Contents - Hirohito's War

Appendices
Map, Diagram, Drawing and Chart List
Notes and Additional Resources
Acknowledgments
Introduction and Background


PART I    Meiji Restoration: 1868
1 Empires in Conflict
[1868–1931]
[Maps: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, 1.11]
[Photos]
 
PART II    Japan versus America and the World: 1931–1941
2 Ultra-nationalism and the Death of Democracy
[1930–1936]
[Maps: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4]
[Photos]
3 Japan versus China: From Phoney War to Total War
[1937–1941]
[Maps: 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6]
[Photos]
4 Mobilization for War in Asia: America and Japan
[1931–December 1941]
[Map: 4.1 A] [Chart: 4.1 B] [Map: 4.2] [Chart: 4.3]
[Photos]
 
PART III   Hirohito’s Whirlwind Conquests:
December 1941–June 1942
5 Pearl Harbor: Yamamoto’s Great Mistake
[7 December 1941 in Hawaii and Washington: 8 December 1941 in Tokyo]
[Drawing: 5.1] [Maps: 5.2, 5.3, 5.4]
[Photos]
6 Plan ORANGE and MacArthur’s Philippines Debacle
[December 1941–April 1942]
[Maps: 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5 ]
[Photos]
7 Invasion of Malaya: Yamashita’s ‘Bicycle Blitzkrieg’
[December 1941–February 1942]
[Maps: 7.1 A, 7.1 B, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5]
[Photos]
8 Fall of Singapore: Churchill’s Sacrificial Pawn
[January 1942–February 1942]
[Map: 8.1]
[Photos]
9 Burma Corps: Humiliation Then a Fighting Retreat
[January 1941–May 1942]
[Maps: 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5 ]
[Photos]
10 Dutch East Indies and Japan’s Quest for Oil
[December 1941–June 1942]
[Maps: 10.1, 10.3, 10.4, ] [Diagram 10.2 ]
[Photos]
 
PART IV   ‘Victory Disease’: Japan’s Reversal of Fortune:
June–December 1942
11 Limits of Empire: Doolittle and New Military Strategies
[February 1942–May 1942]
[Maps: 11.1 A, 11.1 B, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5, 11.6 A, 11.6 B, 11.7]
[Photos]
12 Battle of the Coral Sea: The First Carrier ‘Shoot-Out’
[April 1942–May 1942]
[Maps: 12.1 A, 12.1 B, 12.2]
[Photos]
13 Battle of Midway: Nimitz’s Lucky Day
[4–7 June 1942]
[Maps: 13.1, 13.2, 13.3]
[Photos]
14 Battles of the Kokoda Trail: Aussies Triumphant
[June 1942–September 1942]
[Maps: 14.1, 14.2, 14.3 ]
[Photos]
15 Guadalcanal: Battles of Tulagi, Savo Island, Tenaru and East Solomons
[May 1942–August 1942]
[Maps: 15.1, 15.2 A, 15.2 B, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5, 15.6, 15.7 ]
[Photos]
16 Guadalcanal: Battle of Edson’s (Bloody) Ridge
[August 1942–November 1942]
[Maps: 16.1, 16.2, 16.3]
[Photos]
17 Guadalcanal: Henderson Field and the Santa Cruz Islands
[September 1942–January 1943]
[Maps: 17.1, 17.2, 17.3, 17.4, 17.5]
[Photos]
18 Battles of Buna-Gona-Sanananda: MacArthur’s Lies and Neglect
[November 1942–February 1943]
[Maps: 18.1, 18.2 ]
[Photos]
19 Guadalcanal: Battle of Tassafaronga and Final Reckonings
[October 1942–February 1943]
[Maps: 19.1, 19.2 ]
[Photos]
 
PART V  Toil and Sweat: The Pacific, India, Burma, and China:
January 1943–June 1944
20 Battle of the Bismarck Sea: Tipping Point of US Air Supremacy
[January 1943–March 1943]
[Drawing 20.1]   [Maps: 20.2, 20.3, 20.4, 20.5, 20.6, 20.7]
[Photos]
21 Yamamoto Assassinated and the Battle of New Georgia
[March 1943–October 1943]
[Maps: 21.1, 21.2, 21.3, 21.4 A, 21.4 B, 21.5, 21.6 ]
[Photos]
22 The Huon Peninsula: Operation CARTWHEEL Completed
[September 1943–April 1944]
[Maps: 22.1, 22.2, 22.3, 22.4 ]
[Photos]
23 The Isolation of Rabaul and the Starvation of Bougainville
[November 1943–August 1945]
[Maps: 23.1, 23.2, 23.3, 23.4, ]
[Photos]
24 The Battles of Arakan, Imphal, and Kohima: Slim Boxes Clever
[August 1943–July 1944]
[Maps: 24.1, 24.2, 24.3, 24.4, 24.5, 24.6, 24.7, 24.8 ]
[Photos]
25 The ICHI-GO Campaign and the Battle of Myitkyina
[January 1944–August 1945]
[Maps: 25.1, 25.2, 25.3, 25.4, 25.5, 25.6, 25.7, 25.8, 25.9, 25.10 ]
[Photos]
26 Battle for China: FDR, Chiang, Mao, and ‘Vinegar Joe’
[January 1942–August 1945]
[Charts: 26.1, 26.2 ]
[Photos]
27 Jump to Hollandia: MacArthur’s Greatest Victory
[March 1944–October 1944]
[Maps: 27.1, 27.2, 27.3, 27.4, 27.5, 27.6 ]
[Photos]
28 Pacific Island Hop: The Gilberts, Marshalls, and Carolines
[May 1943–June 1944]
[Maps: 28.1, 28.2, 28.3, 28.4, 28.5, 28.6 ]
[Photos]
 
