This work reveals one of the most important intelligence triumphs of World War II. It was no less than the capture of Japan s Plan Z the Empire s fully detailed strategy for prosecuting the last stages of the Pacific War. It s a story of happenstance, mayhem, and intrigue, and resulted directly in the spectacular U.S. victory in the Philippine Sea and MacArthur s early return to Manila, doubtless shortening WWII by months.

One night in April 1944, Admiral Koga (successor to Yamamoto), commander-in-chief of Japanese forces in the Pacific, took off in a seaplane to establish new...