[Kyt]

What hasn't been mentioned is the direct affect on the British & Commonwealth forces in SEAC. For the US, Olympic was still being planned, and the month or so before the surrender was a period of realitive respite after Okinawa.

However, what the dropping of the Bombs did was stop one invasion that about to start on the 1st September. The preparations of this were nearly complete and the shedule had been set.

Operation Zipper - the Invasion of Malaya

Operation Zipper was the plan for the capture of Port Swettenham on the north-west coast of Malaya leading to a southward advance on Singapore. The plan was devised by Admiral Lord Mountbatten’s South-East Asia Command after receiving instructions on 3 February 1945 to complete the liberation of Burma as rapidly as possible and then liberating Malaya.

In this sweep “Zipper” concentrated on capturing a beachhead in the Port Swettenham/Port Dickson area of south-west Malaya. The opposition was found by Field marshal Count Hisaichi Terauchi’s Southern region command, i.e. the 29th Japanese Army in Malaya under the command of General K. Doihara’s 7th Area Army. “Zipper” faced two Japanese divisions and an Independent Mixed Brigade, supported by a tank battalion, in the Kra isthmus region.

The Allied Landing Force for “Zipper” was Lt.General O.L.Robert’s XXXIV Indian Corps (5th, 23rd, 25th and 26th Indian Divisions, 3rd Commando Brigade and one Parachute Brigade of the British 6th Airborne Div.), and though “Zipper” itself was to use just two divisions and one brigade, the corps’ additional forces were to be landed as soon as possible for the advance south towards Singapore.

D-day for Zipper was pushed to 9 September and would have landings near Morib with the 25th Indian Division and the 37th bde of the 23rd Indian Division. By D+6 they expected to have airfields near Port Swettenham and Port Dickson.

By D+8, 3 divisions (23rd, 25th, and the 5th) as well as 2 infantry brigades and the 50th Indian Tank Brigade were to be there with the XXXIV Corps HQ.

By D+53 the advance to Singapore was to be well underway.

To support the landings more than 500 aircraft of strategic, tactical and general reconnaissance units of the RAF were assembled at airfields in Burma, Ceylon and the Cocos Islands. At the same time the supply of arms and equipment to the underground organisation in Malaya was intensified and photographic aircraft worked hard to provide advanced information for all three services. One of their tasks was to secure detailed pictures of the proposed landing areas, and most of this was done by a detachment of four Mosquitos from the Cocos Islands under the control of Wing Commander Newman of No. 684 Squadron.

Instead, with the surrender Zipper became the occupation-force for Operation Tiderace - the liberation of the region from the surrendered Japanese.