During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Operation Pastel was the deception plan scheduled to protect

Operation Olympic Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II. The planned operation was canceled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ...

, the planned invasion of southern Japan. Pastel would have falsely portrayed a threat of an American-led invasion against ports in China via attacks on Formosa. One of the notional military formations that was designated for use in the deception was the fictitious XXXV Airborne Corps. The Corps formed part of Operation Pastel Two, the deception plan for Operation Olympic. The final version of Operation Pastel incorporated notional airborne landings, using dummy parachutists similar to those used on D-Day, in the interior of Kyūshū the day before the actual landings were to take place. The two-division fictional

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

that was to carry out the landings was designated XXXV Airborne Corps. Had Operation Pastel been carried out, the first elements of the XXXV Airborne Corps, quartering parties of the notional 18th Airborne Division, would have been depicted reaching

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

on August 15, 1945. Following this glider pilots were to be depicted as reaching Okinawa around August 20, 1945, followed by the troops of the real

11th 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first atteste ...

(in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

) and notional 18th Airborne Divisions, starting to arrive in Okinawa on September 1, 1945. On the same day the notional corps headquarters would have been activated.

References

External links

* * World War II deception operations Cancelled military operations involving the United States Japan campaign Cancelled invasions Cancelled military operations of World War II {{US-mil-operation-stub