Have You Heard?: The Secret Mission to Kill Yamamoto

[Disir]

They did it. On April 18, 1943, 16 U.S. Army Air Forces fighter pilots from Guadalcanal flew more than 400 miles to ambush Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto as he flew to Balalae airfield in the Solomon Islands. They sent the Japanese Combined Fleet’s commander in chief to a fiery grave in the jungles of Bougainville. The United States had exacted revenge against the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack and one of the Imperial Navy’s highest-ranking officers—but at what cost?

Behind the scenes, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reacted with glee, writing a mock letter of condolence to Yamamoto’s widow that circulated around the White House but was never sent:

Dear Widow Yamamoto:

Time is a great leveler and somehow I never expected to see the old boy at the White House anyway. Sorry I can’t attend the funeral because
I approve of it.

Hoping he is where we know he ain’t.

Very sincerely yours,

/s/ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Ironically, the success of the mission, aptly named Operation Vengeance, threatened to expose the most important secret of the Pacific War: the U.S. Navy’s ability to read the Japanese navy’s top-secret JN-25 operational code. If the Japanese suspected a broken code had led to Yamamoto’s death, they would drastically overhaul all their military codes and the United States would lose its priceless strategic advantage. As nervous commanders waited to see if there would be a day of reckoning, America’s own servicemen would prove to be the gravest threat to this crucial secret.

Have You Heard?: The Secret Mission to Kill Yamamoto | HistoryNet


It has to be arrogance the code was too tough to crack.

 

[Syriusly]

They did it. On April 18, 1943, 16 U.S. Army Air Forces fighter pilots from Guadalcanal flew more than 400 miles to ambush Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto as he flew to Balalae airfield in the Solomon Islands. They sent the Japanese Combined Fleet’s commander in chief to a fiery grave in the jungles of Bougainville. The United States had exacted revenge against the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack and one of the Imperial Navy’s highest-ranking officers—but at what cost?

Behind the scenes, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reacted with glee, writing a mock letter of condolence to Yamamoto’s widow that circulated around the White House but was never sent:

Dear Widow Yamamoto:

Time is a great leveler and somehow I never expected to see the old boy at the White House anyway. Sorry I can’t attend the funeral because
I approve of it.

Hoping he is where we know he ain’t.

Very sincerely yours,

/s/ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Ironically, the success of the mission, aptly named Operation Vengeance, threatened to expose the most important secret of the Pacific War: the U.S. Navy’s ability to read the Japanese navy’s top-secret JN-25 operational code. If the Japanese suspected a broken code had led to Yamamoto’s death, they would drastically overhaul all their military codes and the United States would lose its priceless strategic advantage. As nervous commanders waited to see if there would be a day of reckoning, America’s own servicemen would prove to be the gravest threat to this crucial secret.

Have You Heard?: The Secret Mission to Kill Yamamoto | HistoryNet


It has to be arrogance the code was too tough to crack.

Arrogance?

Yamamato was perhaps Japans most brilliant naval strategist.

Who knows how many servicemen's lives were saved by that mission.

For once it was the top command that died, rather than ordinary sailors and soldiers.

I have known about that operation for decades- it was a risky mission that paid off.

 

[Disir]

They did it. On April 18, 1943, 16 U.S. Army Air Forces fighter pilots from Guadalcanal flew more than 400 miles to ambush Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto as he flew to Balalae airfield in the Solomon Islands. They sent the Japanese Combined Fleet’s commander in chief to a fiery grave in the jungles of Bougainville. The United States had exacted revenge against the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack and one of the Imperial Navy’s highest-ranking officers—but at what cost?

Behind the scenes, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reacted with glee, writing a mock letter of condolence to Yamamoto’s widow that circulated around the White House but was never sent:

Dear Widow Yamamoto:

Time is a great leveler and somehow I never expected to see the old boy at the White House anyway. Sorry I can’t attend the funeral because
I approve of it.

Hoping he is where we know he ain’t.

