I was listening to the radio today and an old guy was talking about this.

He said Yamamoto knew it was suicide to go to war with the United States, but if they absolutely had to, they had to hit Pearl Harbor fast and hard before anything else.
Otherwise the US would have wiped the proverbial poop deck with the Japanese.

We still kicked their ass but Pearl Harbor going under made it a lot harder.

Lots of interesting Yamamoto stuff on that show today.

He studied United States military history down to fine details. He told the Emperor that he had no idea what the American people were capable of if incited to go to war. Hirohito probably thought we were a bunch of drunk cowboys only interested in a good time.

Yamamoto knew!

Yamamoto knew that Japan could not win a long war with the United States. He hoped a massive strike at Pearl Harbor followed up by many other victories would lead the US to negotiate for peace after a few months.

The Battle of Midway was fought because he thought one more big victory removing much or all of the remaining carrier forces of the US Navy would force the Americans to negotiate.

Yamomoto knew after the Battle of Midway that Japan had virtually no chance whatsoever.

I found it rather odd and disrespectful that many businesses that had their flag flying at FULL mass!

:shake: