In the early morning of April 18, 1943, at Henderson Airport on Guadalcanal, U.S. Army Air Corps pilots were eating breakfast, which was scrambled eggs and bread from their already vomited lunches. But the pilots of the 339th Fighter Squadron still had to eat this disgusting breakfast, because they had a very important mission next, and if the blood sugar level was too low during the mission to reduce their judgment, and finally the mission failed, then their flying career was estimated to be over.
So, what exactly is the task so important? Quite simply, the 339th Fighter Squadron will avenge pearl harbor by assassinating Isoroku Yamamoto.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > leaked telegram</h1>
Fast forward to April 7, 1943, when Isoroku Yamamoto was commanding Operation I in Rabaul, New Britain, with the aim of using land-based aviation against U.S. forces in southern Solomon Islands and New Guinea.
Yamamoto was well aware that after the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Japanese Navy's transportation lines in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea were frequently hit by U.S. naval and air forces, which meant that the U.S. counterattack was imminent.
Therefore, Yamamoto Fifty-Six hoped to consume as many American troops as possible before the Us counterattack, so as to achieve the purpose of curbing the US attack.
Yamamoto was hoping for a complete victory in this attack, so that he would have the opportunity to withdraw his troops to the Mariana Islands to build a defensive position.
However, the offensive on April 7 had no effect, although the Japanese army invested more than 200 combat aircraft of various types this time, but under the superior air force of the US military, it did not achieve major results, but was shot down by the US military 21 combat aircraft.
However, the pilots did not know that they had a brain pump, and lied that they had achieved major successes, sinking 26 American ships in the southern Solomon Islands.
Yamamoto believed this and dispatched troops to carry out air raids on New Guinea. The air raids for several days did not achieve much success, but the pilots once again deceived him, falsely claiming to have shot down more than 200 American aircraft and sunk 28 American ships.
It must be said that the Japanese army's problem of lying about the results of the battle was really speechless, but Yamamoto Fifty-Six believed it to be true and mistakenly believed that the situation of the war had been reversed. Excited, Isoroku Yamamoto decided to take a plane to Buyen, the Shortland Islands and other places to boost morale, and asked rabaul base to inform the Japanese defenders of the islands.
According to the practice of the Japanese army, the whereabouts of Yamamoto Fifty-Six must be sent not only to the various bases inspected by Yamamoto Fifty-six, but also to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Yamamoto's aide-de-camp was confident in the Japanese's newly upgraded cipher system, so he sent the telegram with great fanfare. But what he didn't know was that both the Japanese Navy's cryptography and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs' cryptography had been cracked by the U.S. military, and Yamamoto's whereabouts had been completely exposed to the U.S. military.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > target Isoroku Yamamoto</h1>
On April 13, 1943, the U.S. Navy's internal intelligence service, code-named "Magic," intercepted a Japanese telegram, and after comparing it with the intercepted Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs telegram, the U.S. Navy successfully deciphered the contents of the telegram. The telegram reads as follows:
"The GF commander is scheduled to depart from Rabaul at 8 a.m. on 18 April, boarding two Type I land attack aircraft, protected by six Zero fighters, to bougainville, Shortland and Bouin bases, and the fleet will land at Bougainville Island airport at 9.45 a.m., then arrive at the Shortland base at 10.40 a.m. on a hunting submarine, depart for Bouin at 4 p.m. in a type I land attack aircraft, and return to Rabaul at 5.40 p.m. In case of bad weather, postpone it for one day. ”
GF Chief? Intelligence analysts in the U.S. Navy quickly figured out the identity of the GF commander, The Commander of the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
This news really made them take a breath of cold air, and they never expected that Yamamoto Fifty-Six would risk going to the front line in the near future, which was a perfect opportunity to kill Yamamoto Fifty-Six.
But the stakes were high, especially the assassination of senior belligerent generals on the front lines, which was contrary to the rules of engagement, so the U.S. Navy sent the information to Washington, where U.S. President Roosevelt made a decision.
