An alternate history event.
The terms of the Potsdam Declaration of July 1945 demanded the military and political surrender of the Empire of Japan. Lacking any sign that Japanese rulers were ready to accept such an outcome the USAAF was ordered to proceed with the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the aftermath the hardliners in Tojos government held sway and would not contemplate surrender despite the destruction. Worse still for the Allies the atomic bomb project was behind schedule with no date set for another weapon. The stage was now set for the final Allied offensive of the war. Code named operation DOWNFALL this was the plan to land a massive amphibious force on the Japanese Home Islands. Operation ICEBERG, the battle for Okinawa, had ended on June 21st 1945. Along with the capture of Iwo Jima this had brought Japan within reach of land based air power. In anticipation of the main invasion of Japan the USAAF Far Eastern Air Forces deployed to Okinawa in strength to join the Fast Carrier Task Force in offensive operations against Kyushu and the surrounding sealanes of the Ryuku Island chain. The aim was to soften up Japanese forces including the airpower of the IJN and IJAAF in a prelude to the first of the DOWNFALL landings. The first of these landings code named OLYMPIC were scheduled for November 1st 1945 (X-Day). Following OLYMPIC, CORONET would follow in early 1946 with a landing on the Honshu plain with its aim to take the capital of Tokyo and bring the war to an end by conventional means.
Along with the USAAF 8th AF redeploying from Europe to the Pacific plans for OLYMPIC also included a component of RAF Bomber Command known as TIGER FORCE which would add over 500 bombers to the USAAF bomber forces already assembling incuding Lancasters, Liberators and Mosquitos. On the Japanese side every resource was being used to fortify the homeland in a fight viewed as a battle for survival. Historical estimates put the reserves of aircraft Japan was withholding for an invasion at @ 10,000 machines. These included conventional aircraft, Kamikaze and assorted types, all of which would be hurled at the invaders. The cost in manpower would be high to both sides in what would be the largest amphibious invasion in history, even dwarfing the Normandy landings of 1944.
This FSO will focus on the Allied preparation strikes for OLYMPIC in October 1945 and the Japanese response of unleashing large reserves of combat aircraft against the Allied carrier flotilla and Okinawa itself in an attempt to thwart the invasion. The Japanese will have one aircraft carrier (HIJMS IKOMA) per frame representing a recently completed vessel with operational aircraft aboard.
Details here:
http://ahevents.org/fso-current-next-event.htmlRegistration is open and you will be able to update your squad info untill Thursday October 21st.
Frame 1 is on Friday October 29th.
