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Hell to Pay: Operation DOWNFALL and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 |  | Author: D. M. Giangreco
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Category: Book
List Price: $36.95
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Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 39561
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First Printing
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 7 x 1.3
ISBN: 1591143160
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.54252
EAN: 9781591143161
ASIN: 1591143160
Publication Date: October 23, 2009
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Product Description
Hell To Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 is a comprehensive and compelling examination of the myriad complex issues that comprised the strategic plans for the American invasion of Japan. U.S. planning for the invasion and military occupation of Imperial Japan was begun in 1943, two years before the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In its final form, Operation Downfall called for a massive Allied invasion--on a scale dwarfing D-Day--to be carried out in two stages. In the first stage, Operation Olympic, the U.S. Sixth Army would lead the southern-most assault on the Home Island of Kyushu preceded by the dropping of as many as nine atom bombs behind the landing beaches. Sixth Army would secure airfields and anchorages needed to launch the second stage, Operation Coronet, 500 miles to the north in 1946. The decisive Coronet invasion of the industrial heartland of Japan through the Tokyo Plain would be led by the Eighth Army, as well as the First Army, which had previously pummeled its way across France and Germany to defeat the Nazis. These facts are well known and have been recounted, with varying degrees of accuracy, in a variety of books and articles. A common theme in these works is their reliance on a relatively few declassified high-level planning documents. An attempt to fully understand how both the U.S. and Japan planned to conduct the massive battles subsequent to the initial landings was not dealt with in these books beyond the skeletal U.S. outlines formulated nine months before the initial land battles were to commence, and more than a year before the anticipated climactic series of battles near Tokyo. On the Japanese side, plans for Operation Ketsu-go, the decisive battle in the Home Islands, have been unexamined below the strategic level and seldom consisted of more than a list of the units involved and a rehash of U.S. intelligence estimates of Kamikaze aircraft available for the defense of Kyushu. Hell to Pay examines the invasion of Japan in light of the large body of Japanese and American operational and tactical planning documents unearthed by the author in both familiar and obscure archives, as well as postwar interrogations and reports that senior Japanese commanders and their staffs were ordered to produce for General MacArthur's headquarters. Hell to Pay clarifies the political and military ramifications of the enormous casualties and loss of material projected by both sides in the climatic struggle to bring the Pacific War to a conclusion through a brutal series of battles on Japanese soil. This groundbreaking history counters the revisionist interpretations questioning the rationale for the use of the atom bomb and shows that President Truman's decision was based on very real estimates of the truly horrific cost of a conventional invasion of Japan.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
 the most important book about the end of world war ii in years June 30, 2010
W. Frederick Zimmerman (Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an outstanding book, and one of the most important books ever written about the end of World War II. It provokes essential and startling new perspectives on the end of both Pacific and European wars. Highest recommendation for anyone interested in the history of World War II.
Definitive account of the planned invasion of Japan 1945-1947. May 11, 2010
Robert C. Olson (Vacaville, California USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Definitive account of the planned invasion of Japan 1945-1947.
Many years ago ABC News Anchor Peter Jennings attempted to revise American history through an ABC Special on "Why America DID NOT need to drop the 2 Atomic Bombs on Japan." A fascinating piece of revisionist history that although entertaining, had absolutely NO merit whatsoever. One can always make an argument for any position, isn't that what lawyers do! And depending on your point of view, political persuasion or passion, logic can and does become irrelevant, and revisionism, in the contact of current times, thinking and attitudes, takes over. We simply superimpose what we "want" to believe today over what happened in the past without any contextual relevance. Viola, we could have used diplomacy instead of the "BOMB" to end WW2 in the Pacific. Well now, Mr. Giangreco destroys those fallacious augments through overwhelming investigative research using not only the statements of the individuals involved, but also the actual plans and massive amounts of documented facts, figures and other "real" evidence.
Mr. Giangreco's Hell to Pay: Operation DOWNFALL and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947, is the definitive account of the planned invasion of Japan to end WW2 in the Pacific. It is not revisionist history but the real truth of why President Truman decided to use the 2 operational atomic bombs America had. The projected casualties on both sides of the planned invasion were beyond staggering: And to a country war weary truly incomprehensible! The REAL questions facing the planners were: 1. Could the American People handle the horrific casualties, and 2. Did America actually have the required manpower? In a nutshell, as Mr. Giangreco points out, the answers were dicey at best! The essence of this history is not to simply persuade the reader of the rightness of using nuclear weapons, but rather to present the true and uncompromising facts of the day-1945. To inform the reader of just what was really happening in the operational planning of the invasion, and what the real manpower situation and political philosophy were AT THAT TIME. As the reader will see the numbers were beyond belief and stretches the credulity of a rational mind. Yet, President Truman and others HAD to make THE decisions without the aid of our hindsight today. I for one appreciate the extremely difficult position they were in and strongly concur in their decisions.
After the slanted Peter Jennings special I asked my Father what he thought. He was a quiet, unassuming man of great moral clarity and ethical integrity. Like so many of those heroes he never talked about The War. He flew 3 tours (75 combat bombing missions) in Europe in the B-25 and A-26 bombers. Highly decorated he simply put that period of his life behind him and moved on. When asked about the special, He simply said, "Son, if they had not dropped those bombs you would not be here today." You see in August, 1945, he was ferrying his A-26 to the Pacific from Europe to participate in the Operation Olympic and Coronet invasion of Japan. He and others were told that their chances of survival were less than 50-50. Yet they went. To them President Truman's decision was the right one. To me it was the only one.