Very sincerely yours,

/s/ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Ironically, the success of the mission, aptly named Operation Vengeance, threatened to expose the most important secret of the Pacific War: the U.S. Navy’s ability to read the Japanese navy’s top-secret JN-25 operational code. If the Japanese suspected a broken code had led to Yamamoto’s death, they would drastically overhaul all their military codes and the United States would lose its priceless strategic advantage. As nervous commanders waited to see if there would be a day of reckoning, America’s own servicemen would prove to be the gravest threat to this crucial secret.

Have You Heard?: The Secret Mission to Kill Yamamoto | HistoryNet


It has to be arrogance the code was too tough to crack.

Arrogance?

Yamamato was perhaps Japans most brilliant naval strategist.

Who knows how many servicemen's lives were saved by that mission.

For once it was the top command that died, rather than ordinary sailors and soldiers.

I have known about that operation for decades- it was a risky mission that paid off.

You didn't read the article.

 

[Syriusly]

They did it. On April 18, 1943, 16 U.S. Army Air Forces fighter pilots from Guadalcanal flew more than 400 miles to ambush Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto as he flew to Balalae airfield in the Solomon Islands. They sent the Japanese Combined Fleet’s commander in chief to a fiery grave in the jungles of Bougainville. The United States had exacted revenge against the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack and one of the Imperial Navy’s highest-ranking officers—but at what cost?

Behind the scenes, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reacted with glee, writing a mock letter of condolence to Yamamoto’s widow that circulated around the White House but was never sent:

Dear Widow Yamamoto:

Time is a great leveler and somehow I never expected to see the old boy at the White House anyway. Sorry I can’t attend the funeral because
I approve of it.

Hoping he is where we know he ain’t.

Very sincerely yours,

/s/ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Ironically, the success of the mission, aptly named Operation Vengeance, threatened to expose the most important secret of the Pacific War: the U.S. Navy’s ability to read the Japanese navy’s top-secret JN-25 operational code. If the Japanese suspected a broken code had led to Yamamoto’s death, they would drastically overhaul all their military codes and the United States would lose its priceless strategic advantage. As nervous commanders waited to see if there would be a day of reckoning, America’s own servicemen would prove to be the gravest threat to this crucial secret.

Have You Heard?: The Secret Mission to Kill Yamamoto | HistoryNet


It has to be arrogance the code was too tough to crack.

Arrogance?

Yamamato was perhaps Japans most brilliant naval strategist.

Who knows how many servicemen's lives were saved by that mission.

For once it was the top command that died, rather than ordinary sailors and soldiers.

I have known about that operation for decades- it was a risky mission that paid off.

You didn't read the article.

I hadn't- but I have read dozen's of articles about the mission, and read the account in multiple history books- and guess what- the article confirms what I said:

Nimitz knew that if the Japanese thought Yamamoto had been ambushed, they could suspect their code had been broken and change it. He decided the risk was worth it, because the Japanese had no one of comparable stature to replace Yamamoto

 

[whitehall]

Killing Yamamoto in WW2 was a combination of intelligence, courage and skill and fantastic luck. The U..S. planes were at their fuel limit and Yamamoto's plane would be a speck on the sky visible and vulnerable for only a short time to the limited range of conventional weapons at the time.

 

[Disir]

They did it. On April 18, 1943, 16 U.S. Army Air Forces fighter pilots from Guadalcanal flew more than 400 miles to ambush Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto as he flew to Balalae airfield in the Solomon Islands. They sent the Japanese Combined Fleet’s commander in chief to a fiery grave in the jungles of Bougainville. The United States had exacted revenge against the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack and one of the Imperial Navy’s highest-ranking officers—but at what cost?

Behind the scenes, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reacted with glee, writing a mock letter of condolence to Yamamoto’s widow that circulated around the White House but was never sent:

Dear Widow Yamamoto:

Time is a great leveler and somehow I never expected to see the old boy at the White House anyway. Sorry I can’t attend the funeral because
I approve of it.

Hoping he is where we know he ain’t.

