"Directive for Operation OLYMPIC." JCS 1331/3, 25 May 1945.

This is the last version of the directive for the final Pacific campaign, as dispatched to the Pacific commanders. It contains the decision on overall command of the operation. As the document indicates, a directive to prepare for the operation had already been issued to MacArthur and Nimitz on 3 April. This document is presented here, out of chronological order, because its contents are so closely related to those of document 1.

This part of the document notes the importance and centrality of the land portion of the campaign. The ships would have served to bombard areas and to unload the troops, and to launch planes. The planes would have bombed enemy ships, attacked kamikaze planes, bombed planes on the ground, and supported the ground troops, but the major bulk of the fighting would have been the land troops.

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