Prof. Greg Jackson

In other words, cracking this code is no small thing.

And now that we can appreciate that, let's rejoin Joe in his basement.

Excitedly, Joe calls up fellow codebreaker, Edwin Layton.

I've got something so hot here, it's burning the top of my desk.

You'll have to come over and see it.

It's not cut and dried, but it's hot.

The man with the blue eyes will want to know your opinion of it.

Edwin dashes to the underground bunker, darting past the Marine, guarding the door.

He's soon greeted by Joe.

The master codebreaker points to a semi-decrypted message that has the words, Coriaco B. Tai in it.

Edwin also sees a geographic designator, two letters, simply AF, which refer to a, and I quote, forthcoming invasion.

Joe is ecstatic.

The term Koryaku Butai popped up right before major battles in places like Java, Sumatra, and Bali.

It's pretty clear to him that AF is the target.

But Joe can go further.

Doing what Edwin calls a brilliant piece of detective work, he quickly convinces his friend that the objective is midway.

Edwin explains, "...the clinchers were two messages sent out by the 2nd Fleet Command to its associated air units.

The first went to the AF Occupation Force, which was ordered to proceed direct to the Saipan Guam area and wait for the forthcoming campaign."

The second one ordered another unit to load its base equipment and ground crews and advance to AF.

Everything in the way of the base equipment and military supplies, which will be needed for the K campaign, will be included.