Invasion Of North America???

While I am sure the reasons listed for seizing Attu/Kiska were valid, I doubt they would have occured without the greater Midway Island assault, which was prompted by both the Doolittle raid and other American attacks. Every general or admiral has their wish list and not all of them are granted. I also question if Japan found these holding vital, as they did something rare for them. They gave them up on their own rather than fight to the last man, or hold on to an isolated garrison as they did with other possessions.

 

Adding two cents in this examination to think about..........if the Allied Forces had remained in totality as reluctant to oppose the early expansion of Hitler's Germany, as they were during Hitler's original aggression, who knows what might have been possible, tactically it was a long shot but the German Forces accomplished incredible victories early on with their "Blitz Krieg" and if Roosevelt had not orchestrated situations of helping our English friends thereby having our cargoes made into German targets....would there have been that much support for war? Remember one of the Ford's was over there from time to time being so impressed with "German Factories and Production". He forgot to realize that that production would one day be to war against us. A breathing spell (if we had remained isolationist) for the Germans would have enabled them to digest their conquests, revitalize their war production and all of those things they needed for our invasion may have fallen into place. A little time may have better equipped the Japanese as well and both enemies would have been more formidable. Enough to get across our lands....I think not but a bloody fight it could have made on our own soil.

 

No argument about the point you are trying to make, but the nit-picker in me would like to point out that the Channel Isles while British are not considered part of the British lsles, as they are far closer to France than Britain.

 

The Channel Islands are considered to be part of the British Isles, but like the Isle of Man they are not considered to be part of the United Kingdom.

 

Well, i think that the German's would not be able to due to the fact that they had no access to the English channel.

 

Let's try to put this theory into the realm of reality here; there are two big factors to consider before the Japanese attempt to invade North America.

Number one is shipping. The needs of Japan's industry and survival (of an island nation) depended on shipping. Close to 60% of this job pre-war was carried out by British, Dutch and US merchant fleets. After war was declared, it could be said that Japan lost a lot of customers in that industry, and had to handle that load themselves. They couldn't do it alone in peacetime, so why would it be seriously considered that they could do it on a wartime footing? The Japanese were at the end of their logistical rope trying to keep their garrison at Guadalcanal properly re-inforced and supplied, and the distance from Guadalcanal and forward bases such as Truk is much closer, and within Japanese controlled waters (for the most part-until US subs became effective). If the landings at Midway would have been pulled off, I believe that it would be safe to say thay they would have the same troubles re-supplying their garrison there. And if Midway did fall, everything that floated and flew the stars and stripes would have been re-assigned to the Hawaiian command to oppose the occupation of the Hawaiian Islands. So, a landing in force on the North American continent proper would have been no more feasible than a Japanese invasion of Australia.

So now that brings us to number two. The Japanese were severely tied up in China, and had been since 1932. China is right next door to them, with no navy to oppose re-supply of the IJA. Japan couldn't finish the job there in their own back yard, so how could it be seriously considered that they could invade the continental US?

 

Midway was not prompted by the Doolittle raid. It was already planned out when that raid hit. It was intended to draw out the US CVs and destroy them.

I've read somewhere that the Japanese took those islands at least in part to prevent them from being used as airbases to attack Japan. Once they were there they found that the weather was very seldom suitable for conducting air ops of any kind but especially long range ones where one wants weater that will be good long enough to both take off and land.

 

OK my 2 cents on this subject. It couldn't happen then and it couldn't happen now. Logistical problems would take 5 pages to explain. Friendly boardering countries, Canada and most likely Mexico would of come flowing to our defense.

Where was this Normandy of America to land, San Diego, Baltimore, Seattle, on the state of Maine.... No way it could happen.

My opinion, if Hirohito or Hilter had a clue they would of taken the time to coddle up to South American countries in the 1930's.

 

The Americans thought the most likely site for an invasion into the New World was Brazil, which explains why the Americans planned an invasion of Brazil.

 

No
The British Isles and all that ...

 

Germany would only invade the US after defeating USSR and Britain. Logically, only after conquering Europe they would try to conquer North America, if Hitler was megalomaniac enough.

