The USAAF Intercepts and Shoots Down Admiral Yamamoto, 1943 - Animated

The United States took a real chance when they greenlit this mission.

The Japanese were not aware that US cryptanalysts had at least partially solved several of their codes, including not only the diplomatic codes (done before Pearl Harbor in fact) but also military codes. We could intercept message and, to some extent, decode and read them. This process is what led to the discovery that Admiral Yamamoto would be making an inspection flight to certain air domes on certain days. Yamamoto had a reputation for being obsessively punctual, so we know the "when" as well as the "where".

But, even after the only Allied fighter with sufficient range to perform the intercept >just happened< to be at the right place and at the right time to intercept Yamamoto's plane, the Japanese still did not conclude that something more than luck was at play here (just as the Germans did with their Enigma encodings) and thus made only incremental changes to their codes for the balance of the war instead of wholesale changes that might have greatly complicated (and possibly extended) the war effort.

But what if the Japanese had concluded that we were "reading their mail" and drastically changed their codes? Message intercepts and decoding yielded significant intel up until practically the end of the war. For example, we learned of the deployment of the Combined Fleet in response to our invasion of the Philippines via intercepts and decoding. While we certainly would have known that the invasion would compel a substantial Japanese response, we would not have known precisely the composition of forces nor their routes from their bases. We would have had to spread out our reconnaissance forces, sea and air both, more than we did, not to mention having to allocate more forces to the effort. The Pacific covers alot of area.....might one of the forces have slipped by unnoticed? And what damage might that force have done before we could reply?

The plot to kill Yamamoto by the United States Army Air Corps was given the codename Operation Dillinger. I had heard that name for the operation for decades, and only more recently as Vengeance. What's up with that?

They really need to implement an Assist Counts As Kill system to avoid questions like who exactly hit the last bullet. Battlefield did it ages ago.

The sad and unfortunate fact is that Yamamoto was actually opposed to striking Pearl Harbor for destroying the Pacific fleet. He got all the blame for it which prompted this operation

This was a stupid mission. It risked compromising an Intel source.

IJN at Rabaul: FYI Admiral Yamamoto's flying to Bougainville in a G4M at such-and-such time along XYZ route.
IJN at Bougainville: OK, got it, thx!
U.S.: OK, got it, thx!

Bedankt

They could have not even announced his inspection tour and/or they should have brought more Bettys to act as Decoys... OR delay the scheduale by a couple of hours without telling anyone... OR sent a decoy group ahead of Yamamoto.

The Japanese and Germans both suffered from arrogance and complacency concerning their encryption systems.

There was no such thing as the U.S Air Force then. It was Army aircorps

The Americans were lucky the Japanese didn't realise their codes were compromised. The British were dead against the idea. But, on balance, I would have taken the chance and had the bugger.

Karma is a bitch

It amazes me that from 1939 to 1945, the IJN never even considered replacing their "JN25" encryption code. Even after many "coincidences" like Yamamoto's interception, they were still convinced in the infallibility and superiority of their codes. The Germans, by contrast, had the Enigma machine and they still considered the possibility of it being "cracked", so they upgraded it many times during the war. There is no such thing as a unbreakable code... And this is how the last competent Admiral in the IJN died.

. ပ၈၉ရဖယလူြ

I knew Frank, he was my grand fathers best friend. He was frequently out at my grand fathers ranch.

So a squadron of P-38 's just happened to show up a 1,000 miles away from the nearest air base ,
at the exact time , and exact location , where Admiral Yamamoto's fight was .
Surely the Japanese must have realized their radio communications were being intercepted .
.

I have heard people call it an assassination. Yamamoto was a legitimate military target.

Does anyone have any info. abt why some people have called it an assassination? Tks.😊

When they lost Yamamoto, they no longer would lose the war on their own terms.

I wish Japan had won and not Israel.

This is an amazing operation. Everything had to work out like clock-work. I am surprised there is not a Hollywood movie of this operation.

Yamamoto 's fate is sealed by his own punctuality. If he was for 15 minutes, the P-38s would have missed him. The Americans have more creativity and spontaneity than the Japs in WW2.

The P-38 simply outran everyone. The Japs couldn't even engage from behind. Their only hope was to fight head on which would have them face the superior cannon power of the the P-38.

