When Japanese warplanes swept in to attack the US naval base at
Pearl Harbor and other installations on the Hawaiian island of Oahu on
7 December 1941 , the act was the culmination of years of growing
tension between the two countries. Japan, seeking preeminence in Asia
and the Pacific, required land and other natural resources ti sustain its
growing population and fuel its formidable military machine.
In 1931, Japan's army had invaded Machuria, and a decade of fighting in China followed. By 1941, Japan had occupied all of Indochina. Recognizing the US and the traditional European powers as the chief impediments to the establishment of its 'Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere' Japan prepared for a war that its militaristic leaders considered inevitable. In response to the growing threat, President Franklin D. Roosevelt utilized political and economic pressure to curb Japanes ambitions. In may 1940, he ordered the US Pacific Fleet, already in Hawaiian waters for exercises, to remain on station at Pearl Harbor rather than return to its home port of San Pedro, California. In the summer of 1940, he prohibited the export of strategic minerals, chemicals and scrap iron to Japan. On 26 July 1941, in retaliation for Japan's occupation of Indochina, he imposed an embargo on oil, nationalized the Filipino Army and froze Japanese assets in the Uniter States.
WAR WARNINGS
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (1883-1943), Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet, was reluctant to go to war with the United States. Nevertheless he became the architect of what was conceived as a crippling blow to American military power in the Pacific, a pre-emptive strike by carrier-based aircraft againt the US Pacific Fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor. For months, the Japanese pilots trained in secret. Then, on 26 November 1941, the powerful armada sailed from Hittokapu Bay in the Kurile islands. Two battleships, three cruisers, nine destroyers and three submarines escorted the heart of the strike force, sex aircraft carriers. American military leaders and diplomats acknowledged that war with Japan was imminent. However, they were convinced that the first blow would fall in the Philippines or Southeast Asia. The day after the Japanese fleet sailed, US commanders across the Pacific received a war warning. But the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Husband Kimmel (1882-1949), were preoccupied with safeguarding installations and equipment from sabotage. They also fell victim to a series of communication failures.
TORA, TORA, TORA!
Unmolested by US fighters or antiaircraft defenses, the bombers of Lieutenant-Commander Mitsuo Fuchida (1902-1976) cleared the mountains west of Pearl Harbor. When it was apparent that the attackers had achieved complete surprise, Fuchida transmitted the message, to 'Tora, Tora, Tora!' to the Japanese fleet. The first bombs fell on ford Island. Kaneohe Naval Air Station, Wheeler Field, Bellows Field, Hickam Field and Ewa Marine Corps Air Station came under attack from bombers and strafing fighters, destroying most American aircraft on the ground. Moored along Battleship Row southeast of Ford Island, the pride of the US Pacific Fleet lay at anchor. Seven battleships represented easy targets for screeching dive bombers and torpedo planes, which skimmed the harbour at barely to launch their deadly weapons. The flagship of the fleet, the battleship USS lay in a nearby drydock. Within minutes, Pearl Harbor was ablaze. Four battleships were sunk. The West Virginia was hit by seven torpedoes and two bombs. the California took two torpedoes and capsized, trapping many sailors below decks. A bomb fashioned from a modified shell originally intended for a naval cannon penetrated the deck of the Arizona and ignited a catastrophic explosion that shattered the ship and took the lives of men. The Pennsylvania, Maryland, Nevada and Tennessee were heavily damaged.
STUNNING BLOW
In little more than two hours, Japan had altered that balance of power in the Pacific. The bold attack had taken the lives of 2403 Americans. Eighteen of 96 vessels at Pearl Harbor were sunk or damaged heavily. A total of 165 US aircraft were destroyed and 128 others damaged. In exchange, the Japanese lost 29 aircraft, five midget submarines, one fleet submarine and 185 dead. Although they had achieved a great victory, the Japanese failed to achieve two major goals. the US aircraft carriers, their primary objective, were at sea and thus spared the attack. The marauding planes had also neglected nearly million liter of fuel oil stored in tanks around Pearl Harbor and barely touched repair facilities, which would prove essential to future operations. The day after the attack, President Poosevelt asked a joint session of Congress for a declaration of war and called 7 December 1941 a date which will live in infamy.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (1883-1943), Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet, was reluctant to go to war with the United States. Nevertheless he became the architect of what was conceived as a crippling blow to American military power in the Pacific, a pre-emptive strike by carrier-based aircraft againt the US Pacific Fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor. For months, the Japanese pilots trained in secret. Then, on 26 November 1941, the powerful armada sailed from Hittokapu Bay in the Kurile islands. Two battleships, three cruisers, nine destroyers and three submarines escorted the heart of the strike force, sex aircraft carriers. American military leaders and diplomats acknowledged that war with Japan was imminent. However, they were convinced that the first blow would fall in the Philippines or Southeast Asia. The day after the Japanese fleet sailed, US commanders across the Pacific received a war warning. But the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Husband Kimmel (1882-1949), were preoccupied with safeguarding installations and equipment from sabotage. They also fell victim to a series of communication failures.
TORA, TORA, TORA!
Unmolested by US fighters or antiaircraft defenses, the bombers of Lieutenant-Commander Mitsuo Fuchida (1902-1976) cleared the mountains west of Pearl Harbor. When it was apparent that the attackers had achieved complete surprise, Fuchida transmitted the message, to 'Tora, Tora, Tora!' to the Japanese fleet. The first bombs fell on ford Island. Kaneohe Naval Air Station, Wheeler Field, Bellows Field, Hickam Field and Ewa Marine Corps Air Station came under attack from bombers and strafing fighters, destroying most American aircraft on the ground. Moored along Battleship Row southeast of Ford Island, the pride of the US Pacific Fleet lay at anchor. Seven battleships represented easy targets for screeching dive bombers and torpedo planes, which skimmed the harbour at barely to launch their deadly weapons. The flagship of the fleet, the battleship USS lay in a nearby drydock. Within minutes, Pearl Harbor was ablaze. Four battleships were sunk. The West Virginia was hit by seven torpedoes and two bombs. the California took two torpedoes and capsized, trapping many sailors below decks. A bomb fashioned from a modified shell originally intended for a naval cannon penetrated the deck of the Arizona and ignited a catastrophic explosion that shattered the ship and took the lives of men. The Pennsylvania, Maryland, Nevada and Tennessee were heavily damaged.
STUNNING BLOW
In little more than two hours, Japan had altered that balance of power in the Pacific. The bold attack had taken the lives of 2403 Americans. Eighteen of 96 vessels at Pearl Harbor were sunk or damaged heavily. A total of 165 US aircraft were destroyed and 128 others damaged. In exchange, the Japanese lost 29 aircraft, five midget submarines, one fleet submarine and 185 dead. Although they had achieved a great victory, the Japanese failed to achieve two major goals. the US aircraft carriers, their primary objective, were at sea and thus spared the attack. The marauding planes had also neglected nearly million liter of fuel oil stored in tanks around Pearl Harbor and barely touched repair facilities, which would prove essential to future operations. The day after the attack, President Poosevelt asked a joint session of Congress for a declaration of war and called 7 December 1941 a date which will live in infamy.
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