After conquering Europe, Germany would annex vast industrial resources, while the country would be protected by sea, and wouldn't need an army, the resources that would enable the construction of a vast fleet, also, Germany should incorporate the French, Italian and British naval fleets. While in the historical situation that Germany encountered herself: at war with the USSR over a thousand kilometer long front, it wasn't feasible for Germany to build a naval force capable of engaging the Allies head on.

The logistical effort involved in an invasion of the US would be the greatest in history. Germany would need to supply 250-300 divisions on the other side of the atlantic, as the US was country of 140 million people, with larger resources than the Soviet Union (which was invaded by the Germans with 152 divisions) the manpower and resources required for a cross-atlantic invasion would be enormous. Germany would need to integrate the economies of Britain, France, USSR, Italy and all other european countries into an integrated military industrial complex, it would become a country of 500 million people. Most of the soldiers wouldn't be German, as Germany had only 80 million people. So, it would violate the standards of Nazi ideology, since they would need the cooperation of the entire population of the European continent. It would be a historical event of the same magnitude as the conquests of Alexander the Great.

Japan on the other hand, didn't have the resources required for anything more audacious than the occupation of hawaii and Asia at the time wasn't a continent with vast industrial resources. It would be very, very difficult for Japan to invade the US. They could maybe have like 100,000 men in California, but such force would be driven out very quickly. A suscesfull invasion of the US would need 300 divisions, and 300 well equipped divisions (with heavy firepower as the German divisions, Japanese divisons had little firepower compared to German and American divisions), or about 6 million men.

 

If the material in his second unpublished book are taken at face value, then somewhere in back of Hitler's mind there was the dream of attacking the US mainland itself at some future unknown date. If Germany had secured victory of some sort over Russia and Britain, there still would be tasty morsels much closer to home to seize. Those being Africa and the Middle east, then any of Asia not taken by Japan (or the US). A German Victory in Europe would likely only lead to a Cold War with different players. With the US waiting for the Reich to collapse from within, as the USSR/Warsaw Pact did.

 

Yes, Germany didn't really have the intention of invading Britain and the US. After defeating the Soviet Union, they would probably enter in a cold war with the US. I am not sure that Germany wouldn't collapse from within like the USSR, since the USSR collapsed because of their inefficient Communist system.

 

I don't see any benefit in the invasion of Brazil to serve as an staging area for the invasion of the us, as the country was as far from North America as Europe is.

 

Not to mention several hundred miles of trackless jungle acting as a buffer.

 

You don't have to march through trackless jungle to work your way to the Antilles. The Germans had designs on the Caribbean since the days of Kaiser Wilhelm. See the Oct 1999 issue of USNI Proceedings for the article on America's plan to invade Brazil.

 

The problem with a German attack on Brazil is that does not take into account the US Monroe Doctrine. The US would not allow ANY European power to gain a toe hold in the North, Central or South America. Further German supply lines would be vunerable to the US navy attacks, making it difficult to expand that toe hold. That strategy might work in 'Hearts of Iron' but has little chance in a real world scenario.

 

I just knew someone would comment about it (the British with these distinctions between the UK, England, British Isles, British Islands, etc.; that's way too complicated for a simple Dutch guy as me! )...

And you know, I even checked it before I wrote it down, but the page I used as a reference was simply wrong...<sigh>

This is from Wikipedia, and than it's true of course!!! (Channel Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia):

"Under the UK Interpretation Act 1978, the Channel Islands are deemed to be part of the British Islands,[21] not to be confused with the British Isles. For the purposes of the British Nationality Act 1981, "United Kingdom" refers to Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, taken together, unless the context otherwise requires.[22]"

So, I stand corrected!

Thanks for the comment Redcoat (I like to nit-pick myself as well, so...)!

 

However, German invasion of the Americas would only happen after Germany conquers the Old World, builds an super navy, and that means that they would have naval superiority in the Atlantic before attempting an invasion of the Americas. If American troops fight German forces in the Americas, they would be under conditions of severe strategic inferiority (like when German forces engaged the Allies in the western front, by that time they were in great strategic disadvantage).