TheCodeBreakers
undefended by naval forces. Tojo's armies overran Singapore and Malaya
with its rubber plantations, then the Dutch East Indies with its great oil
fields. Siam and the Solomons were in their hands. China was under
blockade. In May the Philippines surrendered. Within six stupefying
months, the Rising Sun shone upon nearly a tenth of the globe's surface.
Nippon's enemies had been wiped from the seas. Her troops raped and
pillaged from bustling Rangoon to the languorous South Sea islands. It
was the most rapid conquest in history.
It amply fulfilled the Japanese war plan. Japan did not intend to
invade the United States. Rather, she planned to feed upon the riches of
the conquered territories behind a ring of impregnable defense positions,
from which she would beat off any attacker. But the high command,
bedazzled by success and greedy for more, decided instead to continue
the sweep before its momentum was lost. The admirals and generals
annaabi.ee 
