When you think of World War II, you picture the battles we all learned about, but behind every action lay a hidden “alternative world” of plans that never saw the light of day. From daring invasions to grand‑scale operations, each of these schemes could have reshaped the globe in dramatic ways.
Exploring the Alternative World of WWII Strategies
10 The Two Japanese Proposals To Invade Australia
In 1942 the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy sat down for a series of heated meetings. Their Pacific conquests were already massive, and the next tempting prize was Australia. The navy pushed a modest strike—just enough to seize northern Australia and deny the British and Americans a forward base. The army, however, dismissed that as a recipe for a costly slog.
Army planners dreamed bigger: a full‑scale invasion that would require ten divisions—an impossible number while most of their troops were tied up in China. Supplying such a force across the vast continent would have been a logistical nightmare. Instead they cooked up Operation FS, an encirclement strategy that would have occupied eastern New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the New Caledonia‑Fiji chain, effectively blockading the continent and forcing surrender. Neither the limited invasion nor the encirclement ever materialised; the U.S. Navy’s decisive Pacific battles kept the southern flank safe.
9 An Allied Invasion One Year Earlier Than D‑Day
Back in 1942 a young Dwight Eisenhower drafted a bold scheme called Operation Round‑up. The idea was to land Allied troops in France as early as 1943, opening a second front and easing Soviet pressure. British strategists, however, warned that German defenses were still too formidable for the forces available, deeming the plan premature.
The Allies opted for Operation Torch instead, targeting the softer sands of North Africa before moving on to Italy. A year later the original concept resurfaced as the famous Operation Overlord—D‑Day—as the balance of forces finally tipped in the Allies’ favour.
8 Hitler’s Plan To Invade Switzerland
After the swift defeat of France in 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered a contingency for invading neutral Switzerland. Codenamed Operation Tannenbaum (German for “pine”), the original blueprint called for 21 German divisions, later trimmed to 11 from the north and 15 Italian divisions from the south.
Hitler’s personal disdain for the Swiss—calling them a “pimple in the face of Europe”—didn’t translate into action; his attention shifted toward the Soviet Union and Britain. Meanwhile, the Swiss were anything but passive. Every citizen was armed, and over 400,000 men had been mobilised. General Henri Guisan’s “defence du réduit” called for a strategic retreat into Alpine fortresses, where a guerrilla war would have cost the Axis dearly.
7 Germany’s Invasion Of Britain
Hitler’s next grand ambition after conquering France was Operation Seelöwe (Sea Lion). The plan called for 160,000 German soldiers crammed onto 2,000 barges to storm the English Channel. Generals warned that the Royal Navy and the RAF would crush such a venture unless air supremacy was first achieved.
The Luftwaffe’s three‑month aerial campaign, known as the Battle of Britain, failed to dominate the skies. With the RAF holding firm, the German invasion was shelved indefinitely, nudging Hitler eastward toward the Soviet Union.
6 Britain And France’s Air Strike On The Soviet Union
Even before the war officially erupted, Britain and France fretted over Soviet oil feeding Nazi Germany. Their answer? Operation Pike—a daring plan to bomb key oil installations in Soviet Azerbaijan, crippling both Soviet and German war machines.
Bombers actually reached the target zone in April 1940, but the mission was aborted. Planners feared that a full‑scale strike might push the USSR into a German alliance. When Germany’s blitz through the Low Countries and France began, the operation was quietly shelved.
5 Japan’s Own Soviet Invasion Plan
Long before Pearl Harbor, the Japanese military drafted a series of “northward advance” (hokushin‑ron) operations aimed at Soviet Siberia. In July 1941, an Imperial Conference settled on a conditional invasion: only if Germany’s own assault on the USSR was progressing well would Japan strike east.
The Japanese Army championed this two‑front nightmare for the Soviets, but a 1939 defeat at Khalkhin Gol and the slowing German advance eroded confidence. Ultimately, the Navy’s “southward advance” (nanshin‑ron) won out, steering Japan toward conflict with the United States instead.
4 Germany Planned To Invade Gibraltar And Force Spain Into The War
Stung by the failure to neutralise the RAF, the Nazis hatched Operation Felix—an audacious scheme to seize Gibraltar, the British stronghold at the Mediterranean’s mouth. Controlling Gibraltar would have choked the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean access and cut Britain’s supply line from the Suez Canal.
Executing Felix required German troops marching through neutral Spain. Hitler even personally appealed to Franco, but the Spanish dictator declined, fearing that German troops on his soil would drag Spain into the war. The plan lingered on the back‑burner even after the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union.
3 Japan Intended To Strike The US With Chemical Bombs
In the war’s waning days, Unit 731—Japan’s notorious biological‑ and chemical‑warfare unit—drafted a grim scheme dubbed Operation Cherry Blossoms in the Night. The plan called for kamikaze bombers loaded with plague‑laden bombs to strike the heavily populated San Diego coast.
Because Japan’s navy was a wreck, the operation hinged on a novel submarine‑aircraft carrier: a massive sub that could surface, launch a single plane, and disappear unnoticed. The mission held no strategic value; it was a desperate gamble to scare the United States away from a mainland invasion. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki rendered the plot moot.
2 The US Would Have Invaded Japan
By April 1945 the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff had tasked General Douglas MacArthur with leading Operation Downfall—the colossal invasion of the Japanese home islands. The plan split into two phases: Operation Olympic (the capture of Kyushu) and Operation Coronet (the assault on Honshu). Together they would marshal a staggering 2.5 million troops—more than the entire Normandy invasion.
Allied planners even entertained the use of chemical weapons, anticipating fierce Japanese resistance. Fortunately, the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki prompted Japan’s surrender on August 15, sparing the world an estimated 400,000‑800,000 American casualties and millions more on both sides.
1 Churchill’s Plans For World War III
When the guns fell silent in 1945, Europe was split: the West under Allied control, the East under Soviet sway. Winston Churchill, wary of Stalin’s intentions, commissioned a secret contingency known as Operation Unthinkable. The plan envisioned a surprise attack on Soviet forces across Europe, beginning on July 1, 1945, and even called for re‑arming 100,000 German soldiers to fight alongside the Allies.
Churchill also urged the United States to consider deploying the atomic bomb against the USSR if they refused to back down. The idea never left the drawing board—President Harry Truman’s war‑wearied administration balked at another massive conflict, and the operation was quietly abandoned.