But Japan was defeated too quickly.
Here s What You Need To Remember: Before the plan could be carried out, however, on April 1, 1945, the crucial battle for Okinawa began. Geographically, Okinawa is part of the far-reaching islands constituting the island nation of Japan. With that battle engaged, it was as if Japan itself was finally attacked.
As soon as Colonel James Doolittle’s B-25 raid struck Japan in April 1942, Japan sought to wreak revenge on the United States, but by 1944 devastating aerial bombings on Japan by the Americans had become all too regular.
It was not until early 1945 that the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was ready to strike America even further than it already had on December 7, 1941. After considering, then ruling out San Francisco, San Diego, New York City, and Washington, D.C. as targets, the IJN chiefs settled on America’s vital Panama Canal. The plan to disable the canal––through which the United States was funneling military resources from t