Combined Fleet Decoded : The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II

by PRADOS JOHN

• ISBN13: 9781557504319
• ISBN10: 1557504318
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: Naval Inst Pr

Summary

Written in the style of a thriller but solidly based on an array of sources, this study reinterprets the entire sea campaign in the Pacific, using intelligence as the missing key to the Allied success. It examines every aspect of the secret war of intelligence -- from radio dispatches and espionage to vital information from prisoners and document translation -- showing how U.S. intelligence outsmarted Japan nearly every step of the way. The resulting assessment is a virtual rewriting of history that challenges previous conceptions about the Pacific conflict.

John Prados relates the growing intelligence knowledge on both sides to the progress and outcome of naval actions. Along the way he offers a wealth of revelations that include data on how the United States caught the superbattleship Yamato and the impact of intelligence on the initial campaigns in the Philippines and Netherlands East Indies and the escape of American codebreakers from Corregidor. He also provides colorful vignettes of personalities who shaped the secret intelligence war. This ambitious wo

Table of Contents

Note to the Reader	xi
Acronyms and Abbreviations	xiii
Map Symbol Key	xvi
List of Maps	xix
Introduction	xxi
Part I. SAILORS, SPIES, AND STRATEGIES	1	(98)
``Your Message, Affirmative''	7	(18)
Watching the Japanese	25	(15)
``Four Years on a War Footing and Unlimited Budgets''	40	(17)
Like an Athletic Competition	57	(27)
``The First Time It Flies I Want to Be on Board''	84	(15)
Part II. YAMAMOTO'S WAR	99	(192)
``We Have a Chance to Win a War Right Now''	103	(15)
``So Long as I'm CinC We Shall Go Ahead''	118	(40)
Who Slept at Dawn?	158	(20)
Air Raid, Pearl Harbor	178	(20)
Wings Across the Water	198	(25)
Islands in the Sun	223	(20)
``Great Speed, Grim Determination, and Taking All Risks Is Necessary''	243	(29)
West, South, or East?	272	(19)
Part III. HIGH TIDE OF THE SHADOW WAR	291	(230)
Incredible Victories?	295	(41)
``The Most Imperative Problem at Present''	336	(19)
Chrysanthemum and Cactus	355	(42)
``You Don't Have to Be Crazy, but It Helps!''	397	(49)
``The Darkness Is Very Deep''	446	(18)
Full Circle	464	(57)
Part IV. BY FORCE OF ARMS	521	(216)
Hailstones and Hammerblows	525	(27)
Down to the Sea in Ships	552	(29)
``The Most Crucial Point Has Been Reached''	581	(36)
``The Enemy Task Forces Will Be Destroyed Tomorrow''	617	(71)
The Last of the Imperial Navy	688	(38)
Hungry Ghosts	726	(11)
Notes	737	(30)
Bibliography	767	(38)
Index	805