Minoru Genda Hand Signed Card..Japanese Military Aviator....Planned Pearl Harbor
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Minoru Genda Hand Signed Card..Japanese Military Aviator....Planned Pearl Harbor:
$86.00
8x6 (if opened) card which is hand signed in blue ink by Minoru Genda..
Comes with the original mailing envelope...
Minoru Genda(源田 実Genda Minoru, 16 August 1904 – 15 August 1989)was a well-knownJapanesemilitary aviator and politician. He is best known for helping to plan thePearl Harbor attack. He was also the 3rdChief of Staffof theJapan Air Self-Defense Force.
Genda was assigned to theaircraft carrierAkagiin 1931. He was well known in the navy, and in 1932 Genda formed a demonstration team atYokosuka, leading a division of biplanes around the country, conducting aerobatic demonstrations. Known as \"Genda\'s Flying Circus\", the team, consisting of Genda,Yoshita KobayashiandMotoharu Okamura, usingNakajima A2N Type 90fighters,was part of a public relations campaign to promotenaval aviation. He gained combat experience with the Second Combined Air Group during theSecond Sino-Japanese Warfrom the autumn of 1937, was senior flight instructor for theYokosuka Air Groupin 1938.
Genda realized the potential of massingaircraft carriersto projectair power. Most naval strategists and tacticians of the time conceived of single carriers launching raids on enemy targets, or sailing with a fleet to provide air cover against enemy bombers. Genda understood the potential of massed air raids launched from multiple aircraft carriers steaming together.
An air power advocate from the time he attended the Japanese Naval Academy, Genda urged Japan\'s pre-war military leaders to stop buildingbattleships(which he believed would be better used as \"piers\" or scrap iron) and concentrate on aircraft carriers,submarines, and supportingfast cruisersanddestroyers. Above all, Genda thought that modern and large naval air fleet would be necessary for survival if Japan was ever to fight a war with the United States and theUnited Kingdomas well as their allies. However, Genda\'s rank—captain—was too low to be of much strategic influence.
The Pearl Harbor attack plan was the brainchild of JapaneseAdmiralIsoroku Yamamoto. Yamamoto ordered a number of officers to study Pearl Harbor and to draw up an operational plan. AdmiralTakijiro Onishigathered together all the relevant facts that could be found about the area. Once this was done, the attack plan itself was written primarily by Rear AdmiralRyunosuke Kusakawith assistance from Captain Genda and Deputy Chief of Staff, Captain Kameto Kuroshima.
Yamamoto had become acquainted with Genda in 1933 when he served aboard the carrierRyūjō. Yamamoto initially conceived of a one-way attack on Pearl Harbor from 500 to 600 miles (800 to 970km) away. In his scheme, returning aircraft would ditch in the ocean offOahuand the pilots would be picked up bydestroyersandsubmarines. Yamamoto was focused on smashing theU.S. Pacific Fleetand sinking as manybattleshipsas possible. Conventional American and Japanese naval doctrine held that battleships were the instrumental tool of naval supremacy, so it was believed that the destruction of several of these ships would shift the balance of naval power in Japan\'s favor.
In summer 1940 at the age of 36, Genda was chosen by the Japanese Naval Department to travel abroad as a military attaché to obtain first-hand military accounts of German air offensives and British defensive measures during theBattle of Britain. His assessment of theRoyal Air Force(RAF),Hawker HurricaneMk I andSupermarine SpitfireMk I fighters against the GermanMesserschmitt Bf-109E \"Emil\" later provided evidence that the JapaneseMitsubishi A6M ZeroModel 21 could easily outmaneuver these European aircraft. The carefully recorded details were secretly documented during his brief tour in London and were hand-carried by Genda during his return trip to Japan for naval department studies. His official trip was in accord with British-Japanese naval accords authorizing officialmilitary attachévisits to the war front to observe and document military operations. Genda\'s European trip provided added stimulus for Japanese strategic naval studies and exercises to discover weaknesses and formulate tactics that were later used against the U.S.
