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The preemptive strike

The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service conducted a preemptive military strike on the US at the Pearl Harbor naval base on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The attack began at 7:48 am, with 353 Imperial Japanese aircraft taking the lead which included fighters, torpedo bombers, level and dive bombers attacking the base, and six aircraft carriers ambushing in two waves. The first wave was the main attack, the second wave was aimed at attacking aircraft carriers, cruisers, and the third target was battleships. Most weapons were propped up during the first wave to attack capital ships with the help of Type 91 aerial torpedoes that allowed operation in shallow water. Dive bombers were used to attack ground targets. Fighters were brought to shoot down parked American aircraft so that they could not go into the air to obstruct the bombers. When these fighters ran out of fuel, they were supposed to refuel at the aircraft carriers and return to combat. All eight US battleships were destroyed, and four of them were sunken. 188 US aircraft were damaged, with casualties of 2,403 people, and 1,178 others were injured. Some key installations including, the power station, shipyard, dry dock, submarine piers, headquarters building, maintenance, fuel, and torpedo storage sites, were unharmed. On the other side, the Japanese army suffered the damage of an anti-aircraft training ship and a minelayer, along with three cruisers and destroyers. They lost 29 aircraft and five midget submarines, and one of their commanding officers, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured, and 64 servicemen died. This devastating event led the neutral country US to enter World War II the next day, on December 8, 1941. Japan also delivered declarations of war on the United States and the British Empire. The attack on Pearl Harbor was later classified as a war crime in the Tokyo Trials because it was carried out without a declaration of war or explicit warning.

Japan's grand plan against America

The Japanese leadership never believed they could defeat the US. It sought to negotiate a good end to the war. It wanted to postpone American action by bombing the navy at Pearl Harbor, giving it more time to consolidate its Asian empire. Then it planned to wage a decisive battle in which American forces would be slaughtered, forcing the US to make a pact and restore Japan's former order that included the emperor and the military government. Because the war was predestined, Japan's only hope was to catch America off guard and destroy its navy as swiftly as possible. Japan longed to conquer the Dutch East Indies and Malaya in an attempt to acquire natural resource-rich regions such as rubber and oil. They wanted to seize the Philippines and Malaya by destroying a substantial percentage of the American fleet while America was still recovering from its disasters. Returning to our actual analysis of why Japan prepared for an invasion of Pearl Harbor. Japan believed that America would admit defeat and that Japan would be able to build a fortress covering the entire Pacific Rim. The United States and Japan have been at odds for decades, and it was only a matter of time before a conflict broke out. Japan attempted to gain entry into China to alleviate several economic and demographic challenges and also obtain control of the Chinese import market. When Japan decided to launch 'The Second Sino-Japanese War' on China in 1937, America was outraged and retaliated with trade embargoes and economic sanctions. The oil embargo negotiated by the US with the UK and the Netherlands, in particular, was a source of contention for Japan which imports 90% of its oil. Japan's military would be unable to function without oil, and all war efforts would be halted. After the US-Japan agreement stagnated for various months, Japan decided to attack first. The Japanese onslaught had many objectives. Its first goal was to eliminate important American fleet units, forbidding the Pacific Fleet from intervening in Japan's invasion of the Dutch East Indies and Malaya and letting Japan take over Southeast Asia unhindered. Second, it was anticipated to provide time for Japan to consolidate its position and strengthen its naval forces before the 1940 Vinson-Walsh Act, which enabled shipbuilding and eliminated any possibility of success. Third, battleships were chosen as the principal targets to strike America's ability to organize its forces in the Pacific, as they were the prestige ships of any navy at the time. Finally, it was believed that the attack would lower American morale enough that the US administration would abandon its anti-Japanese demands and seek a peaceful solution with Japan.

Why didn't America see it coming?