As a Chinese I am grateful for the American war effort and sacrifice under the extraordinary leadership of Frankly Roosevelt. This is my favorite operation of the Pacific Theater. Had Roosevelt not being the US president, the world history would have been much different today.
I wish there are more Americans like Roosevelt but he is truly one of a kind.

Operation Vengeance is a proper name for the guy who commanded the surprising attack on Pear Harbor.

Dont bomb pearl harbor and he wouldnt of had that problem 😂

They gave the leader of the flight a Medal of Honor which was crap because they knew when ad where he would be. It was an execution not a heroic act.

Imagine the stress acting on those American pilots. They're on the very edge of what their planes can do and one mistake will result in their deaths. Barely enough fuel to get to the target and back and only minutes for a dogfight to shoot down the escorting planes and the plane carrying Yamamoto himself. One navigational error and they miss their target. Being spotted early will result on Yamamoto being on high alert and Zeros being scrambled to intercept them.

It must’ve felt great killin’ that guy.

I was watching a film on Midway named Midway(2019) with my family. My father is a retired Officer from Pakistan Navy. When showing the attack on Pearl Harbor it is shown that Yamamoto does not order the second wave to go forward which was to totally annihilate the base leaving no single facility. My father told me that had he not called off the second wave and let them destroy the base completely the ships which had been sunk would not have been recovered as quickly.

🦅🗡🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🗡🦅

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was a skilled commander and a wise man. Though he was the architect of the Attack on Pearl Harbour, he was against the idea of starting a war with America. It was the Imperial Japanese politicians that got their best and most valuable soldier killed in a useless war against America. Shame.

Yeah

trivia charles lindberg buffed up the settings to DOUBLE the p38 distance way cool he was a genius

It Was a time had teach full of history
Ww2 on 1991 by guru hwa ind..
.. With the video hd toolset, so does player as learning tool of ww2 historian
.. This movie as such as are cartoon, so does ever had made on thats years
.. Guru hwa ind also asking of name as movie "kill of admiral yamamoto"
.. Mana bukti nya..
1 Itu admiral yamamoto?.. Itu anime (bukan foto).. Maksud nya : Lukisan wajah tapi di foto
2 sejarah nya belum benar semua
3 on years 2020,all name was were be pupils on thats school..say : all are Japan
Not as a china one of one..
.. Japan?!..
Lovely like deceitfull awkward age as sinister sinner sinful
Lucious sleek slain as evil incumbent rioters
.. Also foolish fool retarded as word phrase with evil incumbent bad ugly intend as deviant culture

Get it correct, United States Army Air Corps was the original name. USAAF was a later designation.

There is one error in this video story. All the Zero fighters survived and returned to the base. But five pilots died in the harsh air battle, after Mr Yamamoto died.

In Japan, there is a strongly believed hypothesis that he was looking for the palce where he can die, since he was convinced of Japanese loss of the war at this stage. Through his two times US stays, he really knew the industrial power and technical level of the US. That is why he was persistently opposed to the Japanese alliance with the Germany, and the war with the US. Many pilots asked to take more Zeros with him since they felt it too dangerous to accompany only 6 zeros to fly over the front line of the war. In April １９４３, Japan lost the midway, and guatalcanal islands and many excellent pilots over the air battle in the south pacific. He did not want to see themerciless US destroyed his cocuntry.

Back when the US had balls to take pre-emptive action and carry out retribution.

" Get Yamamoto" by Burke Davis is a great book on the mission.

Yamamato was killed after he surrendered, because that way he could denie that he attacked Pearl Harbor.

The sleeping giant wasn't sleeping anymore

Closed hangar air carriers

FYI, the USAF did not exist prior to 1957, so it was the US Army Air Corp. My father was Army Air Corp, not Air Force, which unfortunately is what is on his grave marker at the Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

THAT WAS FOR PEARL. YOU STARTED THIS WE ENDED HIM! SHUT UP JAPAN!

It is shocking to me as to why Lanphier would concoct his version ... he flew off to the left, diverting the 3 Zeros which allowed Barber to pursue Yamamoto unimpeded... that was a key contribution ... to somehow to make up another story to stroke his ego or for whatever reason is mindboggling.

boo'GAHN-vill.

"FAFO" ~ Allan Lockheed

I’m still pissed about that

lindberg actually showed how far the p-38 could go

Unfair.