Howling at the Moon

The S.O.B. Letter Column

Bob Robles

Books reviews! 2 related books: First, "The Burning Mountain: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan" by Alfred Coppel. A good read about one of the great 'What If's' of WWII; what if the US had gone ahead with Operations Olympic and Coronet, the invasions of the Japanese home islands? This is a 'historical novel' about the Operation Coronet, the invasion of Honshu with the goal of occupying Tokyo. The battle is told through various Japanese and American participants. An interesting look at a battle that never happened. For the real American and Japanese planning behind these postulated battles, read "The Invasion of Japan: Alternative to the Bomb" by John Ray Skates. Mr. Skates reviews the actual planning leading up to the invasions. What is fascinating is how well the Japanese anticipated American intentions and were deploying their forces for the invasion of Kyushu (Operation Olympic), which was indeed the American's plan. This extended to the Japanese correctly guessing the exact beaches the Americans were to assault. In addition, the Japanese fully intended to expend the bulk of their remaining forces, Kamikaze and conventional, in order to thwart this invasion. This would leave few forces to stop the invasion of Honshu. The Japanese were saddled with poor quality forces by this time, terrible logistics, no force mobility once the battle began, and an opponent which had total command of the air and sea and possessed overwhelming force. Somewhat dry but very authoritative (controversial as well in some circles is my understanding).