Which operation was the planned first stage of the proposed invasion of Japan’s home islands?

Operation Olympic was the planned first stage of the proposed invasion of Japan’s home islands.

Olympic was designed to capture the southern part of Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island. The operation was tentatively scheduled to begin on November 1, 1945, with Okinawa serving as an important staging area for Allied forces.

The captured territory and airfields were intended to support Operation Coronet, the second stage of the larger invasion plan. Coronet would have targeted the Kantō Plain near Tokyo on Honshu in spring 1946.

Both operations belonged to Operation Downfall, the overall Allied plan for invading Japan. Japan’s surrender in August 1945 canceled Olympic before it began. Its planning documents remain significant because they show how the Allies expected the war to continue if diplomacy, bombing, and blockade failed to force capitulation.