Operation Vengeance
The Astonishing Aerial Ambush That Changed World War II
-
- $12.99
Publisher Description
"Operation Vengeance is colorful, intimate, eye-popping history, delivered at a breakneck pace. I loved it." –Lynn Vincent
The New York Times bestselling author of Viper Pilot delivers an electrifying narrative account of the top-secret U.S. mission to kill Isoroku Yamamoto, the Japanese commander who masterminded Pearl Harbor.
In 1943, the United States military began to plan one of the most dramatic secret missions of World War II. Its code name was Operation Vengeance. Naval Intelligence had intercepted the itinerary of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, whose stealth attack on Pearl Harbor precipitated America’s entry into the war. Harvard-educated, Yamamoto was a close confidant of Emperor Hirohito and a brilliant tactician who epitomized Japanese military might. On April 18th, the U.S. discovered, he would travel to Rabaul in the South Pacific to visit Japanese troops, then fly to the Japanese airfield at Balalale, 400 miles to the southeast.
Set into motion, the Americans’ plan was one of the most tactically difficult operations of the war. To avoid detection, U.S. pilots had to embark on a circuitous, 1,000-mile odyssey that would test not only their skills but the physical integrity of their planes. The timing was also crucial: the slightest miscalculation, even by a few minutes—or a delay on the famously punctual Yamamoto’s end—meant the entire plan would collapse, endangering American lives. But if these remarkable pilots succeeded, they could help turn the tide of the war—and greatly boost Allied morale.
Informed by deep archival research and his experience as a decorated combat pilot, Operation Vengeance focuses on the mission’s pilots and recreates the moment-by-moment drama they experienced in the air. Hampton recreates this epic event in thrilling detail, and provides groundbreaking evidence about what really happened that day.
Operation Vengeance includes 30 black-and-white images.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
U.S. Air Force veteran Hampton (Chasing the Demon) delivers a solid account of the mission to take out Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, chief architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor, in April 1943. Aiming to correct the historical record concerning which American pilot actually shot down Yamamoto's plane, Hampton profiles three members of the fighter squadrons involved in the mission (Maj. John Mitchell, Capt. Tom Lanphier, and Lt. Rex Barber); documents how the breaking of Japan's secret naval codes allowed U.S. commanders to learn that Yamamoto would be making an inspection tour of several Japanese-held islands, and which type of plane he would be flying in; and details the calculations required to intercept his plane over the island of Bougainville. Though Lanphier was the first to claim the kill, and credit was officially split between him and Barber, Hampton's research proves that Barber alone brought down Yamamoto. Most recent war historians had already come to the same conclusion, but Hampton's detailed calculations are definitive. Colorful details, no-nonsense prose ("a carrier with no aviators is just an oversize barge"), and meticulous research make this an essential retelling of Yamamoto's death.