The Halls Of Montezuma
"What If?" Tokyo, the Sea of Japan, and Manchuria 1946
-By X-Day, seven more “Fat Man,” type plutonium-core atomic bombs are perfected by teams of nuclear physicists in San Francisco, ready, and have been transported to Yontan Airfield on Okinawa. Three days following the initial amphibious invasion and the failure of the airborne invasion, President Truman and Colonel Lyle E. Seeman order the use of four bombs, nicknamed “King, Chicago, Tokyo with Love", and "Overlord,” to be dropped on the Japanese home islands with primary targets including Osaka and Tokyo. On February 16th, the missions are completed and the bombs are all detonated successfully. With the effects of radiation poisoning not well known at the time, many American soldiers of the 6th Army pushing north to Tokyo are killed or put out of action as a result.
-Japanese merchant sailors are used to ship disguised munitions and supplies to the last dregs of Imperial soldiers fighting in Manchuria. Many are sunk by a dense Soviet and Chinese blockade across the Western coast of the Sea of Japan.
-Despite the harsh weather, Soviet forces engage in intense and fierce combat against the outnumbered but determined Japanese in Manchuria and northern China. Equipped with T-34 and KV tanks, the tiny and obsolete Japanese tankettes are all but wiped out within two weeks. A lack of supplies force many Japanese soldiers to fight with knives and blunt objects, and whole Japanese columns are mowed down by heavily fortified Soviet lines. The combat in Manchuria is reminiscent of the futile and bloody charges across no man’s land on the Western Front of the Great War. Russian soldiers strip dead Japanese bodies, and by the time of their arrival in Harbin, the distinctive uniforms are unrecognizable beneath fur coats, hats, and jewelry.
"What If?" Tokyo, the Sea of Japan, and Manchuria 1946
-By X-Day, seven more “Fat Man,” type plutonium-core atomic bombs are perfected by teams of nuclear physicists in San Francisco, ready, and have been transported to Yontan Airfield on Okinawa. Three days following the initial amphibious invasion and the failure of the airborne invasion, President Truman and Colonel Lyle E. Seeman order the use of four bombs, nicknamed “King, Chicago, Tokyo with Love", and "Overlord,” to be dropped on the Japanese home islands with primary targets including Osaka and Tokyo. On February 16th, the missions are completed and the bombs are all detonated successfully. With the effects of radiation poisoning not well known at the time, many American soldiers of the 6th Army pushing north to Tokyo are killed or put out of action as a result.
-Japanese merchant sailors are used to ship disguised munitions and supplies to the last dregs of Imperial soldiers fighting in Manchuria. Many are sunk by a dense Soviet and Chinese blockade across the Western coast of the Sea of Japan.
-Despite the harsh weather, Soviet forces engage in intense and fierce combat against the outnumbered but determined Japanese in Manchuria and northern China. Equipped with T-34 and KV tanks, the tiny and obsolete Japanese tankettes are all but wiped out within two weeks. A lack of supplies force many Japanese soldiers to fight with knives and blunt objects, and whole Japanese columns are mowed down by heavily fortified Soviet lines. The combat in Manchuria is reminiscent of the futile and bloody charges across no man’s land on the Western Front of the Great War. Russian soldiers strip dead Japanese bodies, and by the time of their arrival in Harbin, the distinctive uniforms are unrecognizable beneath fur coats, hats, and jewelry.