TheCodeBreakers
the Pearl Harbor attack, "a poll had been taken among Japanese naval
officers to determine their choice of the man to lead them as Commander
in Chief Combined Fleet, there is little doubt that Admiral Yamamoto
would have been selected by an overwhelming majority."
Layton summed up with the observation that Yamamoto was
preeminent in all categories, that any successor would be personally and
professionally inferior, and, finally, that the death of the Commander in
Chief would demoralize the Japanese, who venerate their captains much
more than Occidentals do. Nimitz concurred. He realized that the shock
of such a leader's death, combined with the elimination of the finest
strategist of the enemy war machine, would equal a major American
battle victory. He was furthermore
probably influenced by the general American hatred of Yamamoto.
Naval officers knew that he had conceived the treacherous strike at Pearl
Harbor that had slaughtered their shipmates and wrecked their ships
annaabi.ee 
