By March 1945, World War II was now coming to an end, and the Allied strikes and restrictions on Japan had reached a climax. In order to completely solve the threat of Japanese fascism, the Allies decided to adopt various methods to encircle the Japanese mainland to the greatest extent possible, so that the Japanese fascists lost their combat effectiveness and forced them to surrender as soon as possible.
Among these operations, the most "value for money" among the Allied high command is the protagonist of today's article, the famous "Operation Hunger", which also accelerated the pace of Japanese surrender.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, a precursor to "starvation."</h1>
In late March 1945, the Allies marched to Okinawa and the famous Battle of Okinawa began. The war forced Japan's southern route (southeast Asia to the Japanese mainland) to be closed. The only remaining japanese sea transport route was the Western Route, which ran from Rassian, Korea, to Dalian in the Far East. The western route mainly provided the necessary food, ammunition and coal for the Japanese forces on the Korean Peninsula and in the northeast. Due to the closure of the southern route, the western route at this time became Japan's only foreign import route.
After careful design, the Allies decided to use submarines and aircraft to sabotage the southern route. Since it was difficult for the Japanese fleet to counterattack the Allied submarines at this time, the home air defense forces could not counterattack the Allies on a large scale. The Allies could therefore easily carry out the operation, and since the operation revolved mainly around supplies from the Japanese mainland, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Chester Nimitz, decided to name the operation "Starvation."
In terms of weapon selection, the U.S. military decided after consideration to choose the most convenient and powerful mines. At that time, the U.S. Navy was developing a variety of different mines: M4 and M11 that used magnetic detonation, M9 that used magnetic sound and water pressure in exchange for detonation, A6 that used both magnetic and water pressure, and so on. In addition to the original method of demining, the Japanese army even used sonic boom bombs to clear mines, but these methods did not have any way to solve the new type of water pressure mines and low-frequency sound mines.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, "hunger" officially begins</h1>
On March 27, 1945, the first phase of Operation Hunger officially began. The Allies first dropped mines on the western Seto Inland Sea and the Kanmon Strait by ships to prevent Japanese troops from departing from neighboring ports to support the Okinawa defenders, and about 1,350 magnetic detonation mines were thrown into the sea by the Allies that night. When the Japanese army learned of this news, it immediately sent a large number of personnel and ships to carry out demining work. On the night of the 30th, the US military dropped another 450 mines, because some of the mines belonged to water pressure mines and low-frequency sound mines, and the Japanese army could not remove them in time. By April 6, at least eight 500-ton ships had sunk as a result of triggering such mines. By May 2, that number had risen to 19, with another 39 vessels damaged to varying degrees.
In order to contain the Allied mine tactics to the greatest extent possible, the Japanese 7th Fleet protected the trade lines in the Kanmon Strait and the Tsushima Strait according to the requirements of the base camp, and the aircraft of the Zob Naval Air Force were responsible for attacking the Allied B-29 bombers. The local Kozuki airfield also began to deploy anti-aircraft fighter fleets, and anti-aircraft guns were also arranged in the area around Osaka. However, due to the shortage of Japanese radars, the Japanese were unable to contain the Allied mines in time before the battle took place.
From 3 to 12 May, the second phase of Operation Hunger's operational plan began. In addition to the first phase of the attack target, the Kanmon Strait, other important commercial ports such as the Port of Tokyo, the Port of Osaka, the Port of Kobe, the Port of Nagoya and other major ports on the Pacific Coast have also been targeted by the operation. A total of 1,422 mines were used by the Allies in this phase of the operation, and due to the abundance of mines in the Guanmen Strait, large ships could not sail, and small boats were even more difficult to move.
According to statistics, about one-third of the ships sank while passing through the Guanmen Strait. In March, the traffic volume in the Closed Gate Strait was about 40 ships per day, but by the end of May there were only 4 ships! As a result, ports such as Osaka and Kobe have been hit hard, because the Kanmon Strait is the only way for these ports to go to the outside world. In order to ensure that the supplies on the Japanese mainland can be maintained normally, the sea cargo that was originally shipped to the ports of the Seto Inland Sea can only be temporarily changed to Kyushu or the northwest of Honshu.