Excellent history in all respects. A little weighty in the facts department but that is what makes this a definitive study. An encyclopedia of everything you would ever want to know about Operation Downfall. A must read for anyone interested in that fascinating part of WW2. Try and remember when you read this informative book the historical context that it is outlining and the peoples involved. The Japanese were caught up in the Bushido warrior code and actually thought they could still pull out a victory of sorts. America and the other Allies were extremely war weary. With those thoughts in mind this book is even more amazing in its history. Thank You D. M. Giangreco for an outstanding piece of history. Well Done, Sir.
 good & boring May 1, 2010
Rob (Fairbanks, AK United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Good, interesting and dry.......must really want to read about history of WWII....obviously clarifies why Truman made his decision to drop the A-bomb and save more lives than lost from the decision.
 Hell to Pay -- A Significant Value for Specialists with Major Credibility Issues for General Readers April 22, 2010
T. Telenko (Dallas, TX USA)
8 out of 20 found this review helpful
D.M. Giangreco's "HELL TO PAY -- Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-47" is the latest installment of a professional debate between academic historians over whether Pres. Harry S. Truman's decision to use the Atomic bomb to end World War Two was justified. However, if you are looking for a book that presents to you historical research on that subject with dispassionate academic rigor, this is not your book. Giangreco abandoned any pretense of objectivity to become mere advocate for his point of view, which is that the use of the A-bomb was justified and the proposed invasion would have been an American military disaster.
I rate HELL TO PAY at two stars because it is a useful secondary source on a number of points regards;
a) Projected invasion casualty documents supporting Truman's decision to use the A-bomb,
b) How the expected casualties from invading Japan prevented Gen. Eisenhower from capturing Berlin,
c) How badly both the US Navy and US Army Air Force underestimated the size and available fuel for Japanese aerial Kamikaze forces,
d) US amphibious logistics, and
e) The success of Japanese Military intelligence in guessing American invasion plans.
Giangreco's advocacy makes itself felt when he says everything the Japanese military did, propose to do, or might have done to defeat the American invasion of Japan, would work out to inflict more casualties on US forces. This advocacy has so many _really_serious_factual_errors_ in American military capabilities as to undermine the credibility of the rest of the book. In particular Giangreco's aversion to anything pertaining to the subject of gas warfare means he ignores the defensive contributions of the Army Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) and US Navy in protecting transport anchorages from Kamikaze air attack by means of chemically produced smoke screens. The CWS Corps and US Navy did this for truly vast anchorages at Salerno, Anzio and at Hagushi beach Okinawa. (See pages 333 - 335 and 411 of the US Army WW2 Green Book official history "The Chemical Warfare Service : Chemicals in Combat" at
[...] and the official US Navy smoke doctrine for WW2 amphibious operations at [...]
Giangreco's omission of this standard invasion operating procedure dramatically eliminates the credibility and value of his opinions concerning the vulnerability of both transports and artificial harbors to the threats of Japanese Kamikaze's and artillery fire after the first days of an invasion across any individual beach area. This critical omission alone raises issues as to the possible existence of other, less immediately obvious, omissions which directly affect the credibility of the author's conclusions. This book has significant value to those with the time, ability and patience to use it in their own independent evaluations of the subject. Its credibility problems make it of much less value to other readers.
Apologists: read before condeming the atomic attacks on Japan March 29, 2010
JJ Schwartz (Arlington, Virginia United States)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The author wrote this book with access to both American as well as Japanese military records so "Hell to Pay" cannot be construed as a convenient rewriting of history by the victor.
As the land war in the Pacific theater progressed, the Japanese learned from their mistakes and gradually the 'kill ratio' changed from 4 or 5 to 1 favoring (my memory on the precise figure may be faulty) the Americans, by the time that Okinawa, the first island invaded that was the possession of the Japanese Empire the ratio changed to approximately 1:1. According to Japanese records the Japanese military fully expected to withstand a loss of between 100 and 150 times the losses sustained following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Contrary to the invasion of Allied forces on Normandy in Europe where the Germans did not know where or when the invasion of Europe would take place, the Japanese did. And they were prepared in depth. Further, prior to the total cutting off of petrol from Indonesia, Japan managed to bring back to the Home Island a number of tankers of petrol which was held back from general military aviation (i.e., repulsing further allied landings and attempting to gain air superiority). The allies attributed this to the heavy losses of Japanese aircraft and experienced pilots. This was true, however, the petrol that was being with held from what would be considered 'normal' military operations was to be used for aircraft committed to Kamikaze attacks upon the allied transport ships. Further, because of the Bushido code, it was expected that every civilian man, woman, and child would join in a guerrilla action against the allied invasion force. In the end it was fully expected by the allies that there would be a loss of over 1,000,000 Marines and GIs in the invasion force and a prolonging of the war by years. I cannot recall who was quoted saying this in the book but it went something like this, "the last Japanese will be killed by the last Marine.' The atomic bombing of Japan was not a whimsical undertaking by President Truman no matter what the apologists claim. This decision was not made in a vacuum and undoubtedly saved many hundreds of thousands of Americans (who were being immediately transferred to the western US following the surrender of German in preparation for the invasion of the Japanese home islands)and millions of Japanese citizens. Highly recommended.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
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