Is6 Yamamoto
Isoroku Yamamoto was one of the few japanese military experts with a strategic vision. Most military experts believe that Yamamoto was probably Japan's most prominent naval admiral at the time. His major achievements include significant improvements to naval formation and tactics. In the early days of the Pacific War, he was commander of the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy and planned and commanded several campaigns, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway. Yamamoto is considered a clear-thinking commander, such as his recognition that Japan's national strength could not support a protracted war, his open opposition to an invasion of northeast China, the outbreak of a full-scale war with China, the signing of the Triple Alliance Treaty, and the war with the United States. Yamamoto loved his profession, cared for his soldiers, was strictly punctual, and was loyal to his duties despite the danger, and was indeed the most competent commander of the combined fleet at that time, and no one could replace him. In general, Yamamoto was considered a clear-thinking and courageous commander.
However, some people believe that Yamamoto Isoroku was deliberately "deified" by the Japanese army due to the need for war propaganda. In terms of military command ability alone, Yamamoto Fifty-Six is not particularly prominent, and carefully analyzing several major battles he commanded, some people think that there are the following mistakes:
1. Attack on Pearl Harbor: Overall, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a success. But on a political level, the attack was of no benefit to Japan. The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the complete anger of the American people, and the United States was full of resentment against the Japanese people. Yamamoto, commander of the Combined Fleet, was sitting at home on such a combat mission, thousands of miles away from the front. After two waves of attacks on Pearl Harbor, Nan yun Zhongyi commanded the Japanese army to carry out no further supplementary bombing of important strategic targets on Oahu, nor did it attack the large military oil storage tank at Pearl Harbor, resulting in the actual results of this sneak attack being limited, and Japan's only pre-emptive strike was not maximized.
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
2. Battle of Midway: Yamamoto violated the basic principle of "concentrating forces" in military operations, and the battle plan was too complicated. The Japanese at the Battle of Midway claimed to have more than 200 ships and organized dozens of battleships and aircraft carriers to participate in the battle, but in the end only The mobile fleet of Nanun Tadaichi participated in the battle; on the other hand, the U.S. army concentrated the only troops to the maximum, and from this point of view, Yamamoto's deployment was not smart. The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the Pacific War. The Japanese lost 4 aircraft carriers, 1 heavy cruiser, all about 250 carrier-based aircraft, and more than 3,500 personnel in this battle, while the U.S. army lost only 1 aircraft carrier, 1 destroyer, 150 aircraft, and 307 personnel. Relying on the victory in this battle, the US military reversed the passive situation since the beginning of the war, and the Japanese Navy has since lost its strategic dominance since the beginning of the war.
Battle of Midway
3. Guadalcanal Campaign: As the last major battle commanded by Yamamoto Fifty-Six, Yamamoto can still occupy the initiative on the battlefield if he can firmly use his troops to act as a whole. But at this time, he was still an oil-adding tactic, and was broken one by one by the small but sophisticated fleet of the American army. After more than half a year of fighting, the Japanese army lost a large number of warships and aircraft, and the casualties of the Japanese army far exceeded that of the American army. Japan could no longer afford to continue its war of attrition and eventually opted for withdrawal. The U.S. military was able to completely occupy Guadalcanal, then seized the Solomon Islands, and finally the entire South Pacific, and the U.S. military began a strategic counteroffensive. The Battle of Guadalcanal was another strategic defeat of the Japanese army in the Pacific Theater after the Battle of Midway, and it was also a turning point for the Japanese army from strategic superiority to inferiority.
Other military experts believe that Yamamoto's sitting of the Battleship Yamato far away from the battlefield was a huge mistake. The Battleship Yamato was the largest battleship ever built by the Japanese Navy, which was built by amassing the highest technology of Japan at the time.
Luxurious battleship Yamato
In addition, the combined fleet under Yamamoto's command had obvious weaknesses, such as the lack of escort, the heavy casualties of merchant ships carrying strategic supplies under the interception of the U.S. Navy's submarine force, resulting in the interruption of Japanese logistics lines and often lack of strategic resources; for the Battle of Midway, U.S. naval historians directly called the attack on Midway "stupid." On the other hand, the US military, whether it is Nimitz or Spruance, Halsey and others, the command ability is actually better than Yamamoto.
U.S. Navy Five-Star Admiral Chester William Nimitz