Could the Japanese have invaded the US?

[Jim von Krieg]

Guys,

I'm not sure any large scale invasion of the US by Japan was feasible... Read "War Plan Orange" to see what the American planners were thinking in the 1930's. They were focused on battling it out in the Western Pacific with the Japanese. Pre-war Japanese planning as well as war time strategy was always to seek the big naval victory to force diplomatic negotiations, ala the Russo-Japanese war of 1905.

Japan was fighting a limited war, or so they thought. They had plans to seize terrain, dig-in, hold terrain to wear out the expected counterattack, and settle the war with a diplomatic solution that recognized their premiere status in the Pacific. Their military leadership, especially Yamamoto, had no illusions about the ability of Japan to go toe to toe with the full might of the US for any length of time.

After Pearl Harbor, there was widespread hysteria in the States. I'm pretty sure that the American military did an assessment of the Japanese invading the West Coast. One of the things that came out of those assessments was the internment of Japanese Americans... I think the military leaders finally settled on fending off naval air raids and submarines as the most probable enemy course of action...

I don't think the Japanese had the logistical underpinning to take on such a massive endeavor... It would have been a little more difficult than moving troops and ammunition...

In my very rough estimation, it would have required over a million troops, probably multiple millions... and the Japanese did not have that kind of Army sitting about or the transports to get them there... They were locked in combat in China... In fact, the bulk of the Japanese Army was always in China... They were looking over their shoulders at the Russians... looking to the South at the British... and were very concerned about their economic lifeline within Asia after they seized all the territory...

First requirement for invasion of the US, would have been the capture of Hawaii. Ships don't sail thousands of miles with no place to refuel and rearm after the fighting is done. Amphibious landings in 1941/42 were not near the 44/45 capability... I believe the capture and control of Hawaii is the minimum requirement to even contemplate the invasion of the continental US West Coast.

An invasion of Hawaii would have been feasible in the wake of the Pearl Harbor strike, but the Japanese had not prepared to follow up such a wildly favorable outcome and were very busy taking apart the Dutch and British possessions to the South.

Japan was focused on knocking the European powers out of Asia and making a diplomatic settlement with the Americans... I don't think they were seriously contemplating invading America to force a settlement...

Their strategy was to come out fast and furious to knock everybody down and out, then go rope-a-dope to wear out the expected counterattack...

Unfortunately for the Japanese, the diplomatic fiasco in delivering the declaration of war was out of synch with the Pearl Harbor strikes... In Yamamoto's words... "I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled it with a terrible resolve..."

Jim von Krieg
Rear CP Killeen