Men in Crisis: Halsey vs. Yamamoto

Navy ships are taking planes from Pearl Harbor to Wake Island late in 1941, before the war began for the U.S. Vice-Admiral Halsey is in charge of the mission to transport the planes. Apparently Halsey told his men to sink any hostile ships they found, even if that threatened to start a war with Japan.

Meanwhile the Japanese fleet is moving towards its attack position for Pearl Harbor. One way to identify Japanese warships is the very tall tower-like section that they have.

Then the film shows Pearl Harbor before the attack. The film tells how Yamamoto warned others that if war came he could 'run wild' for six months, but after that time he had no confidence.

Halsey got back to Pearl Harbor on the 8th. Halsey said 'Before we finish with them, the Japanese language will only be spoken in hell.'

Four months after Pearl Harbor Halsey leads the task force that carries Doolittle's attack planes against Tokyo. Halsey had always been a fan of using aircraft carriers in war.

Then the film talks about Yamamoto and the Japanese military idea of dying in the service of the Emperor being a consummate honor.

The film talks about Yamamoto's history leading up to the war, then mentions his defeat at the Battle of Midway. The loss was concealed with the Japanese Army being told that the Imperial Navy controlled the Pacific Ocean when it no longer did so.

The film then discusses the Battle of Guadalcanal. Then it talks about the Tokyo Express. A major night-time battle between the two navies ends up ending Yamamoto's attempt to land reinforcements on Guadalcanal. Then it goes into how the American Navy found out about Yamamoto's travel plans and arranged an ambush and killed him.



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