Would he be tried for wars crimes? Or would he be a officer for the JMSDF by 1954 just like how Minuro Genda became third Chief of Staff of the JASDF? Or would he run for politics such as the Diet?
What if Admiral Yamamoto survived World War II
- Thread starter Gillan1220
- Start date
This is before 1900's forum, you'll want to have the mods move this to the other one.
Oh my bad. I didn't realize that I posted into the wrong sub boards. @CalBear request to change to After 1900 please.
Coulsdon Eagle
Monthly Donor
War crimes - specifically the execution of the survivors of USS Edsall.
Would it not be for Pearl harbour with maybe a few extras tacked on, but PH is the main thing that the US public will care about?
Yeah, if he survives World War Two he's going to end up with a rope around his neck. Odds are he just commits suicide when Japan surrenders.
The main thing would be conspiracy to wage aggressive war and the attack on Pearl Harbor, which was a major war crime because the Japanese attacked without first issuing a declaration. Add to that any number of war crimes that occurred in areas under IJN responsibility. Even under a fair court like at Nuremberg as opposed to what MacArthur created, he would have been a dead man.
Coulsdon Eagle
Monthly Donor
Nor so sure about Pearl Harbour. IMHO that would be the politicians seeking to wage aggressive war who should be arraigned. Keitel & Jodl were hanged because their signatures were on orders that promulgated the executions of POW's and enemy civilians. Halder was found not guilty despite being COS to OKW when Poland was attacked.
It will be the actions of the Combined Fleet in carrying out executions of prisoners in the NEI campaign that would be levelled against Yamamoto.
Was a Yamamoto a fanatic like the IJA? If I recall correctly Yamamoto was the reasonable one. Could he have received a more lenient sentence like Albert Speer?
According @Coulsdon Eagle, the survivors of the USS Edsall were summarily executed while @Asp states that the Pearl Habor attacks was a war crime because war was not yet formally declared.
Now this presents the question what if Nagumo also survived. Would he be hanged too?
Did he give the order or personally do it? This very thread is one of the results when I look.
IMHO, "the guy who planned Pearl Harbor" is probably for the rope - of course, whether he deserves it for that or not is another matter.
Deleted member 2186
If we look to Admiral Doenitz in Germany he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, so i could see the same thing happening to Yamamoto.
Backtracking my own answer, I would agree that if Yamamoto could get a good lawyer, he'd have a chance - especially if his lawyer made the same argument that saved Doenitz's neck.
Deleted member 2186
Also i think he would be tried as a Class ‘C’ war criminal (he was directed by his government to plan what turned out to be an illegal attack, but had not been an advocate for it or part of the group who made the final decision), and as he had not intentionally tried to attack the US without warning (The Declaration of War was supposed to have been submitted before the attack).
But that is my view.
Is this the same way how Speer got life imprisonment? Then he was released and later died in the UK in 1981.
The same way as some officers of the IJA/IJN ended up in the JSDF during the Cold War. Of course, the Allied occupational forces had to make sure these former IJA/IJN did not take part in war crimes.
Assuming he gets a good lawyer and lenient judge, he would probably be jailed then released later. I could see him become an advisor or a consultant to the JMSDF.
Tons of brass in the Reich were convicted of plotting aggressive war (Doenitz and Raeder for instance). One of the things they didn't pin on them, though, was attacking without a formal declaration of war (IIRC even the Reich issued declarations just before every attack they made). Japan didn't, and Yamamoto was pretty much singlehandedly responsible for the opening overture of the Pacific conflict. That would make his legal position significantly worse.
Under anything close to the same type of court as IOTL, no. Quite honestly, the Japanese war crimes trials were kangaroo courts to a great extent. No chance that the guy who planned the whole thing is going to come out of it alive.
Probably. Aside from the Pearl Harbor Attack Nagumo was also implicated in as commander of the 1st Air Fleet, the IJN under his command also murdered downed U.S. airmen after Midway and bombed a clearly marked hospital ship at Darwin, killing a dozen people on board (source). That would not be looked on kindly.
Yeah, and again, that was with prior declarations of war and a submarine force that obeyed the laws of war to the letter (the only u-boat crewmen convicted of any war crime were three involved in the Peleus Affair). Yamamoto would be in deep shit by comparison.
Coulsdon Eagle
Monthly Donor
IIRC the possibility of Yamamoto, as Commander of the Combined Fleet, being arrainged on capital charges first caught my attention in Jeffrey R Cox's Rising Sun, Falling Skies – The Disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II. The reason behind the execution of the Edsall's survivors was that the Japanese gunnery was so bloody awful & embarrassing, resulting in a high-level decision to keep it quiet, the permanent way.
My copy is packed away somewhere in the library that is my table, under the table, under the bed, on top of the wardrobe...
My copy is packed away somewhere in the library that is my table, under the table, under the bed, on top of the wardrobe...