Very sincerely yours,

/s/ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Ironically, the success of the mission, aptly named Operation Vengeance, threatened to expose the most important secret of the Pacific War: the U.S. Navy’s ability to read the Japanese navy’s top-secret JN-25 operational code. If the Japanese suspected a broken code had led to Yamamoto’s death, they would drastically overhaul all their military codes and the United States would lose its priceless strategic advantage. As nervous commanders waited to see if there would be a day of reckoning, America’s own servicemen would prove to be the gravest threat to this crucial secret.

Have You Heard?: The Secret Mission to Kill Yamamoto | HistoryNet


It has to be arrogance the code was too tough to crack.

Arrogance?

Yamamato was perhaps Japans most brilliant naval strategist.

Who knows how many servicemen's lives were saved by that mission.

For once it was the top command that died, rather than ordinary sailors and soldiers.

I have known about that operation for decades- it was a risky mission that paid off.

You didn't read the article.

I hadn't- but I have read dozen's of articles about the mission, and read the account in multiple history books- and guess what- the article confirms what I said:

Nimitz knew that if the Japanese thought Yamamoto had been ambushed, they could suspect their code had been broken and change it. He decided the risk was worth it, because the Japanese had no one of comparable stature to replace Yamamoto

Had you read the article first then you would have understood what I meant instead of popping off.

 

[Syriusly]

They did it. On April 18, 1943, 16 U.S. Army Air Forces fighter pilots from Guadalcanal flew more than 400 miles to ambush Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto as he flew to Balalae airfield in the Solomon Islands. They sent the Japanese Combined Fleet’s commander in chief to a fiery grave in the jungles of Bougainville. The United States had exacted revenge against the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack and one of the Imperial Navy’s highest-ranking officers—but at what cost?

Behind the scenes, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reacted with glee, writing a mock letter of condolence to Yamamoto’s widow that circulated around the White House but was never sent:

Dear Widow Yamamoto:

Time is a great leveler and somehow I never expected to see the old boy at the White House anyway. Sorry I can’t attend the funeral because
I approve of it.

Hoping he is where we know he ain’t.

Very sincerely yours,

/s/ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Ironically, the success of the mission, aptly named Operation Vengeance, threatened to expose the most important secret of the Pacific War: the U.S. Navy’s ability to read the Japanese navy’s top-secret JN-25 operational code. If the Japanese suspected a broken code had led to Yamamoto’s death, they would drastically overhaul all their military codes and the United States would lose its priceless strategic advantage. As nervous commanders waited to see if there would be a day of reckoning, America’s own servicemen would prove to be the gravest threat to this crucial secret.

Have You Heard?: The Secret Mission to Kill Yamamoto | HistoryNet


It has to be arrogance the code was too tough to crack.

Arrogance?

Yamamato was perhaps Japans most brilliant naval strategist.

Who knows how many servicemen's lives were saved by that mission.

For once it was the top command that died, rather than ordinary sailors and soldiers.

I have known about that operation for decades- it was a risky mission that paid off.

You didn't read the article.

I hadn't- but I have read dozen's of articles about the mission, and read the account in multiple history books- and guess what- the article confirms what I said:

Nimitz knew that if the Japanese thought Yamamoto had been ambushed, they could suspect their code had been broken and change it. He decided the risk was worth it, because the Japanese had no one of comparable stature to replace Yamamoto

Had you read the article first then you would have understood what I meant instead of popping off.

I understood exactly what you thought you meant- and addressed that.

Nimitz decided the risk was worthwhile because Japan had no one to replace Yamamato with- hence my quote:
Yamamato was perhaps Japans most brilliant naval strategist.

Who knows how many servicemen's lives were saved by that mission.

 

[Syriusly]

Killing Yamamoto in WW2 was a combination of intelligence, courage and skill and fantastic luck. The U..S. planes were at their fuel limit and Yamamoto's plane would be a speck on the sky visible and vulnerable for only a short time to the limited range of conventional weapons at the time.

And don't forget the P-38- we had a long range fighter that could even attempt the mission.

The P-38 was a fighter that had its limitations but it was designed to be a long range interceptor- and was made for this mission.