Thursday, June 07, 2012

"when he had opened the fourth seal" - Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto


A Tokyo River...

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

It was Japanese Naval Marshal General and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet Isoroku Yamamoto that planned the Pearl Harbor Attack in 1941.

Most of generals and admirals of the Imperial Navy were against the idea of attacking US bases in the Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  It looked too risky to take 12 days for an Imperial Navy feet, including six aircraft carriers, to sail over the North Pacific Ocean from Japan to Hawaii.  Leaders of the Imperial Navy intended to prepare for the long haul in the war with the US.  They did not want to use the main carrier battle group for such a dangerous mission.  However, admiral Yamamoto said to top leaders of the Imperial Navy that he would resign as the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet to which carrier battle groups belonged if his strategy was not adopted.

So, the Pearl Harbor Attack was carried out while most of Japanese Navy admirals and generals doubted whether the operation could really show successful results.  But as the Imperial Navy had no other persuasive plans to attack the US Navy, they reluctantly supported Yamamoto's idea.  The Imperial Navy of Japan had been built to fight US naval fleets invading the Japanese seas.  It was expected that Japanese naval fleets would counter US naval fleets on the seas around Japan, since the US then had a colony of the Philippines.  But Yamamoto opted for a sudden attack on the major part of the US naval power in the Pacific region that was stationed in Hawaii as many US ships were moved from San Diego, California.

Admiral Yamamoto had good knowledge about the US.  He knew that the Imperial Navy would be overwhelmed by the US Navy as time went by.  GDP of the US was at the time ten times larger than Japan's GDP.  The US would build ten aircraft carriers and 1000 war planes while the Empire of Japan would produce one aircraft carrier and 100 war planes.  So, it is still a mystery how Admiral Yamamoto  planned to end the war against the US though it was started with the successful Pearl Harbor Attack.
Nevertheless, Yamamoto accepted the reality of impending war and planned for a quick victory by destroying the US fleet at Pearl Harbor while simultaneously thrusting into the oil and rubber resource rich areas of Southeast Asia, especially the Dutch East Indies, Borneo and Malaya...
...
On the morning of 18 April, despite urgings by local commanders to cancel the trip for fear of ambush, Yamamoto's two Mitsubishi G4M fast transport aircraft left Rabaul as scheduled for the 315 mi (507 km) trip. Sixteen Lightnings intercepted the flight over Bougainville and a dogfight ensued between them and the six escorting Mitsubishi A6M Zeroes. First Lieutenant Rex T. Barber engaged the first of the two Japanese transports which turned out to be Yamamoto's plane. He targeted the aircraft with gunfire until it began to spew smoke from its left engine. Barber turned away to attack the other transport as Yamamoto's plane crashed into the jungle....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoroku_Yamamoto#Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor







*** *** *** ***




Rev 6:7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
Rev 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.