The United States and the world changed on Sunday December 7,1941. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor at 6:00AM. Most people were just waking up,in pajamas, sitting down to breakfast and getting ready for a Sunny December day. The Japanese main purpose was to cripple the United States Navy. They Choose a Sunday intentionally because they felt that on Sundays the Navy and civilian populations would be more relaxed and less alert. Another factor for the Japanese was that most of the United States Navel fleet would be in the harbor doing the mundane routines and maintenance. The service men, and women were not prepared for the punishment the Japanese would inflict on them that Sunday morning. Despite the attack, and the thousands of Navy, and civilians casualties Americans rallied together and became a force to be feared. While the Japanese believed that they had crippled and destroyed the United States and the U.S. Navy with their attack on Pearl Harbor, in reality their attack prompted the United Stated to enter WWll and thus the beginning of the end for the Japanese military of the time. The Japanese Admiral who initiated the attacks on Pearl Harbor has been quoted by several historians, expressing his concerns with attacking the United States. His supposed statements are now part of some of the most infamous quotes ever stated. In reality there is no printed or reordered evidence that the quote that the Admiral is famous for 100% accurate. The famous quote has been in movies and books. Admiral Isoroku Yaramotos supposed statement was even in the Movie TORA, TORA, TORA I FEAR ALL WE HAVE DONE IS AWAKEN A SLEEPING GIANT AND FILLED HIM WITH A TERRIBLE RESOLVE And more recently in the 2001 Movie Pearl Harbor. Although Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto initiated the plans for the attack against Pearl Harbor, Commander Minoru Genda was the plans chief architect. There are some facts that are certain. Admiral Yamamoto did express his concerns with attacking the United States. He did not believe it to be a good military move. Despite his beliefs he carried out his orders. One of the biggest blunders for the Japanese and one of the best coincidences for the United States on Sunday, December 7, 1941 is that the three Aircraft Carriers typically docked in Pearl Harbor were out to sea the morning of the attack. They were actually the main targets of the Japanese. Since they were out to sea they focused on the Battleships and the Airfields. Remember the United States was not involved in the war at that point so we were not expecting to be attacked! In the Airfields the Japanese had easy targets because the planes were parked wingtip to wingtip. When the dive boomers came in to attack they could hit one plane and the rest in the rows would go up in flames!! When the Japanese Commander Mistsuo Fushida called out TORA,TORA, TORA! When flying over Pearl Harbor, it was a message to the entire Japanese navy telling them that they had caught the Americans totally by surprise!! TORA, TORA, TORA means Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! The very next day President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that December 7,1941 would be A DATE THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY. He also declared war on Japan. The United States entered the war and thus changed the course of the world forever!! I LOVE HISTORY!! It was my focus when I was in college!! Read more about it!! ITS SO INTERESTING!! Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Sunday, December 7, 1941 Aboard a Japanese carrier before the attack on Pearl Harbor, crew members cheer departing pilots. Below: A photo taken from a Japanese plane during the attack shows vulnerable American battleships, and in the distance, smoke rising from Hickam Airfield where 35 men having breakfast in the mess hall were killed after a direct bomb hit. ________________________________________________________ Above: The USS Shaw explodes during the Japanese air raid. Below Left: The battleship USS Arizona after a bomb penetrated into the forward magazine causing massive explosions and killing 1,104 men. Below Right: Dousing the flames on the battleship USS West Virginia, which survived and was rebuilt. Sequence of Events Saturday, December 6 - Washington D.C. - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt makes a final appeal to the Emperor of Japan for peace. There is no reply. Late this same day, the U.S. code-breaking service begins intercepting a 14-part Japanese message and deciphers the first 13 parts, passing them on to the President and Secretary of State. The Americans believe a Japanese attack is imminent, most likely somewhere in Southeast Asia. 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 Oahus 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. Both senior commanders at Pearl Harbor; Navy Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, and Army Lt. General Walter C. Short, were relieved of their duties following the attack. Subsequent investigations will fault the men for failing to adopt adequate defense measures.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 08:19:40 +0000
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