What was the name of the proposed Allied plan to invade Japan's home islands in 1945?

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Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan to invade Japan's home islands in 1945.

The plan was never carried out because Japan surrendered after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war, and the invasion of Japanese-held Manchuria. Downfall would have been an enormous campaign against the Japanese home islands.

Downfall had two major stages. Operation Olympic was planned for an invasion of southern Kyushu in November 1945. Operation Coronet was planned for the Kanto Plain near Tokyo in spring 1946.

Operation Overlord was a different plan: the Allied invasion of German-occupied western Europe in 1944. Olympic and Coronet were components of Downfall, not alternative names for the entire Japan invasion plan.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026

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