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

On March 28, the Japanese military attaché in Berlin reports to Japan’s vice minister of war and to the Chief of the Army Air Force Headquarters that the Germans are developing the first operational jet-fighter plane.20 The analysts note that for the past two years the Japanese have been buying prototypes and blueprints of German planes. Now, says the attaché, “we have good reason to believe that by the end of 1944 or in 1945, we shall see the appearance of a practical jet-propelled fighter. I have this from someone in the Messerschmitt Company—this source is particularly secret—that such a plane is now undergoing tests by both the Messerschmitt and Arado companies and that the one at the Messerschmitt Company is practically completed.… Japan should dispatch technicians at once and begin the study of this plane while it is still in the experimental stage.” The report goes on to detail the attempted purchases of the Me-309 fighter [MS 24 January 1943; 29 April 1943; 7 December 1943] and says that Japan “would do well to purchase the manufacturing rights for the Me-209 fighter.”

The first report is a sixty-one-page study of Japan’s aluminum production capacity, especially as it affects shipping and aircraft production. The second is a thirty-five-page analysis of the Russo-Japanese agreements on fishing rights.

“Is there not some way by which an understanding could be reached between Japan and Russia with regard to China?” This last question is the truly explosive one. It has to shock men like Marshall, Stimson and King. Apparently Japan is trying to set up a new Far Eastern policy that uses China as the pawn between Russia and Japan. If successful, this could change the balance of power in the Far East. It cannot be allowed. As we will see, it will become a

primary—but largely unknown—reason for America’s use of nuclear weapons against Japan.

Oshima makes a point about how the Germans maintain “excellent” civilian morale, obviously hoping that Tokyo will learn from this lesson. “After every heavy attack,” he reports, “the German officials are on hand with the food and supplies for which people clamor, thereby inspiring a feeling of quiet security among the people and giving them the hope, slight though it might be, that they will be spared in the next attacks. Such measures also serve to instill in the populace the idea that the Government has ample reserves for whatever vicissitudes may come.… Now it is quite clear that the people’s will to resist has been so intensified that they feel they have no alternative but to fight it out to the last ditch.”

The Germans are wrong about Allied troop strength in England, but correct in their estimate of what’s happening in Italy. After extremely bloody fighting, the Polish Corps had captured Monte Cassino on May 17–18, while two days later the U.S. II Corps breaks through the left flank of Gustav Line to capture Gaeta and Itri. By now the right flank of

the German Tenth Army is reeling. The Canadians and British are about to attack next. The capture of Rome will be completed within three weeks’ time. Fortunately, a month before the invasion of Normandy, the Germans still seem to be confused about where and when the assault will occur.

Indeed, at

the end of D day they are far short of their target lines of advance. On the positive side, however, some 150,000 troops are ashore and digging in. Every hour they stay in place, or slowly work forward, means it will be that much more difficult for the Germans to dislodge them. “One cannot overstate the importance of the fact that the commander of the invading forces knew that Hitler was not committing his reserves,” says Robert T. Crowley. “The significance of this priceless information gave Eisenhower and his staff a sense of confidence that rubbed off on everyone. It helped make the troops believe they would succeed. And the credit for creating all the deceptions, fooling the Germans and getting inside Hitler’s brain belongs to the British. They were, in 1944, a generation ahead of everyone in this regard. I don’t know anyone better in terms of psychological warfare than the British. They were the masters of the game.”

In the coming days the struggle by the Allies to consolidate and break out of their beachheads, and the attempts by the Germans to prevent them from doing so, mark the key to the Allied victory in Europe. The Germans cannot compete against the Allied air superiority. N...

and cruisers patrolling as close to the beaches as they dare. Thus, even when they are committed, German reserves cannot be sent directly to battle in a way that allows them to use their strength to the fullest. More important is the fact that Hitler still believes the major Allied thrust will be made east of the River Seine and Le Havre. This region is being defended by the German Fifteenth Army. And Magic reveals t...

