A Mighty Endeavor (79 page)
Here, the man playing dice was staking everything Japan had on each throw and assuming that fortune would not turn its face from him. But, it surely must one day. Then staking everything would mean no prospect of recovery. One other thing kept nagging at his mind. The centerpiece of the plan was to destroy the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Yet, attacks on a major naval base were foolhardy. For all the gains it might have offered, the British had backed off attacking the Taranto naval base. Instead, they elected to fight the Italian Navy at sea, in the Strait of Calabria.
Was the entire Navy Plan based on a flawed foundation?
Genda looked up and saw Takeda staring at him. He remembered,
whatever other loyalties he had, his first was to Japan and the Emperor. To
them, he owed the best advice he could deliver; not that which suited his own ends. In that respect, he was also almost unique in this room. He made his mind up, taking a deep breath as he did so. “Operations votes against the plan.”
Five words, utterly unexpected, caused complete uproar in the conference room. Yamaguchi had to be physically restrained from assaulting Genda. Yamamoto stared at him with a stricken expression; one that revealed his sense of complete betrayal. Tojo’s face was expressionless as he banged his gavel. “Operations in China will continue as currently planned, pending farther developments. By eleven votes to ten, the proposed plan for an attack on Pearl Harbor and the Southern Resource Area has been rejected.”
The End