Isoroku Yamamoto was a Japanese admiral and commander of the Combined Fleet during World War II; the supreme military commander who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor; one of the culprits in the Pacific War; and a notorious major Japanese war criminal.
Yamamoto served in the Japanese Navy throughout his life, and he had extraordinary military talent and strategic vision, commanding operations with determination and strategy. He was an outstanding general in a purely military sense. However, the unjust war has calcined him into a fierce general, he is bloodthirsty, he becomes more and more aggressive, he gambles to win, he is arrogant and arrogant, and he is a crazy gambler who kills red eyes on a flesh-and-blood battlefield.
Yamamoto Isoroku was born into an old Samurai family in Japan, his original surname was Takano, and he was succeeded by the Nagaoka Samurai Yamamoto family and changed his surname to Yamamoto. Immersed in a family environment full of militaristic venom from an early age, he was admitted to the Edajima Naval Academy at the age of 17, graduated three years later and boarded a combat ship, losing two fingers while fighting the Russian Navy. At the age of 26, he entered the Japanese Naval University and after graduation was awarded the rank of Daisa, thus laying the foundation for his development in the Japanese Navy. Since then, he has been sent to Harvard University in the United States for further study, and has served as a military attaché and negotiator of embassies in Western countries for many years, and has traveled in Europe and the United States for many years. These experiences enabled him to have a relatively in-depth understanding of the military, economic, and social situations in Western countries, and his vision was broader than that of the old Japanese warlords who lived in china who were arrogant and arrogant, which had a major impact on the formation of his military thinking in the later period. He saw the huge gap between Japan's eager strategic intentions to expand at that time and its national strength, and he clearly realized that the strong military strength, strong industrial base, and rich oil reserves of the Western countries (especially Britain and the United States) were unmatched by Japan. He concluded from this that under the international situation at that time, Japan "absolutely could not" join the German-Italian fascist alliance and should try to avoid frontal military conflicts with Western powers such as Britain and the United States. Feuding with the United States and Britain is "not a fortunate thing" for Japan and may also have disastrous consequences. He was deeply disgusted by the arrogance of Japan's wartime cabinet and army, which they considered "invincible under heaven," and worried about the fanatical nationalist trend in Japan. As he held military positions and rose through the ranks, he vaguely felt that he was no more than an instrument of the militarist cabinet, that the Empire of Japan to which he was loyal was in a frenzied fire, and that his future and destiny and that of his country were full of tragedies. In Japan at that time, when the fascism was raging, this kind of view should be unique and superior.
However, as a pawn tied to the Chariot of Japanese fascism, Yamamoto was absolutely loyal to the Emperor and obeyed the Cabinet, and he was essentially a fascist. Knowing that the abyss of destruction lies ahead, he also fights to the death, moves forward step by step, and willingly serves as a martyr for the Japanese emperor and the fascist cabinet. Yamamoto was not a mediocre man, and while worrying about the fate of the country and the individual, he actively thought and explored how to postpone or avoid the defeat and demise of him and his country, and planned a maritime strategy and tactics that could deal a devastating blow to the enemy. He carefully studied and judged the advanced military ideas and operational strategies of the military generals of Western countries, and accepted and absorbed them. U.S. Admiral Mitchell's new naval warfare ideas on building large aircraft carriers, developing naval aviation, and making carrier-based aircraft the main offensive force of the Navy are all accepted in three books and fifty-six books, believing that this is the future development direction of the Navy, and it is also an effective way to solve the gap in naval strength between Japan and the United States. After taking command of the Japanese Navy, he put Mitchell's military ideas into practice, established naval aviation units, and conducted strict and even barbaric training in harsh environments, personally training Bushido soldiers who grew up sucking the milk of wild beasts into bloody and dehumanizing wolfhounds and poisonous bees, and preparing cannon fodder and martyrs for the Japanese fascist empire.
Old rivals Nimitz and Yamamoto
After Yamamoto became commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, he put forward the "New Pacific Strategy," in which he believed that although the United States had not yet entered the war at that time, it would never sit idly by while Japan dominated the Pacific, and only the United States had the strength to prevent Japan from invading and occupying the coastal countries from the south of the Pacific, and the US Pacific Fleet was the biggest potential enemy of the Japanese Navy rampaging through the Pacific. Potential enemies are also enemies, and we must seize the favorable opportunity when the US Navy is not yet vigilant enough against Japan, use carrier-based aviation to sneak attacks, and smash the US Pacific Fleet in one fell swoop, so as to ensure the realization of Japan's strategic intention of dominating the Pacific. Therefore, Yamamoto changed his original intention of "not going to war with the United States" and actively planned to carry out a pre-emptive and devastating blow to the US Navy. Although he knew that the confrontation with the world's number one power was likely to face great danger of self-destruction, he was usually a gambler and a master of gambling, and he believed in the principle of "win everything or lose everything". At this time, he used the battlefield as a casino, and knowing that war with the United States was "not a blessing" for Japan, he still had to make a desperate bet and make a big gamble.
