Marching Orders: The Untold Story of How the American Breaking of the Japanese Secret Codes Led to the Defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan

by Bruce Lee

According to Oshima, Hitler has told him that when Russian foreign minister Molotov visited Berlin in November 1941, only to have negotiations halted right afterward by the Russians, that “Hitler then knew that in all probability the theater of war would expand and he might have more to cope with than he could easily face.” In April 1941, Russia and Japan agreed to a five-year neutrality pact, which will be the subject of much discussion later in this book. Germany attacks Russia on June 22, 1941. By that November 23, German troops were only thirty-three miles northwest of Moscow. With the help of “General Winter” (i.e., bitter cold and heavy snow) the Russian lines hold. The Russians launch their first major counterattack of the war on December 5, while Hitler is preparing further attacks to the south. Japan attacks Pearl Harbor that December 7. Hitler declares war on America a few days later, as the Germans had promised the Japanese they would do, and which was revealed by the Magic intercepts.