Board Thread:Timeline Discussions/@comment-7559950-20130911012534/@comment-3428312-20170118230048

Octivian Marius wrote: I was wondering if a more successful Japanese attacks on the US such as the Lookout Air Raids, the bombardment of Fort Stevens, or the bombing of Elwood Oil fields could have a impact. Increased success and more attacks in the homeland could dapper public opinion and shift the location of troops to the west coast. It wouldn't be a war winner, but it could result in political pressure to increase the amount of AA defenses for the homeland. That would probably have a tangible effect on the war effort by making the Replacement Crisis in late 1944 a bit worse, which could in turn effect the Ardennes Battle as well as pace of Allied advance later on.

As an aside on this point, later in the war the Japanese could increase their fire balloon efforts, which IOTL did result in a powerline at the Hanford Nuclear reactor temporarily being taken offline. Luckily for the Allies, the plant had auxiliary units and thus nothing came of this. Had there been a rather large swarm of such weapons that landed that day, however, perhaps it is possible to cause a reactor meltdown by cutting the power supply. This would result in such things as forcing information about Manhattan out in the open, causing radioactive fallout in the Pacific Northwest, and delaying the development of the Atomic Bomb.