What was the planned Allied invasion of southern Kyushu called in the 1945 plan to invade Japan?
Answer
Operation Olympic
Answer
Operation Olympic
The planned Allied invasion of southern Kyushu was called Operation Olympic.
Olympic was the first stage of Operation Downfall, the proposed Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands. It was scheduled to begin on 1 November 1945 and aimed to seize the southern part of Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island.
The captured territory would have provided airfields and staging areas for the second stage, Operation Coronet. Coronet was planned for spring 1946 and would have attacked the Kantō Plain near Tokyo on Honshu. Together, the two operations formed the central invasion concept developed by Allied planners.
Operation Olympic was canceled after Japan accepted surrender terms in August 1945. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet entry into the war against Japan, and the Japanese government’s decision to surrender all changed the strategic situation. Olympic therefore remained a planned operation rather than a battle that actually occurred.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026