admiral yamamoto on his flagship, the battleship Nagato (december 1941), Yamamoto is generally regarded as one of the most prominent leaders in the Imperial Japanese Navy for making significant changes to its organization although he was also responsible for several critical defeats. Yamamoto is considered to be an imaginative and brave leader for formulating a plan to launch a pre-emptive attack on US forces in the Pacific Fleet. He also didn't trust Nazi Germany-somewhat ironically, he became the only non-German to be given the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, which was awarded posthumously



admiral yamamoto

B-17 bomber in japanese army air force service

B-17

General Tomoyuki Yamashita was a general of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. He was most famous for conquering the British colonies of Malaya and Singapore, earning the nickname "The Tiger of Malaya". On 6 November 1941, Yamashita was put in command of the Twenty-Fifth Army. On 8 December, he launched an invasion of Malaya, from bases in French Indochina. In the campaign, which concluded with the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942, Yamashita's 30,000 front-line soldiers and 200 tanks fought against a poorly equiped force with no armored force, Yamashita's force captured 130,000 British, Indian and Australian troops, the largest surrender of British-led personnel in history