What was the code name for the planned first phase of Operation Downfall against southern Kyushu?

Operation Olympic was the planned first phase of Operation Downfall against southern Kyushu.

The operation was scheduled to begin in November 1945. Allied forces intended to seize beachheads and airfields in southern Kyushu, using Okinawa as a major staging area. Those bases would have supported the later invasion of the Japanese mainland near Tokyo.

Olympic was not an alternative name for the entire invasion plan. Operation Downfall was the overall campaign, while Olympic was its Kyushu phase. The second phase, Operation Coronet, was planned for Honshu in spring 1946.

Japan’s surrender in August 1945 canceled Olympic before it began. The planned operation remains important because it shows that Allied leaders were preparing for a prolonged and extremely costly campaign if Japan did not capitulate.