The Spy Game That Killed Yamamoto - WW2 - Spies & Ties 17

We’ve already seen the power of signals intelligence. Churchill loves being fed information from MI6’s Ultra. Now it brings a vengeance for his American allies. They manage to bag the scourge of Pearl Harbor, C-in-C of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

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Hosted by: Astrid Deinhard
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński
Community Management: Ian Sowden
Written by: James Newman
Research by: James Newman
Map animations by: Daniel Weiss
Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Artwork and color grading by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Marek Kamiński
Colorizations by:
Mikołaj Uchman
Daniel Weiss
Special thanks for supporting this video:
AbdallaA Albeshti
Alex G

Image sources:
US Government courtesy of the National Cryptologic Museum. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
IWM D 18860

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
London - Howard Harper-Barnes
Astray - Alec Slayne
The Inspector 4 - Johannes Bornlöf
Secret Cargo - Craft Case
Progressive Progress - Howard Harper-Barnes
Let Go of Fear - Howard Harper-Barnes
Darkness Closing In - Max Anson
Ominous - Philip Ayers
Darkness Closing In - Max Anson
The Twelve Spies - Silver Maple
The Story Begins - Hampus Naeselius

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

[WorldWarTwo]

Yamamoto dying is a surprisingly unique occurrence in this war given it's total nature, as most political and military leaders of the major warring powers have thus far survived. Are there any other close calls that could have seen another major player of the war assassinated, and what kind of impact would that have had?

[bscal]

I like to imagine Indy said no but Astrid ignored him.

[matdrat]

Yamamoto lost two fingers at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. Had he lost three, he would've been declared invalid for service.

[InferKnow]

Astrid successfully captured Indy’s vest, and the US got revenge on Yamamoto. Great episode!

[gunman]

Well this was an interesting episode. I can't imagine staring at numbers for hours on end, trying to figure out a code or pattern out of it, not to mention having to handle millions of punch cards with the technology of the time. Great episode as usual Astrid.

[Oliolli]

TimeGhost Army codes have been broken.

It turns out that around 18:20 Indy sent Sparty a message: "AD has been taught the consequences of not asking BEFORE touching my vests"

[andrewtaylor]

The technical details of how the Lightnings got there is it’s own fascinating tale. They were chosen as they were the only planes with the range and speed. The Lightnings and this squadron had this range because some months before Legendary Pilot Charles Lindbergh had defied Roosevelt, committed a crime, and snuck out to the P-38 base to train the pilots on how to maximize their fuel range, effectively doubling the Lightnings range. Lindbergh was a highly vocal staunch anti-war isolationist. Roosevelt had stripped him of his officers commission and had him discharged from the Military because of this. And refused to re-instate it once war began. The actual intercept across 1600 miles of ocean required precise timing, and was only possible because of how fanatical Yamamoto was about schedules. Yamamoto was always precisely on time. A fact of him that Layton knew. So after flying for hours the P-38’s found Yamamoto’s planes exactly where they were predicted to be.

Oh one more thing. That story that they found Yamamoto sitting upright in his chair, still holding his sword. Having taken a bullet to the head and shoulder? Yeah, that’s the cleaned up mythified way the Japanese presented it to the public. Even in death still the dignified warrior. The truth is he took .50 Cal rounds to the head and chest. So the Japanese description doesn’t really pass the sniff test. One of the Japanese physicians that examined the body later admitted that Yamamoto was identified largely on the basis of the remaining uniform, the presence of his sword. And the distinct missing fingers on his left hand, from the Battle of Tsushima. While the bulk of the body was strapped to the seat, the seat was not in the plane. But a few yards away in the trees. Contrary to the official report he was not still wearing his hat. Unsurprisingly the head was at a number of other locations. Mostly painting the interior of the aircraft. (Head vs .50 cal)

[wordsmithgmxch]

Thank you, Astrid! The deep dive on Hypo -- the working conditions, equipment, etc -- and on the disastrous Army / Navy rivalry are really important and frequently glossed over. Wonderful stuff!

[akdrywallguy]

Fascinating episode! I absolutely love Astrid's presentations - her enthusiasm and style can't be beat by mortals. Cheers!

[charlesfaure]

The Japanese SAID Yamamoto was found sitting upright with his hand on his sword. I'd take that not with a grain of salt, but with the whole shaker. Two fifty cal hits and an air crash doesn't tend to leave a man with that kind of epic dignity. Lies do that.

[simonromijn]

Astrid, what a great line, '... piss off Churchill bigly'. Eat your heart out bigly, Indy.

[deshaun]

"Gosh!"
-Franklin Roosevelt

[longrider]

I've heard that the code breakers where all musicians, so could spot patterns. And yes, after the death of Yamamoto, P-38's had to keep up that "Patrol" for several weeks, just to convince the Japanese the attack had been a fluke, and bad timing.

[creigmacc]

Without a doubt that is the greatest Chester Nimitz impersonation I have ever seen...

[padawanmage]

Great segment, Astrid!
“Indy, I’m shooting!”
I’m sure the P-38 pilots said the same thing =)

[TurtleDude]

I'm so glad indy was able to "clear things up" so well. 🤣

[neurokith]

Great episode! Thank you so much for your work and for proper subtitles :D They're so helpful for me :)

[gianniverschueren]

Now you're just spoiling me. I don't know who spilt all this paint to create this tie, but he/she/they turned in a 5/5

[RobertGrif]

16:37-18:20 Oh, the joys of historical research

[brucewayneisdeadpool]

Question: has there been any progress by the axis powers in breaking the allied codes so far? Have they ever been close. What technologies did they use to facilitate their work?