Skates has brought new information to bear on the invasion plans. That is my only reason for giving this book any stars at all.

Here are some of my reservations about his Monday morning quarterbacking:

1. Choosing the best way out of the situation may have been logical for the Japanese but it did not fit their mind-set at the time.

2. Despite the feelers put out by some leaders, the country was still in the firm hands of the warriors who had no intention of surrendering.

3. Suppose we do rewrite history and carry out the invasion. Given Skates' best case, we would still have lost many soldiers' and sailors' lives as well as many more lives of admittedly poorly prepared Japanese defenders. No thank you.

As early as mid-1943, the American joint chiefs had begun to analyize the alternatives to ending the war in the Pacific. This book describes one alternative; the invasion of Japan itself. The invasion was to take place in two assaults; one, scheduled for November 1, 1945, was to involve the southern Kyushu area while the other, scheduled for March 1, 1946, was to occur in the Kanto plain area near Tokyo. After the island of Okinawa was secured in June, 1945, the Americans turned their attention to the coming invasion. The Kyushu portion of the invasion had the endorsement of President Truman and the joint chiefs. The invasion would have been on a scale never seen before. Thousands of ships, planes, and men would land on Kyushu and begin their drive northward. However, due to ULTRA intelligence intercepts, the Americans learned that the Japanese build up on Kyushu was much larger than expected. Many divisions of men and upwards of 10,000 aircraft were poised to meet the Americans. The Japanese were also prepared to meet the Americans on the beaches, differing from their customary approach of leaving the beaches uncontested and fighting it out inland. If the Japanese defense of Kyushu failed, there would be little left to defend the Kanto plain with, so the road to Tokyo would be wide open.

The author takes the view that Japan was a defeated nation ready to surrender due to the blockade and bombing missions being employed by the Americans. He points out that Japan had virtually no navy or air force and that the remaining elements of the imperial army were so poorly fed and equipped that they would be no match for the Americans. I tend to disagree on some points. The Japanese have always been fanatical fighters, and would be even more so if their home islands were invaded. Furthermore, the kamikazes, if employed in force, could have done tremendous damage to the invasion force. Inevitably, the Japanese would succumb to the Americans, but not before they inflicted serious damage. Also, he points out that the atomic bombs were used to send a political message rather than an end to the war. Again, he feels that the Japanese were a defeated nation ready to surrender, but the build up on Kyushu leads one to believe otherwise. The atomic bombs, in my opinion were wisely used. Yes, they caused great loss of life on the Japanese side, but the invasion would have cost many more. Furthermore, the American public wouldn't have stood for a prolonged battle against the Japanese after the invasion. They wanted the men home as soon as possible, and the invasion would have kept them fighting for at least another year.

Overall, I thought this book did a good job of explaining the logistics and construction of the invasion plans. The organization is good, and the book is well-researched. It gives good information regarding a possible invasion, but little information about the atomic bomb.

I have been interested in finding out what the detailed plans were for the proposed invasion of Japan for some time. The author does an excellent job of identifying the planning phases and is somewhat good at maintaining an unbiased view. In the end I think it would have been nice to have included a summary page with the head to head statistics such as number of divisions to be committed by the U.S. (and the conversion to number of men - for the non-military literate) and the Japanese. Also he simply glosses over the A-bomb at the end and although this wasn't the primary purpose of the book - it would have been a nice addition to explore the use of the device on an actual target and with such a short delay between strikes.

He contends that the invasion would have been far less costly than some of the projections and puts forth a large amount of information to that effect. Although I now believe that there would have been fewer casualties than the gross estimates - his analysis that the casualties would have been along the lines of Normandy or Okinawa - I just don't buy it. Even with unfinished preparations the cost would have been too high to warrant an invasion - if it could be prevented but other means.

Overall excellent facts - you must decide whether the invasion would have been necessary for your self.