BBC History
At 7.55am on
Sunday 7 December 1941, the first of two waves of Japanese aircraft began their
deadly attack on the US Pacific Fleet, moored at Pearl Harbor on the Pacific
island of Oahu.
Five
battleships destroyed, 16 badly damaged and 188 aircraft destroyed. However
three US aircraft carriers were saved as they had been assigned elsewhere. The
attack killed about 100 Japanese around 2,400 americans with around another
1,100 injured.
Japan had
relied on America to supply many natural and industrial resources. America
allowed a commercial treaty dating from 1911 to lapse in January 1940. Things
got worse in September when Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and
Italy. Japan knew that a full-scale invasion of South-east Asia would prompt
war with America. It needed a mechanism to buy itself sufficient time. The
attack on Pearl Harbor was that mechanism, By destroying its Pacific Fleet,
Japan expected to remove America from the Pacific equation for long enough to
allow it to secure the resources it needed so desperately and hoped to crush
American morale sufficiently to prompt Roosevelt to sue for peace.
According to
historians Roosevelt was itching for war with Japan but was constrained by US
neutrality, so needed a solid reason to fight. Some even say that the attack on
Pearl Harbor was deliberately engineered by a crypto-communist president guilty
of high treason. Roosevelt knew he needed more time to build America's military
capacity. If war was to come, he wanted Japan to be seen to be the aggressor,
but Roosevelt was in no hurry.
Had Japan
focused beyond the fleet and targeted the crucial shore facilities and oil
reserves, it could have inflicted far greater and more lasting damage. Japan
gave America the chance to rebuild its fleet and re-enter the fight with brand
new kit. Even worse, rather than crushing American morale as planned, the
attack united the country behind Roosevelt and behind war.
Robinson, B,
BBC History, 2011. Pearl Harbour: A Rude
Awakening. [online] (updated 30 March 2011) Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/pearl_harbour_01.shtml
[Accessed 26 September 2012]
Images of Pearl Harbour
All images
taken from: The History Place, 1997. World
War II in Europe, Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, Sunday December 7 1941.
[electronic image] Available at: http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/pearl.htm
[Accessed 26 September 2012].
The sequence of events
Sunday, December 7 - Washington D.C. - The last part of the Japanese message, stating that diplomatic relations with the U.S. are to be broken off, reaches Washington in the morning and is decoded at approximately 9 a.m. About an hour later, another Japanese message is intercepted. It instructs the Japanese embassy to deliver the main message to the Americans at 1 p.m. The Americans realize this time corresponds with early morning time in Pearl Harbor, which is several hours behind. The U.S. War Department then sends out an alert but uses a commercial telegraph because radio contact with Hawaii is temporarily broken. Delays prevent the alert from arriving at headquarters in Oahu until noontime (Hawaii time) four hours after the attack has already begun.
Sunday, December 7 - Islands of Hawaii, near Oahu - The Japanese attack force under the command of Admiral Nagumo, consisting of six carriers with 423 planes, is about to attack. At 6 a.m., the first attack wave of 183 Japanese planes takes off from the carriers located 230 miles north of Oahu and heads for the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor - At 7:02 a.m., two Army operators at Oahu's northern shore radar station detect the Japanese air attack approaching and contact a junior officer who disregards their reports, thinking they are American B-17 planes which are expected in from the U.S. west coast.
Near Oahu - At 7:15 a.m., a second attack wave of 167 planes takes off from the Japanese carriers and heads for Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor is not on a state on high alert. Senior commanders have concluded, based on available intelligence, there is no reason to believe an attack is imminent. Aircraft are therefore left parked wingtip to wingtip on airfields, anti-aircraft guns are unmanned with many ammunition boxes kept locked in accordance with peacetime regulations. There are also no torpedo nets protecting the fleet anchorage. And since it is Sunday morning, many officers and crewmen are leisurely ashore.
At 7:53 a.m., the first Japanese assault wave, with 51 'Val' dive bombers, 40 'Kate' torpedo bombers, 50 high level bombers and 43 'Zero' fighters, commences the attack with flight commander, Mitsuo Fuchida, sounding the battle cry: "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!).
The Americans are taken completely by surprise. The first attack wave targets airfields and battleships. The second wave targets other ships and shipyard facilities. The air raid lasts until 9:45 a.m. Eight battleships are damaged, with five sunk. Three light cruisers, three destroyers and three smaller vessels are lost along with 188 aircraft. The Japanese lose 27 planes and five midget submarines which attempted to penetrate the inner harbor and launch torpedoes.
Escaping damage from the attack are the prime targets, the three U.S. Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers, Lexington, Enterprise and Saratoga, which were not in the port. Also escaping damage are the base fuel tanks.
The casualty list includes 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians killed, with 1,178 wounded. Included are 1,104 men aboard the Battleship USS Arizona killed after a 1,760-pound air bomb penetrated into the forward magazine causing catastrophic explosions.
