ORIGINAL: TIMJOT
ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl
. Japanese invasions of Oahu or the West Coast or India/Ceylon are
rediculously far-fetched if the historic shipping and troop availabilities are in play---
Whoa..... down there Mike. I wouldnt be so hasty as to include Ceylon in that group. Ceylon was both operationally and logistically doable. The IJN staff did the peliminarly planning for it back in Feb.42, and concluded it would be possible with the Southern Area Army reserves and assets and shipping already in the SRA. It would have had to been attempted immediatley following the SRA campaign in the March/April/May 42 time frame
Yes, the Imperial Japanese NAVY's staff planned several "long-ranged" operations during
that time..., and the Imperial Japanese ARMY's staff told them they didn't have the troops
for them. He11, the IJN's staff was still planning offensives to capture New Caledonia
and the Fiji's AFTER Guadalcanal was lost. Realistically, the troops and support for such
operations just weren't available. Look at the miserable time the Japanese had trying
to supply the Army on Guadalcanal from Rabaul in 1942. And you think they can main-
tain an Army on Ceylon from Singapore? Japanese "planning" took a "nose-dive" as soon
as the carefully crafted pre-war operations were completed. From then on almost every
plan was either a "pipe dream" or a failure.