This counterattack is too late. By the twelfth of June the Americans had linked Omaha and Utah Beaches, captured the vital town of Carentan and are ready to dash to the west coast of the Cotentin Peninsula to seal off the port of Cherbourg. Meanwhile, Hitler still refuses to commit reserves from the Fifteenth Army. (In actuality, the Allies will not make another landing until August 15, some two months later; then Operation DRAGOON, which was formerly ANVIL, will send Allied forces ashore in southern France, all along the coast near Cannes.)

Foreseeing a collapse of Vichy France, in mid-June 1944 Japan creates her new foreign policy for Indochina. The idea is to split Indochina from France and place the former French colony directly under Tokyo’s control.

According to Sato, Russia currently has little influence in China and is engrossed in fighting Germany. When the European war is over, Russia will presumably try to extend her influence throughout Eastern Europe and the Middle East before becoming interested in the Far East. Sato warns that Japan should not draw Soviet attention to the Far East. Any participation by Russia in the affairs of that area would be to Japan’s disadvantage.

Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party, especially in view of American efforts in that direction. Russia might also urge the Communists to cooperate with Chiang Kai-shek, which would prevent any peace agreement effected solely by America. It would also keep the U.S. from

gaining a preponderant position in China, while giving the Communists the opportunity to strengthen their position at the expense of the Kuomintang. Speaking with considerable foresight, Sato tells Tokyo: “As for the Kuomintang itself, in a certain sense its greatest fear is not of Japan, but of the Chinese Communist Party, since the latter may someday become the leading party in China. As a result, the Kuomintang is inclined to leave the defeat of Japan up to America and is devoting its entire energies to the preservation of its position.”

Now the real reason for Hitler’s indecision in sending reinforcements from the Fifteenth Army to Normandy is clearly stated: Hitler is convinced that General Patton and his troops have still not come ashore; Hitler believes they will land elsewhere on the Continent. Unknown to Hitler, Patton has been in Normandy since June 6, and the Allied correspondents have agreed to keep his presence there a secret. When the time is ripe, plans call for Patton to take over the Third Army, and his tanks will sweep around the German

flank to the east.

Von Steengracht goes on to talk about the success of the latest German secret weapon, the V-1 rocket or “buzz bomb,” which is now being used against England. As the first rocket “terror” weapon, the buzz bombs are causing considerable concern among the British civilian population.

In the summer of 1944, when word reached London that the Germans might be developing a true rocket weapon, the V-2, to replace the V-1, Masterman went to Poland, via Tehran and Moscow, to study a rocket-firing installation abandoned by the Germans while retreating from a Russian attack. At the time, skeptics did not believe the Germans could launch a long-range rocket, even though portions of such a missile had been recovered in Sweden and Poland after misfires. The team of experts—British, American and Russian—assigned to the case were baffled when they first arrived at the captured launch site. The records of V-2 firings were missing. These would have provided the amounts of fuel, range and payload.

However, in view of the German strategy to reach a showdown in the West, we are prepared to abandon considerable territory in the East; in the central sector we may have to give up Orsha and Mogilev [recaptured on June 27 and 28, respectively, according to Russian communiqués] and retire to the west of the Berezina River. Whatever the cost may be, the Fuehrer will contrive to destroy the Anglo-American

American forces in northern France, and once he succeeds in that, I believe the tables will be turned.” Von Steengracht also lets slip that because the Finnish Social Democratic Party, the most important in Finland, has been negotiating for peace with Russia, Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop has flown to Helsinki to plead with the Finnish leaders. Accordingly, Finland will continue to fight the Soviet, and Germany is going to send armored units to help. A new Finnish cabinet will be formed “and the makeup … will probably be similar to that of the present one.”

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.

Reinforcements are freed up from the Fifteenth German Army, and Hitler orders a large-scale attack against the British at Caen. Fortunately, operational Ultra intercepts give the invasion force the new German orders in time to prepare a defense. The Allies repulse the determined counterattack, which suffers from having too little logistical support and comes too late.

First Tojo believes that a long war will benefit Japan. The Allies will wear themselves down and be forced to negotiate an end to the war. Last, Tojo is sure that the Allies will not be able to dictate unconditional surrender to Japan.

