What was the planned Allied invasion of Japan’s southern island Kyushu called in Operation Downfall?

The planned Allied invasion of Japan’s southern island Kyushu was called Operation Olympic.

Operation Olympic was the first part of Operation Downfall, the proposed Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands. It was scheduled for November 1945 and aimed to seize the southern third of Kyushu, creating airfields and staging areas for later operations.

The second part, Operation Coronet, was planned for spring 1946 and would have targeted the Kanto Plain near Tokyo on Honshu. Together, the two operations represented the planned invasion strategy if Japan did not surrender.

Operation Olympic was never launched. Japan surrendered after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war, and the invasion of Japanese-held Manchuria. Estimates of possible casualties varied widely, which is why claims about the invasion’s hypothetical cost should be treated as estimates rather than established totals.