The little-known story of one of the most important intelligence triumphs of World War II, and “a record of the heroism of a forgotten man” (Naval Historical Foundation).
This is the story of 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 that resulted directly in the spectacular US victory in the Philippine Sea and MacArthur’s early return to Manila, doubtless shortening WWII by months.
One night in April 1944, Adm. Koga, commander-in-chief of Japanese forces in the Pacific, took off in a seaplane to establish new headquarters. For security reasons, he had his chief of staff, Rear Adm. Fukudome, fly separately. But both aircraft ran into a typhoon and were knocked out of the skies. Koga did not survive. Fukudome’s plane crash-landed into the sea off Cebu, the Philippines, and both the admiral and the precious war plans floated ashore.
Lt. Col. James M. Cushing was an American mining engineer who happened to be in Cebu when war broke out in the Pacific. He soon took charge of the local guerrillas and became a legendary leader. But his most spectacular exploit came when he captured Fukudome and Plan Z. The result was a ferocious cat-and-mouse game between Cushing’s guerrillas and the Japanese occupation forces. While Cushing desperately sent messages to MacArthur to say what he’d found, the Japanese scoured the countryside, killing hundreds of civilians in an attempt to retrieve it.
Cushing finally traded the admiral for a cessation of civilian deaths—but secretly retained the Japanese war plans. Naturally, both Tokyo and Washington tried to cover up what was happening—neither wanted the other to know what they’d lost or what they’d found. Now, in this book, we finally learn of the intelligence coup by Lt. Col. Cushing that helped shorten the war.
“Every once in a while there is a book about a forgotten or neglected aspect of World War II history that makes a reader wonder why this story has not been turned into a movie. Cushing’s Coup is one of those books.” —Naval Historical Foundation
