soc.history.war.world-war-ii

redvet wrote:
> On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:17:52 -0400, "rhino"
> wrote:
>
>> While all of the major wartime leaders faced issues of personal security,
>> how many assasination attempts initiated by foreign governments did each
>> major leader experience?
>>
> During wartime...can it be called 'assassination'? Certainly the
> Americans targeted and singled out Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
>
> On April 14th, 1943 U.S. Naval Intelligence in Hawaii discovered a
> missive that the admiral would be inspecting forward area troops in
> Bougainville and the Shortland Islands.
>
> Now when word reached Captain Ellis M. Zacharias at naval headquarters
> in Washington, he went to the Secretary of the Navy to persuade him to
> shoot Adm. Yamamoto's plane down. - redvet

I think you misread the question.....the major Japanese wartime leaders
would have been their emporer (head of nation) and prime minister (head of
government). In all of the horrendous bombings of Tokyo, the palace and its
grounds were conspicuously and successfully avoided. I know of no attempts
made on the lives of the heads of government, i.e. - Prime Minister
(General) Tojo or President Roosevelt during the war. Yamamoto, OTOH, was
the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy
and therefore subject to attack. Generals and admirals on both sides were
always exposed to the possibilities of attacks by their enemies.