Get Yamamoto

by Burke Davis

The story of the secret WWII mission to shoot down the plane carrying Admiral Yamamoto.

Genres: War, American History

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Admiral Yamamoto was the architect of the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. SIGINT, Signal Intelligence, gave the U.S. the opportunity to take revenge.

In April 1943 a coded Japanese message which gave Admiral Yamamoto's itinerary on an inspection tour of Japanese bases was intercepted and decoded. P-38 fighters from Guadalcanal shot down the plane carrying Admiral Yamamoto.

"On April 14 FRUPac (Fleet Radio Unit, Pacific) decoded a signal sent out a few hours earlier from the headquarters of the Commander in Chief of the Japanese Southeastern Air Fleet. It revealed that on the 18th Yamamoto, in a plane escorted by six fighters, would be paying a rapid visit to locations in the Rabaul area. The time of his arrival at, and departure from, each of the specified points was given to the minute." (From page 187 in The American Magic by Ronald Lewin, copyright 1982.)

"We knew from the call sign intercepts that Admiral Yamamoto had arrived in Rabaul at the beginning of April to direct an all-out naval air offensive...against our bases in the lower Solomons and New Guines. ... Ever since (Japanese) Combined Fleet headquarters had moved south, we were keeping a special watch on the Rabaul radio circuits. This attention paid off in the early hours of 14 April when a signal was intercepted. The partial decrypt was to prove to be Yamamoto's death warrant: On 18 April CinC Combined Fleet will visit RYZ, R-- and RXP in accordance with the following schedule: ..." (From page 474 in And I Was There by Admiral Edwin T. Layton, copyright 1985.)

"...(Admiral) Nimitz sent Admiral Halsey an 'eyes only' message telling him that Yamamoto himself would arrive at Buin at 0600 18 April... Halsey responded by confirming that the army air commander on Guadalcanal could arrange for his shootdown by longe-range P-38 fighters." (From page 475 in And I Was There by Admiral Edwin T. Layton, copyright 1985.)

Read Get Yamamoto to experience what it was like to be a P-38 fighter pilot.

"The elimination of Admiral Yamamoto was another victory made possible by American intelligence, and a heavy blow to Japan..." (From chapter 22 in The Pacific War by John Costello, copyright 1981; page 403 in First Edition.)

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable narrative of the mission to kill Admiral Yamamoto, commander of all of Imperial Japan's naval forces in WWII. Enough backstory to develop the characters, enough personal details to attract you to them, and enough detail to put you in the South Pacific at the time of the mission.

Unfortunately, the author gives away the outcome of the mission before the culminating scene - since I didn't know what happened, I was pretty disappointed with that. It's the difference between 4 and 3 stars.

[Michael Bond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure how the author would be able to fill 150 pages to describe the mission to kill Admiral Yamamoto, but he did it interestingly by describing the careers of those who met in the skies that day, as well as the events leading up to the intercept of Yamamoto's aircraft. It had the right balance and never felt labored.

[Desmond Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed recounting of the mission to take down Japanese Admiral Yamamoto in 1943, told in the style of Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day or A Bridge Too Far, but not as well. It is impressively researched; the author spoke with both American and Japanese servicemen involved in the mission, and he tries to flesh out the characters. There is much about plane types and capabilities that did not interest me but which might be fascinating for someone with military aviation background. There are some jarring out-of-date references to women, a casual mention or two of Korean comfort women and the rape of Nanking, and a discussion of the relationship between Yamamoto and a geisha that I wish he had explored more. But the point of the book is the American flyers and how they found and killed Yamamoto. The nobility and dedication of both the Americans and the Japanese is stressed, and at no point are the Japanese treated as anything less than moral and military equals. Worth a read if WW2 history is your interest.

[Kølin Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an in-depth exploration of the Navy Mission to assassinate Japanese Admiral Yamamoto and it reads like a military briefing with some character development thrown in. Overall, I was impressed that the author was able to stretch 150 pages out of this event whilst keeping me interested in the subject. It also led me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole for all things related to this.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this a long time ago and am just now remembering it, prompted by a show on the History Channel about the P-38 Lightning

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical analysis of the breaking of the Japanese naval code and the American plan to destroy Amiral Yamatoto was was the mastermind of the attack on Pearl Harbor.