From May 13 to June 6, the third phase of Operation Hunger officially began. This time, the northern port of Kyushu became a new target, and the attack on the Kanmon Strait still did not stop. The Allies dropped numerous mines on 15 occasions during the third phase of operations, many of which were low-frequency mines that could not be cleared.
The operation led to a significant increase in the number of losses to Japanese vessels, with 66 merchant ships sunk by mines totaling about 110,000 tons by May, while 31 vessels were damaged, totaling about 106,000 tons. The damage caused by the two operations was already greater than the damage caused to the fleet by submarines and aircraft before.
Beginning on June 7, PBY-4 naval attack aircraft using Okinawa as a base officially joined Phase 4, in which 3,542 torpedoes were laid by Army B-29 bombers and 186 torpedoes by Naval aircraft. Compared with the previous period, the total number of mines laid this time began to increase significantly, and in addition to the previously mentioned areas, the harbors along the Coast of the Sea of Japan, such as Niigata and Fushigi, were not spared. Outside important ports such as Kobe and Osaka, the nearby seas have almost become a sea of death due to repeated mine laying.
Soon the eastern port of the Korean Peninsula became a new transshipment site for Japanese supplies, and in order to completely cut off the Japanese supply line, the fifth phase of Operation Hunger officially began on July 9. A total of 3,746 mines were used in the operation, and since the airfield on Iwo Jima was occupied by the United States at this time, the radius of operations of Allied aircraft was wider. In addition to the U.S. military laying mines at previous major ports, ports such as Busan and Chiangjin on the Korean Peninsula have also become new mines.
Among them, the main grain distribution port on the Korean Peninsula, Rojin Port, was laid by the Allies with 420 mines. After the fifth phase of the operation, the seaports of the entire Japanese archipelago and nearby countries were completely occupied by Allied mines. The transportation of grain and raw materials, which are very important to the Japanese people, has come to a complete standstill at this moment, and the Japanese people have truly felt the horror of the word "hunger."
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the far-reaching effects of "hunger"</h1>
From the official start of Operation Hunger on March 27 to the complete surrender of Japan on August 15. Nearly five months of blockade, the Allies sent B-29 bombers and related ships to drop 12,135 torpedoes of various types into the target area. The total tonnage of Japanese merchant ships of all types sunk by torpedoes reached 300,000 tons, while the total tonnage of damage to ships caused by mines was as high as 400,000 tons. The Allies lost 15 bombers throughout the operation, and most of the aircraft survived.
Operation Starvation sealed all of Japan's export and import shipping lanes, and the Worst-hit Seto Inland Sea was impossible for all but small standard E-boats or small private sailing ships. Japan's large ports, such as the ports of Osaka and Kobe, have reduced the loading and unloading capacity of ships due to mine blockades. The production rate of shipbuilding enterprises has also slowed down significantly, and some civilian ships damaged by mines have been abandoned due to the lack of operation of shipyards.
Due to the blockade of Japan's major sea ports and ports in nearby countries, some daily necessities cannot be transported to the Japanese mainland in time. Food and daily necessities from the Far East can only be forced to stay in the local area, and the survival situation of the local people is becoming more and more serious, and food shortages have occurred in many areas. According to post-war inferences, if the situation continues to deteriorate, there is a high probability of large-scale insurrection on the Japanese mainland, and the speed of Japan's surrender may also come early.
According to post-war statistics, by the end of World War II, there were still more than 6,600 mines of various types left along the coast of Japan, posing a serious threat to Japan's maritime security. Between 1945 and 1950, 118 ships of all types sank as a result of mine strikes, and more than 1,100 people were killed. Therefore, the Japanese Navy began to carry out large-scale underwater demining work after the war. To this day, one of the important tasks of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is to carry out underwater demining in coastal waters. Until the 21st century, 99 percent of Japan's offshore waters had been completely cleared of torpedoes.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
The "starvation" operation carried out by the Allies this time not only dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of Japanese militarism, but also accelerated the speed of Japan's surrender on the other hand, preventing more innocent countries and peoples from becoming victims of war. The professionalism and orderliness of the Allied forces in this operation, as well as japan's professional skills in demining in the sea after the war, have also become excellent cases for countries to fight at sea in the future.
Resources:
1. Sea Guard
2. "The Beginning and End of Operation Hunger"
3. Pacific War 1941-1945