What was the planned first stage of Operation Downfall, aimed at southern Kyūshū?

Operation Olympic was the planned first stage of Operation Downfall, aimed at southern Kyūshū. Allied planners intended to launch it in November 1945 if Japan did not surrender.

The operation would have seized the southern third of Kyūshū and created airfields and staging areas for the later invasion of the Kantō Plain. That second stage, Operation Coronet, was planned for the area around Tokyo in spring 1946. Together, Olympic and Coronet formed the proposed invasion of Japan’s home islands.

Olympic was never executed. Japan accepted surrender terms in August 1945, before the planned November landings. Its name is sometimes confused with Operation Coronet because both belonged to Downfall, but Olympic came first and focused on Kyūshū. The separate code name Operation Iceberg referred to the Okinawa campaign, which had already taken place.