Operation Olympic, the first stage of the planned Operation Downfall, targeted Kyushu.
The proposed invasion was intended to begin on November 1, 1945, by landing on the southern third of Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island. Allied planners hoped to seize airfields and staging areas there for the later invasion of Honshu, the largest Japanese island.
Olympic was designed as a massive amphibious operation supported by naval gunfire, carrier aircraft, and land-based air forces. The planned landings would have taken place at several sites, including Miyazaki, Ariake, and Kushikino. Okinawa, already captured by the Allies, was intended to serve as a staging base rather than the main target of Olympic.
Operation Olympic was never carried out. Japan’s surrender in August 1945 followed the atomic bombings, the Soviet entry into the war against Japan, and the political decision to accept the Allied terms. The second stage of Downfall, Operation Coronet, would have attacked the Kanto Plain near Tokyo in March 1946.