At noon on the 14th, Roosevelt, who was having lunch with the White House and U.S. military and political leaders, received this key information, in Roosevelt's eyes, this Yamamoto Fifty-Six was an abominable war criminal, he must be responsible for the Pearl Harbor incident, so he asked Secretary of the Navy Norfolk and Secretary of Naval Operations Ernest King whether they should assassinate Yamamoto Fifty-Six.
Both Secretary of the Navy Norfolk and Secretary of Naval Operations Ernest King agreed to kill Isoroku Yamamoto and avenge the death of American soldiers at Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt then made up his mind and instructed Nimitz, commander of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet, to ask him to eliminate Yamamoto Fifty-Six on the 18th.
To tell the truth, Nimitz still had some concerns about Roosevelt's order, after all, assassinating a senior enemy general on the battlefield was actually a taboo thing, and if after killing Yamamoto Fifty-Six, Japan sent a general who was more powerful than Yamamoto Fifty-Six, wouldn't that be lifting a stone and dropping it on his own feet?
In response, Nimitz's aides said that Yamamoto Fifty-Six flew into the war zone, where a general was no different from an ordinary sailor. As for whether There were any more powerful generals in Japan than Yamamoto Fifty-Six, the staff believed that this was impossible, that Yamamoto Fifty-Six's value to the Japanese Navy could not be replaced, and that if Yamamoto Fifty-Six could be killed, it would certainly deal a heavy blow to the Japanese Navy.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="22" > Yamamoto Seimei Yomoi</h1>
Nimitz was relieved and prepared to mobilize his forces to eliminate Yamamoto Fifty-Six. Nimitz had planned to send Navy ships to shoot down Yamamoto's landplane with anti-aircraft fire, or to send naval carrier-based fighter jets to intercept them.
However, these plans were relatively unreliable in implementation, so the task finally fell on the shoulders of the 339th Fighter Squadron, which was equipped with P-38 fighters, which were the longest-range fighters equipped by the U.S. Army Aviation Corps at the time, and could use their own lag time advantage to ambush Yamamoto Fifty-Six.
Thus, on April 18, there was a scene at the beginning of the article.
Also on this day, Yamamoto's Type 1 land attack aircraft also took off from Rabaul, the other Type 1 land attack aircraft was carried by the Japanese Navy Chief of Staff Ugaki, and the escort included eight Zero fighters.
In fact, Yamamoto Isoroku was a self-inflicted wound this time, because before leaving, Japanese Rear Admiral Takaji Kijima had also traveled to Rabaul to warn Yamamoto Fifty-Six, claiming that his whereabouts might have been exposed and that it might be dangerous to rush to the front.
However, Yamamoto is dismissive of this gambler and asks Takaji Shiroshima to return to Shortland, saying that he will have lunch with him on Shortland soon.
But Yamamoto Couldn't have imagined that he had been given a one-way ticket to Hell this time. While arriving over bougainville island, 16 P-38 fighters from the U.S. 339th Fighter Squadron intercepted Yamamoto's fleet.
Twelve P-38 fighters and eight Zero fighters were entangled, while four other P-38 fighters seized the opportunity to attack two Type I land attack aircraft.
Although they could not tell which one contained Yamamoto Fifty-Six, the American pilot simply shot both planes off without stopping, causing them to smoke and fall towards Bougainville Island.
In fact, Yamamoto was shot before the plane crashed, and he was already dead when the plane crashed on the ground. Japanese defenders on Bougainville recovered Yamamoto's body on 20 April, and The news of Yamamoto's death was not made public until 21 May 1943. In order to boost morale, the Japanese side could only give Yamamoto Fifty-Six a decent funeral.
But what's the use of that? Isoroku Yamamoto is still dead in the end, and the Japanese Navy has since lost its soul, and its combat effectiveness will be further weakened. Of course, this is also a blessing for Yamamoto Isoroku, because he does not have to face a trial after defeat, and he can also be unimpressed by Japan's defeat, which is not bad for him.
Reference: Japanese Naval God of War: Isoroku Yamamoto
Gamblers of War: Fifty-Six Yamamoto
《Isoroku Yamamoto》