Military History: 7 New War Machines America Planned to Unleash on Japan in 1946

The arsenal included larger tanks, more powerful artillery, faster fighter planes and new bombers.”

AMERICA’S ANTICIPATED INVASION of Japan ultimately proved unnecessary – the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made sure of that. Yet all throughout 1944 and 1945, Allied commanders were drawing up plans for the final assault on the enemy home islands. The campaign, which was codenamed Operation Downfall, would have been several times the size of the D-Day invasion, making it the largest amphibious attack in recorded history. And while much of the military hardware America planned to throw into the fight had already been proven on or above the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific, the U.S. military was also gathering a whole new generation of war machines for the epic onslaught. The arsenal included larger tanks, more powerful artillery, faster fighter planes and new bombers. Here’s a glimpse at some of this weaponry that (thankfully) never got the chance to see action in World War Two.

B-32 Dominator

Developed in tandem with the Boeing B-29, the B-32 Dominator was a four-engine, heavy bomber roughly equal in performance to that of the Superfortress. Unlike its much more famous cousin, B-32 faced a number of production delays related to its pressurized crew compartment. It only entered service in limited numbers by the summer of 1945. Capable of hauling a 20,000-pound payload nearly 4,000 miles (6,400 km) at an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,000 m), the Dominator would certainly have seen action in the Pacific had the war continued into 1946. But with Japan’s surrender in August, the manufacturer never got the chance to complete the 1,500 of the aircraft that were ordered by the U.S. military. Only 118 B-32s were ever built. None of them remain intact.

T-28 Super Heavy Tank

The T-28, dubbed the “Super-Heavy Tank”, was originally designed to be impervious to everything on European battlefields, including Germany’s mighty Tiger II; its main gun was expected to make short work of enemy concrete fortifications. But the Allies also hoped the massive armoured fighting vehicle would take part in the invasion of Japan. Also known as the T-95 105mm Gun Motor Carriage, the T-28 was 36 feet long and weighed nearly 100 tons (more than three times heavier than the workhorse M4 Sherman tank), but was without a rotating turret. Due to its immense size and weight, the T-28 had a top speed of only 8 mph (12 km/h), not to mention an impractical combat range of less than 20 miles (32 km). But its heavy 300 mm armour would have made it all but indestructible in the Japanese campaign. Tokyo surrendered before the roughly two-dozen T-28s that were ordered could roll off Pacific Car and Foundry assembly lines. In fact, only two models were finished by VJ day. One was dismantled shortly after Japan surrendered; the other was mothballed at a U.S. Army depot in the years after the war. It was restored in 1974 and is now on exhibit at Kentucky’s Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor.

“Little David”

Like the T-28 tank, the U.S. Army’s Little David mortar was also expected to see action on Japanese battlefields. In fact, the towed 914-mm gun was designed specifically to obliterate the dense fortifications the Allies were expecting to encounter on the home islands. More powerful than Germany’s notorious Schwerer Gustav railroad gun, the 40-ton American weapon featured a 22-foot long barrel that could launch a 3,500-lb. (1,600 kg) shell a distance of 6 miles (10 km). But like the T-28 tank, the Little David never fired a single shot in anger; Japan quit before it saw action. A prototype of the massive mortar is on display at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland.

Read about the Other 4 War Machines at Military History Now