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WWII E163 - Waiting for X-Day: Marines in the Shadow of Downfall
Episode 163

WWII E163 - Waiting for X-Day: Marines in the Shadow of Downfall

History of the Marine Corps

December 8, 202533m 25s

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Show Notes

This episode follows the Marines from the mud and caves of Okinawa into the strange, uneasy rehabilitation camps on Guam, Saipan, Motobu, and Hawaii, where exhausted divisions rebuilt, trained, and quietly braced for the largest amphibious operation in history—Operation Downfall. We break down how Marine divisions and air wings were wired into Operations OLYMPIC and CORONET, the internal fight in Washington over whether to starve, burn, or invade Japan, and how troops were reshaped for a direct assault on Kyushu and then the Tokyo Plain.

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