The Japanese Navy was brought down by a fatal flaw in its secret war code that Allied code breakers exploited during the Pacific War, an Australian mathematician has revealed.
Dr Peter Donovan, a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, says he is the first to identify the truth about Japan's operational code JN-25 since archives became available in 1975.
Dr Donovan discussed his discovery ahead of Australia's 60th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific Day on August 15.