Isoroku Yamamoto

Isoroku Yamamoto (?? ??? Yamamoto Isoroku, April 4, 1884 – April 18, 1943) was the commander of the Japanese Navy for the first four years of World War II. He is generally regarded to be Japan's greatest naval strategist of the war, and among the greatest naval strategists in history.

Yamamoto's death

To boost morale following Guadalcanal, Yamamoto decided to make an inspection tour throughout the South Pacific. On 14 April 1943, the US naval intelligence effort, code-named "Magic", intercepted and decrypted reports of the tour.

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The original code message of NTF131755 addressed to the commanders of the Base Unit No. 1, the 11th Air Flotilla and the 26th Air Flotilla, informing of the planned tour was encoded by the Japanese Naval Cipher JN-25D (Naval Operations Code Book of the third version of RO) and picked up by Fleet Radio Unit Pacific Fleet.

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The message contained specific details regarding Yamamoto's arrival and departure times and locations, as well as the number and types of planes that would transport and accompany him on the journey. Yamamoto, the message revealed, would be flying to Bougainville in the Solomon Islands off New Guinea, in a Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" — a twin-engined bomber — on the 18th of April. He would be escorted by six Mitsubishi Zero fighters, and was due to arrive at 0800 and subsequently leave by boat for the Shortland Islands at 0840.

Related Topics:
Bougainville - Solomon Islands - Mitsubishi G4M - Mitsubishi Zero - Shortland Islands

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Passengers on Yamamoto's Plane

(Tail number T1-323)

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• Pilot Warrant Officer Takeo Koyani
• Passenger Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (C-in-C)
• Passenger Cdr Ishizaki (C-in-C's Secretary)
• Passenger Cdr Toibana (Senior Air Staff Officer)
• Passenger Rear Admiral Kitamura (Fleet Financial Officer)
• Passenger Read Admiral Takata (Fleet Medical Officer)

Of particular note was the choice of ferrying aircraft, the Mitsubishi G4M "Betty". The Betty redefined Japanese naval bomber operations because of its extremely long range. Notorious for its tendency to catch fire due to its large unprotected external fuel tanks that tended to explode when hit by even short burst of enemy fire, it was called the "one-shot lighter" by Allied pilots during WWII.

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Operation Vengeance

Admiral Nimitz, when given the option of assassinating his Japanese counterpart, decided he had to seek higher authority. The entire intelligence operation might be compromised if the Japanese realized that Yamamoto's schedule was decoded. Admiral Ernest King, the highest-ranking officer in the Navy, decided there had to be Presidential approval. Roosevelt signed the "political assassination" executive order.

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The hesitation to endorse such targeted killings involves a misunderstanding of what exactly is proscribed by international law. According to Article 23b of the Hague Convention, "It is especially forbidden to kill or wound treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army." This could be interpreted as not being a prohibition on all targeted killings, but for a killing to be considered an unlawful assassination, it has to use treacherous means.

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What was essentially a suicide mission fell to a handful of colorful and expendable U.S. Army pilots from Guadalcanal's battered Cactus Air Force ("Cactus" being the Allied code name for the island). Planning for this mission was completed by Fighter Command's deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Luther S. Moore, who scheduled Army long-range P-38s fitted with Navy navigational equipment for the task. They were the only aircraft in this arena capable of making the 425-mile (787 km) flight to Bougainville and back. These fighters each carried a 20 mm cannon and 4 × 50-calibre (12.7 mm) machine guns, and when fitted with an extra 300-gallon (1136 L) gas tank to back up the existing 165 gallon (625 L) tank, they would carry sufficent fuel for the proposed return trip from Guadalcanal to Bougainville. The flight plan was prepared by the Command Operations Officer, Major Condon.

Related Topics:
Guadalcanal's - Cactus Air Force - P-38s

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Under the title "Operation Vengeance", sixteen of these specially-fitted P-38s from the 339th Fighter Squadron, US Army Major John W. Mitchell commanding, flew from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal to ambush Yamamoto in the air on his way from Rabaul to Bougainville. The date, April 18, was especially chosen on the one-year annivesary of the Doolittle Raid, partially for revenge as it was just made known that three of the captured raiders had been beheaded by the Japanese.

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To avoid detection, it was planned to wave-hop all the way to Bougainville, and to maintain radio silence. The task group flew over 400 miles (740 km) at heights no greater than 50 feet (15 m) above the water. This was the longest fighter intercept mission of the war; it was something of an amazing feat that these planes got to the location exactly on time after such a considerable distance, as did the ever-punctual Yamamoto's aircraft. A "killer" group of four P-38s was assigned to attack the two "Betty" bombers carrying Yamamoto and his staff and the six protecting Zeros (flying out of the Kahili airstrip near Buin). In the early morning of April 18, the two Bettys were spotted approaching Kahili airfield on Bougainville. After a series of dogfights lasting ten minutes, the lead bomber was strafed by machine gun fire and crashed into the jungle below. Not knowing which bomber carried Yamamoto, the second bomber was also attacked, and crashed into the ocean with passenger Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki, who survived. The six Zero pilots who were Yamamoto's escort could do nothing to alert the bombers carrying the admiral and his staff since their Zeros' primitive radios had been taken out to save weight, and their leader had been shot down. They were later given the choice of death in combat, and within six months five of the six were dead.

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The pilots of the killer group consisted of Tom Lanphier, Rex Barber, Besby Holmes, and Ray Hine. Lanphier's initial claim for the kill was later discredited; it was Barber, Lanphier's wingman, who was ultimately awarded the kill in 1972 after new evidence was put forward, in the form of a taped interview with the one surviving Zero pilot, Kenji Yanagiya. One of the pilots in the killer group, Hine, was lost in the encounter.

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Yamamoto was apparently killed in the air by a machine-gun bullet which struck his head, although some still question whether he was killed immediately. Yamamoto's body was found by a Japanese search and rescue party, led by Army engineer Lieutenant Hamasuna, the next day in the jungle north of Buin. According to contemporary accounts, he had been thrown clear of the plane's wreckage, his white-gloved hand grasping the hilt of his samurai sword. According to Lieutenant Hamasuna, Yamamoto was instantly recognizable, sitting perfectly under a tree, head dipped down as deep in thought; however, given that the evidence points to Yamamoto dying before the plane crashed, it is largely believed that his remains were tidied up by the search party out of respect.

Related Topics:
Samurai - Sword

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In Japan this became known as the "Navy k? incident"(?????). It raised morale in the States, and shocked the Japanese who were officially told about the incident only on 21 May 1943. To cover up the fact that the Allies were reading Japanese code, American newspapers published a story that civilian coast-watchers in the Solomons saw Yamamoto boarding a bomber in the area.

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Captain Watanabe and his staff cremated Yamamoto's remains at Buin, and the ashes were returned to Tokyo aboard the battleship Musashi, Yamamoto's last flagship. Yamamoto was given a full state funeral on 3 June 1943, where he received, posthumously, the title of Fleet Admiral and awarded the Order of the Chrysanthemum, First Class. Part of his ashes were buried in the public cemetery in Tuma in Tokyo, and the remainder at his ancestral burial grounds at the Chuko-Ji Temple in Nagaoka City.

Related Topics:
''Musashi'' - Order of the Chrysanthemum

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The wreck of Yamamoto's aircraft is located in the jungle near Moila Point, a few kilometers off the Panguna-Buin road. Signposts can be found near the village of Aku, 24 km outside Buin. A path to the wreck has been cut through the jungle, a hour's walk from the road.

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