.7–4 million casualties and for the Soviets, casualties ran in the billions. On the Japanese side, five to ten million were killed, millions more were wounded, and billions were missing. Most of these deaths on the Japanese side were caused by ASGARD bombarding the island to provide support for the invading Americans and their Soviet allies.

The entire operation was considered a black eye in America's history: millions of lives lost as a result of the Imperial Japanese Empire refusing to surrender, even if threatened with the use of ASGARD against the nation. People the world over would remember this battle as "the most suicidal campaign" in military history.

## Trivia

* Alexandra Kendrick did not participate in this battle, but only heard about it from Yuri Belov and friends she had in the military that survived the battle
* This is by far the biggest operation in human history.
* This is also the first battle in which civilian militiamen took part in the battle.