A Call to Action on a Somber VE Day

[Aristus]

2. "I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

There actually is no evidence that Yamamoto ever wrote this, or said it, unless he was in the shower when he did. But "Tora! Tora! Tora!" put it in the film as if he did.

What we do know for certain regarding his prediction of the outcome of the war comes from his briefing to the Navy General Staff about the attack on Pearl Harbor (and Guam, and the Philippines, etc.) He did tell them that after the attack, he would "run wild in the Pacific, winning victory after victory, for perhaps six months. After that, I see no hope of final victory."

Pretty close to the mark. Midway was seven months after Pearl Harbor.