IntroductionThe deliberate planning and assassination of high-ranking officers was seen by some as an unethical action and by others as a tactical advantage. History has examples of both sides of the argument, from the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo having Napoleon within range of his artillery and choosing not to fire on British commandos specifically targeting General Rommel in North Africa. Warfare strategy changed during the 20th century due to the strategic advantage gained by killing key leaders and improving weapon systems. On the morning of April 18, 1943, 16 Lightning P-38s of the Army Air Corps left a small airstrip on the island. of Guadalcanal to intercept and shoot down the Japanese commander and head of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, above the island of Bougainville, in the Solomon Islands. "Mission Y" began on the morning of April 13, 1943, when Admiral Yamamoto's staff administrator, Commander Yasuji Watanabe, sent the admirals the route to inspect the front-line troops on the islands of Shortland, Ballale and Bougainville. This message was intercepted by a network of radio intercept stations called NEGAT (US radio intercept Washington DC), FRUMEL (Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne, Australia) and FRUPAC (Fleet Radio Unit, Pacific; Pearl Harbor). The message caught the attention of the Navy's most experienced cryptanalyst-linguist, Lt. Col. Alva B. Lasswell, who, after the initial translation of the message was completed, jumped up and declared with annoyance: “We hit the jackpot. .” Once the message was confirmed, the decision was made to go after the commander and leader of the Imperial Japanese Combined Fleet. The order was transmitted by Admiral C...... middle of paper ......5.Glines , Carroll V. Attack on Yamamoto. New York: Crown Publishers Inc., 1990. Hall, R. Cargill. Lightning on Bougainville. Washington and London. Smithsonian Institute., 1991. Haulman, Daniel L. “The Yamamoto Mission.” Air Power History (Summer 2003): 31-37. Paul, Wifred J. and Albert F. Simpson. Army Air Forces in World War II, Volume IV, The Pacific: From Guadalcanal to Saipan, August 1942 to July 1944, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate, 213-214. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1950. Potter, John Deane. Yamamoto: The man who threatened America. New York: The Viking Press, Inc., 1965. Roberts, Priscilla Mary, Jack Greene, Cole C. Kingseed, Malcom Muir Jr. David T. Zabecki, Encyclopedia of World War II: A Political, Social, and Military History, volume IV: SZ, edited by Spencer C. Tucker, 1664-1665. ABC-CLIO, Inc., Santa Barbera, 2005.