World War Two · Season 4 · Episode 17

Week 139 - Allied Intelligence cracks Japanese codes! - WW2 - April 25, 1942

Saturday, April 24 · 16 min

After last week's Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, pretty much the entire Japanese fleet is sent out looking for American ships. They do not find them, but the enormous amount of radio traffic they generate is a treasure trove for Allied codebreakers to work on. The Allies ship 46 British Spitfire planes to Malta... and all of them are destroyed by the Axis within 48 hours. Germany begins bombing tourist and cultural destinations in Britain, and to make things even worse for the British this week, they realize they can't hold Burma and are now making tracks for India, with the Japanese Army in hot pursuit.