The Japs wanted to run a pre-attack seaplane on Pearl to confirm carriers or no.
But we put a cruiser at their planned refuel location for that plane (intercepted chatter)
The Japs had to cancel that.
It was the one lucky thing we did right.
“We have awakened a sleeping giant, filling him with an u quenchable wrath...”
That was indeed Yamamoto’s thinking.
Did he SAY it..?
No. Too bad cuz both sides loooooove that quote, including me especially.
Another he didnt say:
“Were we to invade America proper, we would find a rifle behind every blade of grass.”
I love it.
It is his thinking.
It is made-up.
“The Japs wanted to run a pre-attack seaplane on Pearl to confirm carriers or no.”
Actually, we sunk a Japanese mini-submarine just south of the harbor about an hour before the attack hit.
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/30/us/japanese-submarine-sunk-at-pearl-harbor-is-found.html
rwood