PART VI   
29 The Great Marianas ‘Turkey Shoot’
[February 1944–June 1944]
[Maps: 29.1, 29.2 ] [Chart: 29.3]
[Photos]
30 The Invasions of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam: General Tojo Upended
[June 1944–August 1945]
[Maps: 30.1, 30.2, 30.3, 30.4, 30.5 ]
[Photos]
31 The Battle of Leyte Gulf: ‘Bull’ Halsey’s Mad Dash for Glory
[October 1944]
[Maps: 31.1, 31.2, 31.3, 31.4, 31.5, 31.6 ]
[Photos]
32 “I Have Returned”: MacArthur Regains the Philippines
[October 1944–August 1945]
[Maps: 32.1, 32.2, 32.3, 32.4, 32.5, 32.6 ]
[Photos]
33 The Battle of the Irrawaddy River: Slim’s ‘Mandalay Feint’
[January 1945–May 1945]
[Maps: 33.1, 33.2 ]
[Photos]
 
PART VII   
34 Iwo Jima: The Iconic Battle of the Pacific War
[February 1945–March 1945]
[Maps: 34.1, 34.2, 34.3 ]
[Photos]
35 The Battle of Okinawa: Slaughter of the Innocents
[April 1945–August 1945]
[Maps: 35.1, 35.2, 35.3 ]
[Photos]
36 LeMay’s B-29 Superfortresses over Japan: Cities in Ashes
[April 1944–August 1945]
[Maps: 36.1, 36.2, 36.3, 36.4 ]
[Photos]
37 Potsdam, Hirohito, and the Atom Bomb
[July 1945–August 1945]
[Drawings: 37.1, 37.2 ] [Maps: 37.3, 37.4 ] [Charts: 37.5, 37.6]
[Photos]

Index

12 Battle of the Coral Sea: The First Carrier ‘Shoot-Out’

[April 1942–May 1942]

[Maps: 12.1, 12.2]

The US Naval Intelligence Network (p 353) Japanese Carriers to the South Pacific (p 354) Preparation for Battle (p 355) Japanese Invasion of Tulagi Island (p 357) Maneuverings for a First Carrier to Carrier Battle (p 358) The Battle of the Coral Sea: First Blood to Admiral Fletcher [7 May 1942] (p 360) The Battle of the Coral Sea Continued: Shokaku Wounded, USS Lexingon Sunk [8 May] (p 364) Licking their Wounds (p 367) Bombers and Bombs (p 370) The Battle of Words (p 371)

The US Naval Intelligence Network: Unbeknownst to the Japanese, one of the main ingredients in their early war successes disappeared in the early months. ‘Surprise,’ their major weapon in the first few weeks of the Pacific War, was completely negated by the development of an American intelligence and decryption capability that the Japanese were never able to match. The tables were turned. The Americans, with remarkable speed, had developed an intelligence network and capability that meant that they now possessed the advantage of ‘surprise.’ It proved to be one of the key turning points of the war and perhaps the main reason why the US Navy was able to turn around its disastrous start to the Pacific War within little more than six months of Pearl Harbor.

Commander Edwin Layton was appointed Chief Intelligence officer to Admiral Husband Kimmel on 8 December 1940. His position was such, given the debacle of Pearl Harbor exactly a year later, that it would have been no surprise if Nimitz had dispensed with his services. In fact Kimmel and his intelligence team were never given access to the decryption transcripts PURPLE, the high level Japanese diplomatic code, which might have enabled them to raise a higher level of preparedness before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless it speaks well of Nimitz’s man management skills that he retained existing staff and assessed them on the basis of the work they did for him. The retention of Layton was inspired. He proved to be adept at piecing together and analysing multiple pieces of intelligence information. Weeding out the ‘noise’ of intelligence that was often conflicting, Layton was able to predict Japanese movement with uncanny accuracy from listening posts set up around the Pacific. It was a far from easy task as the Japanese, as a precaution, would often transfer call signs between warships of different size in order to better hide their capital ships. It was a critical skill in the early stages of the Pacific War when the Japanese and American resources were so evenly matched. Superior intelligence would tip the balance in the US Navy’s favor.

Layton was half of a double act. Joseph Rochefort had become close friends with Layton when they had studied Japanese together in Tokyo from 1929 to 1932. While Layton specialized in intelligence analysis, Rochefort went on to specialize in cryptology. In 1941 he was sent to Hawaii by Commander Laurence Safford, head of the code and signal section of the Navy HQ in Washington known as OP–20-G. Rochefort set up the so-called HYPO Station (H for Hawaii) in a disused basement in Pearl Harbor’s new administration building; it was to become known as the ‘Dungeon.’

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