Even so, Field Marshal Kesselring retreats so skillfully that the Allies cannot at any time outflank him. By mid-July of 1944 he is successfully entrenched behind the Gothic Line, which stretches from La Spezia on the west coast to Rimini on the east coast. This ends the current Allied advance in Italy, especially since a large number of men from these forces are transferred for the upcoming invasion of southern France.

Fighting is fierce. The Battle of the Philippine Sea takes place June 19–20. Three Japanese aircraft carriers are sunk. American pilots shoot down 284 Japanese planes in what is called the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot,” which breaks the back of Japanese naval airpower.

The first available diplomatic report from Germany confirming the attempt to kill Hitler is in a message sent July 20 by Ambassador Oshima.14 “At 8 P.M. today,” Oshima tells Tokyo, “Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs von Steengracht told me that he had been in direct telephone communication with Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop at High Command Headquarters, and that Ribbentrop had requested him to advise me that Hitler is absolutely all right and was not hurt at all.”

Twenty-eight pages of this day’s Magic Diplomatic Summary concern Japan’s aluminum production. Faced with the possibility of running out of bauxite because of a lack of shipping, Japan has been revising her aluminum production program. Washington

notes that any Allied action that cuts off, or materially reduces, Japan’s bauxite imports will have an immediate effect on her aluminum production. In turn this will lower her aircraft production within six months. In the past, Japan has been building sixteen thousand planes per year. Since Japan has no stockpile of bauxite, the analysts note that she can import this vital mineral “only by forgoing imports of other high-priority items.” The Japanese war in...

“And for Germany to save the situation at home or on the front is next to impossible. We Japanese must give up all idea of expecting anything from Germany. Japan, unaided, must now stand or fall on her own.” He continues: “The German Army has lost most of its mobility, and the quality of its troops has declined. Front-line troops are numerically inferior to the enemy; they have fallen into a defensive frame of mind, and they think only of saving their lives. Too many

defensive operations and especially too many retreats have lowered the morale of the Army disastrously. In every sector, the situation is deteriorating hour by hour.”

“Some members of the German High Command appear to hold the view that, on a front extending over two thousand kilometers, purely defensive action is ineffective and that accordingly it is necessary for

us to carry out some sort of a mobile defense, possibly consisting of limited attacks in certain sections of the front, depending on the disposition of the enemy forces.”

Arguments are brewing between the British and the Americans, who hold the view that on a military drive through France into Germany, the Allies will achieve the most success by advancing on a broad front and keeping the German reserves stretched thin. The British, on the other hand, will argue for quick, deep penetrations of enemy territory.

Knowing that the Germans do not like defending a wide front, and understanding that Magic/Ultra will give him the most accurate information as to which points are weakest in the overall enemy defensive line (to say nothing of following the precepts of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the American Civil War), Eisenhower will choose the strategy of attacking on a wide front. By constantly pressing forward, first in one area and then another, by using intelligence to learn where the enemy is weak, Eisenhower can negate the

German philosophy of the “mobile defense.” It will also allow the employment of the great superiority the Allies have over the Germans in artillery.

To put it another way, at this time the Russians know what they intend to get out of winning the war. The British also know what they want. The Americans do not. By

stalling the negotiations in London, the Russians are hoping to gain even more land or other advantages.

He sends a nine-paragraph message to Eisenhower on September 4 in which he says: “We have now reached a stage where one really powerful and full-blooded thrust toward Berlin is likely to get there and thus end the German war.”23 Montgomery believes the Allies don’t have the logistical ability to maintain two attacks. The attack on Berlin should have all the support possible with other operations doing the best they can on what supplies are left. The only other possible thrusts would be one via “the Ruhr and the other via Metz and the Saar.” Time is vital says Montgomery. The selected attack must be made immediately. Any attempt to compromise the situation can only prolong the war. He says: “I consider the problem viewed as

above as very simple and clear-cut. The matter is of such vital importance that I feel sure you will agree that a decision on the above lines is required at once.”

“There is the area of the northern ports, Kiel-Luebeck-Hamburg-Bremen. Its occupation would not only give us control of the German Navy and the North Sea bases, of the Kiel Canal and of a large industrial area, but would enable us to form a barrier against the withdrawal of German Forces from Norway and Denmark. Further, this area, or a part of it, might have to be occupied as a flank protection to our thrust to Berlin. “There are the areas of Hanover-Brunswick and Leipzig-Dresden. They are important industrial and administrative areas and centers of communications, on the direct routes from the Ruhr and Frankfurt to Berlin, so the Germans will probably hold them as intermediate positions covering Berlin.

