Isoroku Yamamoto
Wikimedia CommonsThe last known photograph of Isoroku Yamomoto, taken moments before one of World War II’s most famous assassinations, April 1943.
Pearl Harbor was masterminded by Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet of Japan’s Navy. A crippling surprise attack, Yamamoto believed, was Japan’s only chance of defeating the United States in World War II. Under his command, more than 180 U.S. aircraft were destroyed.
The U.S. wanted revenge. The plot to kill Yamomoto, called “Operation Vengeance”, started with a direct order from President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself: “Get Yamamoto.”
Wikimedia CommonsIsoroku Yamamoto, photographed on the Battleship Nagato. Circa 1940.
Codebreakers tracked Yamamoto’s flight itinerary. On April 18, 1943, they learned, Admiral Yamamoto would be addressing Japanese pilots stationed on the island of Rabaul. They would make sure it was the last place he ever visited.
Yamamoto, after saluting his men and wishing them well, boarded a stripped-down Mitsubishi bomber for his flight to the next post, unaware that he was about to become the victim of one of those famous assassinations to reverberate throughout history.
Midway through his flight, a pack of 16 American P-38 fighters appeared over the horizon. A dogfight broke out over the Pacific. The American planes shot up the starboard engine of Yamamoto’s bomber. The Admiral’s plane, spewing smoke, tumbled down into the jungle below. But inside, the admiral was already dead.
Wikimedia CommonsThe wreckage of Isoroku Yamamoto’s bomber. April 1943.
When a Japanese scout party reached the crash site the next day, they found the Admiral strapped into his seat with his ceremonial katana still in his hands. Two .50-caliber bullets had hit him, one in his left shoulder and the other under his left jaw. The second round had exited above his right eye, taking most of his head with it.
Wikimedia CommonsThe funeral of Isoroku Yamamoto. June 5, 1943.
