In November 1940, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, told Prime Minister Prince Konoye, “If I am forced to wage war with the United States regardless of the consequences, I will run wild for six months, but I have no confidence in the years after that. ”His words were uncannily prophetic.

Exactly six months after the start of his brilliant and crushing campaign that began with Pearl Harbor and then captured Guam, Wake Island, , Singapore, Malaya, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies, the epic Battle of Midway ended his wild run. The six months from December 7, 1941, to June 7, 1942, encompassed the most critical and pivotal phase of the Second World War in the Pacific.

During that time, the United States, Great Britain, Australia and Netherlands were virtually overwhelmed by the relentless and carefully executed Japanese tsunami across the western Pacific. By January 1942 Japan had the most powerful, most advanced and best trained military in the world, while the Allies were hard-pressed to scrape together a force to challenge the Empire’s military might.

But, against all odds and reason, that is exactly what they did. Admiral Chester W.

Nimitz, the newly appointed commander of the U. S.

Pacific Fleet, began to wage a careful, cunning and bold campaign to stop the Japanese once an for all. The odds were highly stacked against him, but he would prove to be not only Yamamoto’s equal in skill, but his superior in military brilliance.

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