Contents

Part Two:
The Battles for Midway and the Aleutians

Primary Sources

1. Record Group 457, National Archives

a. SRHO12 RIP98. The Role of RI in the American/Japanese War, Vol.II.

b. SRH230, Battle of Midway, Henry F. Schorreck.

c. SRH268, Two memorandums dated June 1942 to ACNO (Assistant Chief of Naval Operations) from DNC (Director Naval Communications, Joseph R. Redman) and OP-20-G (John R. Redman) subject: Radio Intelligence Organization and Establishment of Advanced Intelligence Centers.

d. SRH272, CINCPAC Enemy Activities File.

e. SRH278 War Diary, CIU Pacific 1942. [Hawaii].

f. SRMN004, CINCPAC Intelligence Bulletins, 16 March-1 June 1942.

g. SRMN005, OP-20-G file of memoranda and reports relating to the Battle of Midway, 1942-1946.

h. SRMN008, CINCPAC and Com 14 CI Bulletins/Radio Digests, l March 31 December 1942.

i. SRMN012, Com 14 TI Summaries with Fleet Intelligence Summaries.

j. SRMN015, The Establishment of Advanced Intelligence Centers, May 1942-August 1943.

k. SRNS1 517, Daily TI and CI Summaries from Melbourne, 20 March - 8 June 1942.

 

2. Record Group 38, National Archives

a. CINCPAC message file. This file contains all classified messages sent and received by CINCPAC during the period covered by this chapter.

b. Sources of Intelligence: A memorandum from Chief of Staff, Naval Forces SOWESPACFOR area indicated that by 26 June 1942, air reconnaissance and photography were the major sources of information on enemy bases, dispositions, air strength and air losses. The memorandum also indicates that reconnaissance flights were flown to confirm intelligence reports from a third unspecified source other than radio Tokyo.

c. A memorandum from the Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) dated 28 August 1942, addressed to "Subchief of Naval Operations" and meaning ONI or OP-16-X; subject: "Establishment of Joint Intelligence Centers." This memorandum conveyed two earlier letters from CMC to COMINCH dated 24 March and 10 April 1942, same subject. (Sec Nav/CNO Correspondence)

d. 24 March 1942 memorandum from [General] T. Holcomb, CMC to COMINCH, subject: Establishment of Advanced Joint Intelligence Centers.

e. 13 April 1942 memorandum from COMINCH to CINCPAC Fleet, subject: Establishment of Joint Intelligence Centers.

f. 28 May 1942 memorandum from CINCPAC Fleet to COMINCH, subject: Establishment of Advanced Intelligence Centers. This memorandum from Admiral Nimitz to Admiral King nonconcurs in the scope of the CMC proposals. Nimitz advocated an intelligence center only in Hawaii centered on the Com 14/Hypo organization. This center was to be established first and possibly followed by others.

g. Records of CNO/COMINCH: Under the file heading "Air Combat Intelligence Officers" will also be found the basic CMC/COMINCH correspondence of MarchApril 1942. Reviewed by RAdm J.H. Towers, Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, it generated a separate plan for providing air combat intelligence officers in the proposed Joint Intelligence Centers. Towers also tasked BuAir to train the officers who would be selected to serve in the centers. (1 May, 14 May, 21 May 1942).

h. 14 July 1942 memorandum from COMINCH to VCNO(ONI) subject: Air Combat Intelligence Officers. This memorandum agreed with CINCPAC's wish to have the center in Hawaii completely operational before other centers were opened in the Pacific. An accompanying letter from CINCPAC to COMINCH stated that the Hawaiian Center (ICPOA) was up and running under Com 14.

i. On 31 March 1942, COMINCH/CNO approved establishment of an Aviation Intelligence Branch in the BuAir to develop and disseminate "Technical Aviation Intelligence" ashore and afloat. The normal sources of this information were ONI and photography.

j. 10 April 1942, Admiral R. K. Turner, Chief of War Plans for Admiral King, proposed that ONI create an Intelligence Staff for Admiral Ghormley, newly appointed Commander, South Pacific Area, whose headquarters were to be located at Auckland, New Zealand, with an advanced base at Tongatabu.

k. In May 1942, Commander Fitzgerald Greene, ONI, was sent to New Zealand to operate a center staffed by 300, including an RI element!

l. A memorandum dated 5 June 1942, from MGen George V. Strong, ACOS/G2, to COS George C. Marshall, U.S. Army, subject: Cooperation and Collaboration with the Navy on Military Intelligence. Two covering notes from Admiral Russell Willson, ONI, probably to Admiral Ernest J. King, COMINCH, note a negative Navy reaction after seeing the Army memorandum. Records of COMINCH Box A8-2.

