Quote:
Originally Posted by nikimcbee
You can thank Alfred Mahan for a good portion of this. It just amazes my how rigid they were to clinging to their naval doctrine. They don't adapt for anything.
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Karl von Clausewitz's famous maxim that "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy," probably never had a less enthusiastic audience than the Imperial Navy or the Japanese military as a whole. The Japanese were not prepared almost to the bitter end to admit that had made a mistake. Throughout the war, the Japanese preferred sticking with a plan, even a bad plan than to question one. In their military ethos, dying in the act of undertaking hopeless orders was seen as preferable and far more honorable than exercising initiative and defying higher authority. When they succeeded they scored highly by determination. When they failed they paid heavily for a lack of flexibility.