32. The Cryptanalyst Who Set the Stage For Japan’s Defeat at Midway
At 10:25 AM, June 4th, 1942, Japan was mistress of the Pacific, possessed the world’s most powerful aircraft carrier force, and was dictating the terms of the war. By 10:30 AM, Japan had effectively lost WWII after suffering a stunning defeat at the Battle of Midway: three of her aircraft carriers were burning wrecks, and a fourth was destroyed later that day.
The stage was set a few months earlier when Jimmy Doolittle’s bombing of Tokyo in the spring of 1942 gave the Japanese military a black eye. So they set out to draw the US Navy into a climactic battle in which they hoped to win a decisive victory. Evidence began piling up that the Japanese were gearing up for a major move, but nobody was sure about their target. Then Navy cryptanalyst Joseph Rochefort tricked the Japanese into tipping their hand, thus allowing American carriers to set up a devastating ambush at Midway.