Waging War: Yamamoto and World War II

He was one of the most feared and hated men in America at the height of his career, the mastermind behind the attack on Pearl Harbor and the greatest naval leader since Admiral Togo himself: Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. He rose from obscurity to the international spotlight, using his strategic mind and inspirational leadership to lead his country into a war against the United States. Yet Yamamoto knew this was a war they could not win. Until his death, the admiral strove to give the Empire of Japan the greatest chance of success in a war that he had opposed from the start.

Isoroku Yamamoto, born Isoroku Takano, was the seventh son of a poor schoolteacher in a northwestern fishing village. He was named after his father’s age at his birth—fifty-six. Isoroku’s boyhood was challenging; food was scarce, winters were cold, and the rigors of both school training and working with family were heavy. He was often ill but continued to participate in sports and military drills at school. When he was a teen, he decided to test for the Naval Academy at Eta Jima, deciding that should he fail, he would become a teacher like his father. He tested second out of 300 students and began a spartan training regime that prohibited smoking, drinking, sweets, or associating with girls. The school was physically demanding, as well, but Isoroku pulled through, graduating in 1904 as seventh in his class and beginning a long naval career that would propel him to international prominence.

That same year, the Russo-Japanese War broke out, and during the Battle of Tsushima Strait in May 1905, Ensign Takano was placed aboard the cruiser Nisshin, assigned to cover Admiral Heihachiro Togo’s flagship. A shell hit the ship and knocked Ensign Tanako unconscious. He woke to find he had lost two fingers on his left hand and a chunk from his thigh. He spent two months in hospital before returning home to recover. When he returned to duty, he was promoted and sent to the Imperial Naval Headquarters in Tokyo for a time before his appointment to the Naval Staff College in 1913. In the same year, both of Takano’s parents had died, and in keeping with Japanese custom he was adopted by the Yamamoto family and took the family name.

Isoroku Yamamoto continued to work his way up through the military, with two promotions in two years, followed by Navy Staff College in 1916. He married a dairy farmer’s daughter named Reiko, but the couple had little time together before he was ordered to America to study at Harvard. He studied economics and petroleum sources, using his free time to tour oils fields in the US and Mexico. Yamamoto learned to play poker in America and became a passionate poker player, but was ever dedicated to his studies. It was during his time at Harvard that he gained interest in naval aviation, something which would become a major focus of his naval strategies. After completing his years at Harvard, Yamamoto returned to Japan and took command of the naval air station at Kasumigaura, being one of the country’s top experts on naval aviation. He introduced the novel idea that all pilots should be trained in night flying, and the students there deeply respected their executive officer. This respect made Yamamoto a beloved and admired leader for the rest of his life.

As a captain, Yamamoto was again sent to the United States, this time as the Japanese naval attaché in Washington, D.C. There he gained an even deeper understanding of American thinking and military power. He was a delegate at the London Naval Conference of 1929-30, and later pushed for improvement of Japanese aviation capabilities, which he saw were lagging behind the Western powers. Contrary to popular military thinking, Yamamoto advocated for aviation over battleships, insisting that the latter would soon become obsolete and that aircraft carriers would dominate as the primary naval superpower.

In the years before World War II, Yamamoto staunchly opposed the idea of war with America. He was vocal about his views on the futility of conflict with the United States, telling friends, colleagues, an even classrooms of children during school visits. Because of his anti-war stance, Yamamoto became the target of much anger and even a few assassination attempts. To keep him safe and out of trouble, Yamamoto was promoted to a full Admiral in August 1939 and made commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese fleet. He primarily remained at sea with his fleet, but this did not stop him from speaking out against aggressive Japanese military advances and the Tripartite Pact between Japan, Italy, and Germany. But as Japan grew more powerful, it seemed that war was becoming more inevitable, and Yamamoto would be the only man for the job.

Loyal to his country and resigned to Japan’s decision to wage war, Yamamoto knew he had to give Japan the greatest chance of victory. His plan was to surprise the Americans and knock out their fleet at Pearl Harbor, destroying their ability to fight back and delaying America’s entry into the war. This would give Japan enough time to gain the oil and other resources they desperately needed to dominate the Pacific Theater without significant interference. Japanese military balked, denouncing the plan as too risky, but Yamamoto threatened to resign if the plan was rejected, and “Operation Kuroshima” was born.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was successfully executed—the Americans were taken by surprise, their battleship fleet was decimated, and the nation was in shock—but it didn’t all go according to plan. The American aircraft carriers weren’t at the Harbor like Yamamoto expected, and the air strikes failed to hit the repair and oil storage facilities. The decisive victory Yamamoto needed to secure Japan’s greatest chance at winning the war had failed. Japanese forces made significant advances across the Pacific in the next six months, but the tides quickly turned against them, just as the admiral had feared.

Unbeknownst to the Japanese, their naval code had been cracked by American cryptographers, enabling them to learn of Japanese operations and turn the tables. Yamamoto suffered devastating loss at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, losing many of his precious aircraft carriers, planes, and experienced pilots whose knowledge and training could never be replaced. The subsequent months were spent scrambling to keep their territories in the Pacific Theater, but it was a losing battle. Early in 1943, Yamamoto moved his headquarters to a more strategic position in Rabaul, New Britain. Along with this move, he embarked on an inspection tour of his troops in the South Pacific, which would ultimately lead to his demise.

On 18 April 1943, exactly a year after the Doolittle Raid on the Japanese mainland, Admiral Yamamoto was on his way to Bougainville for the inspection tour. American intelligence had intercepted a message about the admiral’s trip and decided to eliminate the man who planned Pearl Harbor. Eighteen P-38s from Henderson Field took off to intercept the Admiral’s plane and escorts. Just minutes before the planes were due to land, one of the American P-38s shot down the Japanese “Betty” bomber carrying Admiral Yamamoto. When the wreckage was found, Yamamoto was discovered thrown from the plane, strapped upright in his seat with one hand on his sword, dignified to the last.

He was among the most venerated men in one country, among the most hated in another. Isoroku Yamamoto was a brilliant mind and a respected leader, compelled by loyalty to his country to enter a war he knew they could not win. His death devastated the Empire of Japan, and even his successor claimed that no one could truly replace the admiral. Admiral Yamamoto was cremated and given a state burial, with his ashes divided into two urns. One was buried alongside Admiral Togo, Japan’s greatest naval hero, and the other buried beside his father in Nagaoka, returning him to his humble roots in northwestern Japan.