“There are the Nuremberg-Regensburg and the Augsburg-Munich areas. Apart from their economical and administrative importance, there is the transcending political importance of Munich. Moreover, there may be an impelling demand to occupy these areas and cut off enemy forces withdrawing from Italy and the Balkans. “Clearly, therefore, our objective cannot be precisely determined until nearer the time, so we must be prepared for one or more of the following: “A. To direct forces of both army groups on Berlin astride the axes Ruhr-Hanover-Berlin or Frankfurt-Leipzig-Berlin or both. “B. Should the Russians beat us to Berlin, the northern group of armies will seize the Hanover area and the Hamburg group of ports. The central group of armies will seize part, or the whole, of the area Leipzig-Dresden, depending upon the progress of the Russian advance. “C. In any event, the southern group of armies would seize Augsburg-Munich. The area Nuremberg-Regensburg would be seized by central or southern group of armies, depending upon the situation at the time.

This includes the shocking news for the British that Eisenhower intends to cooperate with the Russians and much of his planning will be based on what the Russians will or will not do. Soviet troops are already much closer to Berlin than are the Allies. It is logical to assume that the Russians may seize Berlin. Should this happen, then the key will be for the British forces to seal off the Danish peninsula, and protect the North Sea, by seizing the northwestern areas of Germany, especially the ports of Kiel, Luebeck, Hamburg and Bremen. Again, depending on what the Russians do, the Americans will try to seal off a Soviet advance into Italy by attacking as far to the east and south as possible (around the

northern border of Switzerland). The key language is Eisenhower’s reference to cutting off German withdrawals from specific areas such as Italy.

The best and most obvious conclusion is that Eisenhower and SHAEF should be allowed to communicate directly with the Soviet High Command in Moscow. This suggestion will not sit well with the British. They believe that control of the politics of war will slip from their grasp.

In the letter Marshall “begged the Governor to say nothing during the campaign” about the fact that U.S. government authorities had been reading Japanese codes and ciphers before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Not only was the information true, Marshall tells Dewey, “but much more important were the facts that (1) the war was still in progress; (2) the Japanese were still using certain of the pre-Pearl Harbor cryptosystems; and (3) the U.S. government was still reading highly secret Japanese messages in those systems, as well as highly secret messages of other enemy governments. Therefore, it was absolutely vital that Governor Dewey not use the top-secret information as political ammunition in his campaign.”

Marshall’s action is without precedent in the annals of American politics. And why is Marshall doing this? He writes: “I am persisting in the matter because the military hazards involved are so serious that I feel some action is necessary to protect the interests of our armed forces.” Marshall goes on to explain that America possessed a wealth of information regarding Japanese moves in the Pacific in 1941, and this information was given the State Department by the military. This material “unfortunately made no reference whatever to intentions toward Hawaii until the last message before December 7, which did not reach our hands until the following day, Dec. 8.”

As a result, as Henry Clausen explained to me, just before congressional Pearl Harbor hearings open in November 1945, the Republicans on the committee blithely release the news that before and during the war the British and the Americans had broken both the German and Japanese codes. This breach of national security is done after Marshall begs the committee to keep the secret. The committee refuses, publishing Marshall’s correspondence with Dewey. Thus, our Congress gives our former enemies the first knowledge that their codes had been broken, to say nothing about breaching America’s diplomatic confidence with the British. The latter are livid with rage about the disclosures. And rightly so.29

The Germans launched 10,500 V-1 rockets at England. Only 20 percent penetrated British defenses, but these destroyed 1.1 million homes and killed ten thousand people. One shudders at what might have happened had the rockets been more accurate (25 percent flew off course because of a navigational malfunction). In 1994, the British press announced the discovery of an unpublished manuscript by the novelist H. E. Bates that had been censored for fifty years because “Bates insisted on telling the truth about the extent of civilian casualties.” Bates’s casualty figures were lower than the final figures cited above.