 

3. Nimitz Command Summary 1941-1942. An official CINCPAC record of certain ideas, plans and messages concerning events in the Pacific. A daily record of important messages from 22 February to 8 June 1942. History Collection, IVWII.2.2

4. History of OP-20-GY-P-1 (Cryptanalysis-Pacific). This classified history is in the history collection IV WI.5.12 and. 5.13.

5. History of OP-20-GT-P (Traffic Analysis-Pacific). This classified history is in the history collection. IVWI.5.8.

6. CNO Summaries of Japanese Naval Activities (Midway) 14 April - 30 June 1942. These daily intelligence summaries were prepared by ONI and located in the records of the White House Map Room.

7. CINCPAC Intelligence Bulletins (Midway) 16 March - 1 June 1942, Daily. This is OP20-GI's copy of the Bulletin. Cryptologic Archives Holding Area, ACC#17907A, Location CBKH44.

Oral Histories

a. Interview of Joseph Rochefort by the Naval Institute. History Collection, IVWX. 1.

b. W. A. (Ham) Wright, NSA Oral History, 11-82.

c. Thomas H. Dyer. Interviewed by Paul Stilwell, Oral Historian, U.S. Naval Institute.

d. Adm. Edwin Layton. Interviewed by Mr. Robert Farley, Oral Historian, National Security Agency. NSA OH02- 83 and follow-up, 32-83.

Secondary Sources

The Battle of Midway Including the Aleutian Phase, June 3 - June 14, 1942, Strategic and Tactical Analysis, U.S. Naval War College, 1948. History Collection IVWVII.6.

Buell, Thomas B. The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1974.

Colville, John. Fringes of Power: 10 Downing Street Diaries 1939-1955. New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1985.

Costello, John. The Pacific War. 2nd printing. Fairfield, Pennsylvania: Fairfield Graphics, 1982.

Dyer, VAdm George C. USN (Ret). The Amphibians Came to Conquer: The Story of Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, LC#71-603853.

Furer, RAdm Julius Augustus, USN (ret). Administration of the Navy Department in World War II. Washington, 1959.

Hough, Richard. The Greatest Crusade -Roosevelt: Churchill and the Naval Wars. New York: William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1986.

Hoyt, Edwin P. Japan's War: The Great Pacific Conflict 1853-1952. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1986.

Keegan, John. The Face of Battle. New York: The Viking Press, 1976.
The Mask of Command. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1987.
The Price of Admiralty: The Evolution of Naval Warfare. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1988.

Larrabee, Eric. Commander in Chief. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their War. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1987.

Layton, RAdm Edwin T. USN (Ret), with Captain Roger Pineau USNR (ret) and John Costello. And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway - Breaking the Secrets. New York: William Morrow and Co., Inc., 1985.

Lord, Walter. Incredible Victory. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1967.

Lundstrom, John B. The First South Pacific Campaign: Pacific Fleet Strategy December 1941-June 1942. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1976.

Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. III, "The Rising Sun in the Pacific," and Vol. IV, "Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions May 1942-August 1942." Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1971.

Potter, E.B. Nimitz. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1976.

Prange, Gordon W., with Donald M. Goldstein and Kathleen V. Dillon. Miracle at Midway. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1982.

Taylor, Theodore. Mitscher the Magnificent. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1954.

Tuleja, Thaddeus V. Climax at Midway. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1960.

Schaller, Michael. Douglas MacArthur: The Far Eastern General. Oxford University Press, 1989.

Willmott, H.P. The Barrier and the Javelin: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies February-June 1942. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1983.

Japanese Sources

Fuchida, Matsuo, and Okumiya Masatake. Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan. Annapolis, Maryland: U.S. Naval Institute, 1955.

Hattori, Takushiro. The Complete History of the Greater East Asia War. Masu Publishing Co., 1953.

"The Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway," ONI Review, May 1947. (A translation of Admiral Nagumo's action report.)

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Reproduction of this portion of "A Priceless Advantage" on this Midway Internet site (http://www.CENTURYinter.net/midway/), does not constitute endorsement of this site or its content by the National Security Agency or the United States Government.

Acknowledgements:

The people of this Nation and its Allies give their gratitude and deep appreciation to the National Security Agency and its cryptologic counterparts in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps for their eternal vigilance and giving this country a priceless advantage in both peace and war.

I would like to thank several people for their efforts to get this work published on my web site.

First, I would like to thank Bill Price for his hard work in sending me the body of this text, its footnotes and bibliography. Bill also started the process that lead to permission from NSA to have this text displayed here.

I would also like to thank Mr. Dave Hatch of the National Security Agency's Center for Cryptologic History and the Director of the National Security Agency, Lieutenant General Kenneth A. Minihan, USAF, for granting permission to publish A Priceless Advantage.

Finally I would like to thank the author, Frederick D. Parker.

Thank you very much! - Chris Hawkinson, April 1998

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