Commonwealth Corps

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Commonwealth Corps was the name given to a combined British Commonwealth army formation, to be formed for the proposed invasion of Japan, alongside United States forces in 1945-46.

The corps was to have included, as its initial components, the British 3rd Infantry Division, and two new divisions being formed for the purpose of the invasion: the Australian 10th Division and the Canadian 6th Division. It was to have been led by the British Lt. Gen. Sir Charles Keightley.

Details of the corps' deployment were still being discussed when the war was ended by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It seems clear that the Commonwealth land forces would have been used not in the initial landings on Kyūshū, but in Operation Coronet, the landings on Honshū near Tokyo, scheduled to occur on March 1, 1946.

Some sources state that that Supreme Commander Allied Powers, General Douglas MacArthur was proposing the reduction of the Commonwealth land forces to an elite division, which would use only US equipment, to expedite its supply. It is also said that the British high command wanted to use an Indian Army division, but that this had opposed by MacArthur. However, considering the likelihood of extremely high casualties in any such invasion, it must be considered likely that further divisions and other Commonwealth countries would have become involved following the landings.