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Highlights during WWII and Other Lesser Known Historical Facts

Khalid Elhassan April 27, 2020 34 min

Junkers Ju 88 - Aviation — A Junkers Ju 88. World Warbird News

24. Nailing Yamamoto

Admiral Yamamoto. Japan National Diet Library

The United States naval intelligence intercepted and decrypted a coded Japanese message on April 14^th, 1943, which began: “On April 18 CINC Combined Fleet will visit RXZ, R__, and RXP in accordance with the following schedule…” The CINC Combined Fleet referred to was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Japanese Navy’s most capable commander and the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The intercepted message revealed that Yamamoto would fly from Rabaul to Bougainville in the Solomon Islands on April 18^th, arriving at 8 AM, Tokyo time, in two medium bombers, escorted by six Zero fighters. The information swiftly worked its way up the chain of command to the President, and FDR’s response was “get Yamamoto“.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.