Commonwealth Corps
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Commonwealth Corps was the name given to a proposed British Commonwealth army formation, which was scheduled to take part in the planned Allied invasion of Japan in 1945-46. The Japanese surrender obviated any need for the corps.
By July 1945, United Kingdom leaders were proposing that five divisions, from the various Commonwealth armies, be assembled in India, and that they enter the Japanese campaign in March 1946, a few months after the first landings by United States forces.[1] It was to be accompanied by a 15-squadron tactical air force, comprised mostly of Royal Australian Air Force and Royal New Zealand Air Force squadrons. However, the Australian Advisory War Council did not endorse this plan — it felt that the Australia's deep involvement in the Pacific War meant that Australian Army units should be involved in the initial landing forces; the Council was considering the attachment of units to US formations.[2]
By the time of the Potsdam Conference, General Douglas MacArthur — as commander of Allied land forces for the proposed invasion — was insisting that: the total Commonwealth land forces involved should be only three divisions; a combined Commonwealth corps should be formed; it should use only US equipment and logistics; it should be kept in reserve rather than taking part in initial landings and; it should not include Indian Army units, due to "linguistic and administrative complications".[3]
On August 8, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Alan Brooke proposed that the corps comprise one Australian, one British and one Canadian division, as well as two New Zealand Army brigades.[4] The corps was to be formed in the United States and train there for six months before deployment.
It is generally considered that the corps was to have included the British 3rd Infantry Division, and two new divisions being formed for the purpose of the invasion: the Australian 10th Infantry Division and the Canadian 6th Infantry Division. British leaders were proposing that it be led by the British Lt. Gen. Sir Charles Keightley. However, the Australian government disagreed the appointment of an officer with no experience fighting the Japanese, and proposed Lt-Gen Leslie Morshead for the command.[5] The war ended before the issue was resolved.
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 MacArthur was proposing the further reduction of the Commonwealth land forces to an elite division. However, considering the likelihood of extremely high casualties in any such invasion, it must be considered likely that a much larger number of Commonwealth troops would have become involved following the landings.