In Washington, various delays prevent the Japanese diplomats from presenting their war message to Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, until 2:30 p.m. (Washington time) just as the first reports of the air raid at Pearl Harbor are being read by Hull.
News of the "sneak attack" is broadcast to the American public via radio bulletins, with many popular Sunday afternoon entertainment programs being interrupted. The news sends a shockwave across the nation and results in a tremendous influx of young volunteers into the U.S. armed forces. The attack also unites the nation behind the President and effectively ends isolationist sentiment in the country.
Monday, December 8 - The United States and Britain declare war on Japan with President Roosevelt calling December 7, "a date which will live in infamy..."
Thursday, December 11 - Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. The European and Southeast Asian wars have now become a global conflict with the Axis powers; Japan, Germany and Italy, united against America, Britain, France, and their Allies.
Wednesday, December 17 - Admiral Chester W. Nimitz becomes the new commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
The History Place, 1997. World War II in Europe, Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, Sunday December 7 1941. [online] Available at: http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/pearl.htm [Accessed 26 September 2012].
History.com Website
Just before
8 on the morning of December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes
attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The
barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to
destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships,
and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died
in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the assault,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan;
Congress approved his declaration with just one dissenting vote. Three days
later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy also declared war on the United
States, and again Congress reciprocated. More than two years into the conflict,
America had finally joined World War II.
The attack
on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, but Japan and the United States had been edging
toward war for decades.The Japanese government believed that the only way to
solve its economic and demographic problems was to expand into its neighbor’s
territory and take over its import marketAmerican officials responded to this
aggression with a battery of economic sanctions and trade embargoes. They
reasoned that without access to money and goods, and especially essential
supplies like oil, Japan would have to rein in its expansionism. Instead, the
sanctions made the Japanese more determined to stand their ground.During months
of negotiations between Tokyo and Washington, D.C.,
neither side would budge. It seemed that war was inevitable.
But no one
believed that the Japanese would start that war with an attack on American
territory. For one thing, it would be terribly inconvenient: Hawaii and Japan were about
4,000 miles apart. For another, American intelligence officials were confident
that any Japanese attack would take place in one of the (relatively) nearby
European colonies in the South Pacific: the Dutch East Indies, for instance, or
Singapore or Indochina. Because American military leaders were not expecting an
attack so close to home, the naval facilities at Pearl Harbor were relatively
undefended. Almost the entire Pacific Fleet was moored around Ford Island in
the harbor, and hundreds of airplanes were squeezed onto adjacent airfields. To
the Japanese, Pearl Harbor was an irresistible target.
At about 8 a.m., Japanese planes filled the sky over Pearl Harbor. Bombs and bullets rained onto the vessels moored below. At 8:10, a 1,800-pound bomb smashed through the deck of the battleship USS Arizona and landed in her forward ammunition magazine. The ship exploded and sank with more than 1,000 men trapped inside. Next, torpedoes pierced the shell of the battleship USS Oklahoma. With 400 sailors aboard, the Oklahoma lost her balance, rolled onto her side and slipped underwater. By the time the attack was over, every battleship in Pearl Harbor–USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS West Virginia, USS Utah, USS Maryland, USS Pennsylvania, USS Tennessee and USS Nevada–had sustained significant damage. (All but USS Arizona and USS Utah were eventually salvaged and repaired.)
In all, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor crippled or destroyed 18 American ships and nearly 300 airplanes. Dry docks and airfields were likewise destroyed. Most important, almost 2,500 men were killed and another 1,000 were wounded.
But the Japanese had failed to cripple the Pacific Fleet. By the 1940s, battleships were no longer the most important naval vessel: Aircraft carriers were, and as it happened, all of the Pacific Fleet’s carriers were away from the base on December 7. (Some had returned to the mainland and others were delivering planes to troops on Midway and Wake Islands.) Moreover, the Pearl Harbor assault had left the base’s most vital onshore facilities–oil storage depots, repair shops, shipyards and submarine docks–intact. As a result, the U.S. Navy was able to rebound relatively quickly from the attack.
“Yesterday,” President Roosevelt said on December 8, “the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked.” He went on to say, “No matter now long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.” After the Pearl Harbor attack, and for the first time after years of discussion and debate, the American people were united in their determination to go to war. The Japanese had wanted to goad the United States into an agreement to lift the economic sanctions against them; instead, they had pushed their adversary into a global conflict that ultimately resulted in Japan’s first occupation by a foreign power.
On December 8, Congress approved Roosevelt’s declaration of war. Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy declared war against the United States. For the second time, Congress reciprocated. More than two years after the start of the conflict, the United States had entered World War II.
History.com,
2012. Pearl Harbour. [online]
Available at : < http://www.history.com/topics/pearl-harbor>
[Accessed 26 September 2012].
