I just finished the updated edition of this book by D. M Giangreco, and despite it being a tad tedious with a lot of tables and the such, it's a worthwhile read. It's pretty stunning read the organizational depth of planning for the invasion of Japan, and the scope of the positioning of men and material. The author goes into great depth about the trouble the US was having meeting it's increasing manpower needs via the draft in 1945, and how shifting forces from Europe to the Pacific was barely getting started when the war ended.
A couple of things I didn't know, or at least had forgotten. The US had stockpiled chemical weapons in the Pacific in anticipation they might have been used. There were concerns that the Navy would not be able to provide enough carrier support due to the increased tempo of activity, maintenance needs, and some ships being cancelled in anticipation of the war ending. After the first two atomic bombs were used, MacArthur insisted that the 8 potential bombs be reserved for tactical use in the invasion. Far from being starved of material and supplies, the Japanese were well fortified to defend the Home Islands. As an example we thought the Japanese were out of aviation gasoline for the most part, but they had stockpiled enough to launch up to 15,000 kamikaze strikes on the invasion fleet and provide for air operations. The US had a massive plan to secretly collect, process, and transport blood and plasma starting 3 weeks before the invasion from select cities in the US to the Pacific and get it on specialized ships to transport and hold it off the coast of Japan.
Overall just lots of good stuff about the mechanics and planing for the invasion.
A couple of things I didn't know, or at least had forgotten. The US had stockpiled chemical weapons in the Pacific in anticipation they might have been used. There were concerns that the Navy would not be able to provide enough carrier support due to the increased tempo of activity, maintenance needs, and some ships being cancelled in anticipation of the war ending. After the first two atomic bombs were used, MacArthur insisted that the 8 potential bombs be reserved for tactical use in the invasion. Far from being starved of material and supplies, the Japanese were well fortified to defend the Home Islands. As an example we thought the Japanese were out of aviation gasoline for the most part, but they had stockpiled enough to launch up to 15,000 kamikaze strikes on the invasion fleet and provide for air operations. The US had a massive plan to secretly collect, process, and transport blood and plasma starting 3 weeks before the invasion from select cities in the US to the Pacific and get it on specialized ships to transport and hold it off the coast of Japan.
Overall just lots of good stuff about the mechanics and planing for the invasion.