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

By studying all the intelligence traffic and related material, the analysts in Washington now tell Marshall that “the Japanese have never succeeded in exploiting Indochina to the extent Sato envisaged, nor to the extent which has been generally supposed.” Exports from Indochina will be lower in the future because of Allied air attacks on industrial areas and the seaports, plus the submarine attacks on shipping. But “the impending drop in exports should not bring about an immediate decisive change in Japan’s overall economic position.” The report covers exports of rice, maize, rubber, coal, zinc ingots, scrap iron, iron ore, manganese, hides, silica sand, lacquer, resins and salt. The upshot: the naval activities aimed at cutting off Japan from all sources of commodities must be strengthened if her economy is to be strangled.