On his return to Japan, he was assigned to the First Carrier Division and met with Yamamoto in early February 1941, during which time Yamamoto presented some ideas for attacking the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Genda warmed to his ideas.Genda had previously considered an attack on Pearl Harbor in 1934 and had discussed the possibility then withTakijirō Onishi. Genda emphasized to Yamamoto that \"secrecy is the keynote and surprise the all-important factor.\"Genda felt that the task was \"difficult, but not impossible\"and began working on the details of the plan. Genda favored a three wave attack using six aircraft carriers for a successful air strike.Genda was responsible for much of the training, especially in the new tactics of shallow-watertorpedouse, effective use of level-bombing by tactical aircraft, and coordinating several aircraft carriers simultaneously. He played a key role in persuading IJN leaders to nameMitsuo Fuchida, his classmate at the Japanese Naval Academy, as the leader of the air attack...
The surpriseattack on Pearl Harborresulted in the US declaring war on Japan, with 18 American warships sunk or damaged and over 180 American aircraft destroyed. The main Japanese fleet suffered no ship losses and 29 aircraft lost (9 in the first wave and 20 in the second), losses that the Japanese considered acceptable; however, it was a tactical and strategic disaster for Japan.The following four months of thePacific Warthe Imperial Japanese carrier units ranged across the Pacific and Indian oceans causing major damage toAlliedforces and bases. Genda and Yamamoto were very disappointed that the 3 U.S. carriers were not at Pearl Harbor (the first time on a Sunday in 1941 that they were not). Later, theDoolittle Raidbrought this phase of the Pacific War to an end, as Japan was bombed for first time. The Pacific War continued on for three more years.
Genda served with distinction during World War II and personally participated in combat. He was a noted naval aviator and fighterpilotwith over 3,000 flight hours. He organized an elite Japanese air unit (the343rdKōkūtai) near the war\'s end as an alternative to the suicidalkamikazeunits. Genda believed that even late in the war Japanese pilots were capable of fighting experienced American pilots on equal terms if properly trained and supplied withstate-of-the-artaircraft. He personally felt that theKawanishi N1K2-JShiden-Kai(Allied code name, \"George\") was equal to the AmericanF6F HellcatandF4U Corsair. This unit had some success against American aircraft and fought with distinction.
Genda documented his World War II experiences in a revealing autobiography, published in Japan.
After retiring from the military in 1962, he ran for and was elected to the upper house of Japan\'s legislature, the House of Councillors, as a member of the Sato Faction within theLiberal Democratic Party. He was the first of several former SDF officers who entered politics under the auspices of the Sato Faction, mostly at the far right end of the Japanese political spectrum. He remained influential in politics for more than 20 years, as a leading member of the Defense Division of the LDP\'s Policy Affairs Research Council, often representing the hardline nationalist position advocating abrogation or curtailment ofArticle 9of the postwar Japanese Constitution and open remilitarization of the armed forces. He is particularly well known for his fierce opposition, along with 12 other far-right LDP Diet members, to Japan\'s ratification of theNuclear Non-Proliferation Treatyduring the 1974–1976 session of the Diet, on the grounds that Japan might one day need to acquire its own nuclear arsenal.
Genda died on 15 August 1989, exactly 44 years to the day after theJapanese surrenderin World War II, and just one day short of his 85th birthday. He was married and had three children.
- Genda served as an uncredited technical adviser in the making of the 1970 filmTora Tora Tora. In the film, the role of Genda was portrayed by Tatsuya Mihashi.
- Genda was portrayed by Canadian actorRobert Itoin the 1976 filmMidway, and by Japanese-American actorCary-Hiroyuki TagawainTouchstone Pictures\' 2001 filmPearl Harbor.
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Minoru Genda Hand Signed Card..Japanese Military Aviator....Planned Pearl Harbor:
$86.00