Hector Charles Bywater
Encyclopedia
Hector Charles Bywater was a British journalist and military writer.
H.C. Bywater was the second son of a middle class Welshman. The family had emigrated into the United States in 1901. At age of 19 he started part time job writing naval articles for the New York Herald
newspaper and later was sent as foreign correspondent to London. It was here that he became a naval spy for Britain. Naturally gifted with languages, he was proficient to the point that he could pass for a native German. In 1915, he was sent back to America to investigate suspicious activity on New York's docks and averted a WWI German bombing attempt in New York. Years later, he returned to London to analyze naval data and documents.
In his 1921 book Sea-power in the Pacific : a study of the American-Japanese naval problem, he predicted naval conflict between Imperial Japan and the United States
and expanded the topic further in 1925 book The Great Pacific War
. Here Bywater correctly predicted many actions taken by both the Japanese and the Americans, including the Japanese drive to win the "Decisive Battle" and the US island-hopping campaign.
Contrary to popular belief, neither book predicted an aerial attack on Pearl Harbor. Instead he predicted that the aerial attack would occur in US colonized Philippines, at the time having the largest concentration of US naval vessels in the Pacific.
H.C. Bywater died just over a year before WWII broke out in the Pacific with the attack on Pearl Harbor. He died of "undetermined causes" on the hospital coroner's report, but no autopsy was ever performed and his body was hastily cremated. Conspiracy theorists believe that Imperial Japan had him assassinated to deny the Allied Powers with a potentially important military adviser and strategist during WWII.
Following the end of WWII many military leaders in both the Allied Powers and Imperial Japan confirmed that H.C. Bywater's The Great Pacific War
was a key resource book in planning military strategy during the war. To this day WWII first edition printings of the book in either English and Japanese are highly sought after amongst rare and naval book collectors.
H.C. Bywater was the second son of a middle class Welshman. The family had emigrated into the United States in 1901. At age of 19 he started part time job writing naval articles for the New York Herald
New York Herald
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...
newspaper and later was sent as foreign correspondent to London. It was here that he became a naval spy for Britain. Naturally gifted with languages, he was proficient to the point that he could pass for a native German. In 1915, he was sent back to America to investigate suspicious activity on New York's docks and averted a WWI German bombing attempt in New York. Years later, he returned to London to analyze naval data and documents.
In his 1921 book Sea-power in the Pacific : a study of the American-Japanese naval problem, he predicted naval conflict between Imperial Japan and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and expanded the topic further in 1925 book The Great Pacific War
The Great Pacific War
′The Great Pacific War was a 1925 novel by Hector Charles Bywater which discussed a hypothetical future war between Japan and the United States. The novel accurately predicts a number of details about the Pacific Campaign of World War II...
. Here Bywater correctly predicted many actions taken by both the Japanese and the Americans, including the Japanese drive to win the "Decisive Battle" and the US island-hopping campaign.
Contrary to popular belief, neither book predicted an aerial attack on Pearl Harbor. Instead he predicted that the aerial attack would occur in US colonized Philippines, at the time having the largest concentration of US naval vessels in the Pacific.
H.C. Bywater died just over a year before WWII broke out in the Pacific with the attack on Pearl Harbor. He died of "undetermined causes" on the hospital coroner's report, but no autopsy was ever performed and his body was hastily cremated. Conspiracy theorists believe that Imperial Japan had him assassinated to deny the Allied Powers with a potentially important military adviser and strategist during WWII.
Following the end of WWII many military leaders in both the Allied Powers and Imperial Japan confirmed that H.C. Bywater's The Great Pacific War
The Great Pacific War
′The Great Pacific War was a 1925 novel by Hector Charles Bywater which discussed a hypothetical future war between Japan and the United States. The novel accurately predicts a number of details about the Pacific Campaign of World War II...
was a key resource book in planning military strategy during the war. To this day WWII first edition printings of the book in either English and Japanese are highly sought after amongst rare and naval book collectors.
Books
- Archibald Hurd (1869–1959) and H.C. Bywater: From Heligoland to Keeling Island : one hundred days of naval war, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1914.
- H.C. Bywater: Sea-power in the Pacific : a study of the American-Japanese naval problem, Constable, London, 1921.
- H.C. Bywater: The great Pacific warThe Great Pacific War′The Great Pacific War was a 1925 novel by Hector Charles Bywater which discussed a hypothetical future war between Japan and the United States. The novel accurately predicts a number of details about the Pacific Campaign of World War II...
: a history of the American-Japanese campaign of 1931-33, Constable, London, 1925. Published again in Boston, 1942 as The great Pacific war : a historic prophecy now being fulfilled. - H.C. Bywater: Navies and nations : a review of naval developments since the Great War, Constable, London, 1927.
- H.C. Bywater: A searchlight on the Navy, Constable, London , 1934.
- H.C. Bywater and Herbert Cecil Ferraby (1884–1942): Strange intelligence : memoirs of naval secret service , London, 1934.
- H.C. Bywater: Cruisers in battle : naval 'light cavalry' under fire, 1914-1918, Constable, London, 1939.
Literature
- William H. Honan,: Visions of Infamy, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1991; ISBN 0-312-05434-8.