In the early morning of December 8, 1941 (Sunday, December 7, Hawaiian time), Yamamoto personally issued a sneak attack order to "climb a new mountain". In an instant, the war clouds of the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Rolled over and the turbid waves were empty. Japan dispatched 6 aircraft carriers, 21 other ships, and 360 carrier-based aircraft, and in the space of 1 hour and 45 minutes, it bombed Pearl Harbor in two waves. By the time the Japanese ambassador to the United States delivered the notice of the declaration of war to the U.S. secretary of state, Pearl Harbor was already a sea of blood and fire. The U.S. military, which was enjoying a "good Sunday," was unsuspecting and buried at the bottom of the sea before it could fight back in self-defense. The Japanese sneak attack caused 2,403 U.S. soldiers to die and 1,178 to be wounded, 188 aircraft to be destroyed, 159 to be wounded, and 18 ships to be severely damaged. The Japanese lost only 55 pilots, 29 aircraft and 6 submarines. A briefing from the leader of the Japanese raid group successfully predetermined the signal "Torah! Torah! Torah! (Tiger!) tiger! tiger! "Rapidly spreading throughout the combined fleet, the Japanese Navy was ecstatic and arrogant, thinking that from now on the U.S. Navy was seriously injured and not enough to suffer. At this time, Yamamoto, who was in command of the flagship of the "Nagato", although his face was cold and did not smile, but his heart was full of ambition, triumphant, and his cheeks were red with excitement, and he was secretly glad that this adventure gambling had won a complete victory. The news of the victory spread to the mainland, and Japan held a national celebration, a frenzy. The Battle of Pearl Harbor greatly enhanced Yamamoto's popularity in Japanese politics, military circles, and fanatics, making him the darling of the emperor, the pride of the empire, and the soul of the navy in Japan.
Yamamoto's intention in commanding the Japanese Combined Fleet to sneak up on Pearl Harbor was to annihilate the main force of the US Pacific Fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor in one fell swoop, leaving it in an irreparable and recoverable situation, and thus collapse in a state of irredeemability and recovery, before Japan and the United States had formally declared war and the U.S. Navy was not vigilant enough. Even if the United States retaliates by declaring war, it loses the ability to fight back at the beginning of the war and becomes a paralyzed giant. In this way, it will greatly dampen the vigor of the AMERICAN army and people, so that Japan will be undefeated and become the hegemon of the sea. However, as a high-ranking general who had an accurate grasp and clear judgment of the military situation of both the enemy and us, he made a desperate bet to win the first battle, "made a determination that was completely contrary to his own will" (Three Books), and committed the great taboo of the soldiers, although he won the victory in the battle, he planted the seeds of downfall strategically. Of course, a generation of tough generals stepped out of this "stinky chess", in addition to their own ideological and strategic deviations, Japan at that time was arrogant, fascist arrogance, the war machine was running at high speed, and the warlord cabinet was eager to win, which also prompted Yamamoto to make a wrong decision without choice. The sneak attack on Pearl Harbor caused the Japanese Navy and Admiral Yamamoto to succeed for a moment, but it disgraced and infuriated the Americans on the other side of the ocean, who had always been proud and crazy, and on the second day of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States, which had been adopting an appeasement policy against Japan since the outbreak of World War II, officially declared war on Japan, became the toughest opponent of the Japanese Navy, and launched a maritime contest with the Japanese Navy. Since then, the United States has also regarded Yamamoto as a war devil and a plague on his heels, and when he searches for Yamamoto's whereabouts, he will want to get rid of it quickly. This not only hastened the final demise of the Japanese Navy, but also prepared the firing squad for the end of Yamamoto's life.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto repeatedly gambled with the U.S. Navy to win or lose, and the Battle of Midway, the Battle of Coral Island, and the Battle of Guadalcanal were all extremely fierce, and there were mutual victories and losses. He commanded the fleet to capture the Philippines and invade the Malay Peninsula, wherever smoke billowed and blood flowed. By April 1943, the world fascist camp had exhausted its troops, but Yamamoto was going to fight again, and he planned to launch operation "I" in the South Pacific, intending to once again damage the U.S. Navy. By this time, however, not only had his combined fleet lost its armor, but his own life was coming to an end—U.S. intelligence had deciphered the code of the Japanese Combined Fleet, knew its military operations inside and knew exactly when and how Yamamoto was about to inspect the troops in the Buin region of the Solomon Islands. It was time for the Americans to take a breath of rage — U.S. Military Supreme Commander President Roosevelt personally approved the battle plan drawn up by The Commander of the Pacific Fleet, General Nimitz, and decided to take "revenge" to shoot down Yamamoto's landline and physically eliminate the war maniac. On April 18, 1943, Yamamoto's medium bomber, escorted by six fighter jets, flew at the scheduled time and route, and entered the airspace where the American plane was ambushed on time. 16 US fighters swarmed and opened fire one after another, and Yamamoto's plane was shot and fell into the reckless jungle of Bougainville Island, and Yamamoto screamed for his life. Yamamoto, who was rumored to have been killed, still held a saber in his wreckage seat, but it is not known whether it was deliberately manipulated by his subordinates to earn Yamamoto the last bit of face, or whether his admirers deliberately fabricated it. After all, Yamamoto was dead, and Yamamoto's time of arrogance was over. Yamamoto, like Hideki Tojo, Mussolini, and Hitler, was reduced to ashes in the frenzied war he ignited, becoming a sinner in world history, forever nailed to the pillar of shame of war criminals.
Seventy-five years have passed since the Pacific War, and the crime of thousands of years has long been determined. Good people all over the world often look back on that unforgettable history and relive the scenes of the war between blood and fire in order to always remember the fierceness and brutality, arbitrariness and arrogance of the world fascists. In Japan, however, the specter of militarism has not yet dissipated; right-wing elements have openly worn Japanese World War II uniforms and carry samurai sabers in broad daylight; officials of the Ministry of Education and The Ministry of Education have examined and revised textbooks in disregard of historical facts; and successive Japanese prime ministers who have been bent on going their own way have often paid homage to the Yasukuni Shrine, either openly or covertly, in spite of the strong opposition and condemnation of peace- and justice-loving countries and peoples around the world. All of this, Hideki Tojo and Yamamoto Fifty-Six under the eighteenth layer of hell would have been cold and smiling if they knew.