The United States was aware of Japanese political plans as the year 1941 progressed because they managed to crack the country’s primary diplomatic code known as the ‘Purple cipher’ codenamed ‘Magic’ in an operation. The Japanese government and military used numerous codes, but the Purple cipher was the only one fully decoded by US cryptographers. The naval cipher, JN25b, was partly decoded when the Japanese aircraft started their initial bombing of the Pacific Fleet. During that time, Americans were able to read the traffic between Tokyo and Japan’s embassy in Washington, though messages never carried details of military plans or activities, usually giving high-level instructions for diplomats. So, Franklin D. Roosevelt and his secretary of state, Cordell Hull, knew about the Japanese plan from the summary instructions of General Hideki Tojo, the country’s recently appointed prime minister, sent to his ambassador in Washington. Keeping the plan for the strike at Pearl Harbor, a secret was Japan’s major victory in the second half of 1941. Tokyo issued war orders on November 5 and decided for war on November 29, but these dates were known to Washington. So, orders went to the Japanese armed forces to expect the war on December 8. The attack on Oahu was planned at 08:00 hours on December 7 that fell at 03:30 hours on December 8 in Tokyo. However, because this date was not communicated to Japan's embassy, Washington was unaware of it.

US response to the strike

Although the United States tried not to participate in the war, the attack on Pearl Harbor precipitated the entry of the US into global war. The attack changed America's opinion in entering the battlefield of the Second World War. On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war against Japan as soon as President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress to announce a strike against Japan. The US first response to Pearl Harbor was made across the Atlantic in the European Theater. The presence of the US military in Australia was intended to prepare for a counter-offensive against Japan’s periphery. Moreover, the Pacific War Campaign Plan was created as an outline for the conflict with Japan in April 1942. During this dilemma, many industries got ramped up to produce trucks, jeeps, tanks, artilleries, fighter planes in heavy need. Thus, the US was also able to arm British and Russian forces. Less than five months after the Pearl Harbor bombing, the US forces launched different bombers from the deck of the USS Hornet and successfully bombed Tokyo. In June 1942, the massive US Navy won the most important naval battle of the entire war, defeating the Japanese fleet near Midway Island. Furthermore, only eleven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, America successfully led the invasion of North Africa under operation 'Torch'. Less than four years after America entered the war, it was capable of handling two major enemies in two global theaters of combat, as both Japan and Germany were defeated.

90 minutes, changed the world history

Tensions between Japan and the United States began in the early 20th century and peaked during the 1930s when Japan tried to invade China. In 1937, Japan and China went to war, and in 1940, the US considered Japan's expansion into China, which was a sufficient threat for Japan and therefore provided military aid to China. Originally, the United States wanted to avoid war, but conflicts between nations became inevitable. The US Navy was too strong, and Japan couldn't easily get rid of the American threat, but they had a trick in their bags. Japanese troops insisted on declaring war in the Pacific rather than declaring war on the US, and as expected, the attack surprised Americans. On December 6, 1941, the US army intelligence personnel interpreted a message indicating an attack, but they didn't know that Pearl Harbor would be attacked. Altogether, Japan's attack on the US has paralyzed nearly twenty American ships and 300 aircraft. Dry docks and airfields were equally destroyed. A total of 253 Japanese aircraft and twenty-eight submarines destroyed Arizona and Oklahoma. Eventually, 2,400 Americans were killed in the attack, and about half of those deaths occurred in Arizona. Thirty-eight sets of brothers, including three sets of three brothers, boarded the ship, but unfortunately, only one survived. The attack on Pearl Harbor has significantly weakened the US Navy and air power in the Pacific Ocean. Roosevelt, the former President of the US, said the day would remain in the hearts of Americans forever. He said Pearl Harbor Day will always live in "infamy," but he underestimated the symbolism. Infamy means treason, so he implied what Japan did was an act of treason. Pearl Harbor has had worldwide influence. Suddenly, the struggle between the two nations affected politics globally. One of those effects was America's entry into World War II. The US understood that the attack was an act of war. After declaring war on Japan, it also declared war on Italy and Germany. There is no doubt that the devastation of Pearl Harbor caused a lot of pain, both physically and emotionally. And there is no doubt that this had a major impact on the present-day American forces, government, and their way of working. If the attack on Pearl Harbor had not taken place, the consequences that other countries faced due to the US would not have happened. Two power blocks that emerged as a result of war, the Allied and Axis Forces, could be avoided. The whole social and political sphere would be very different if the Pearl Harbor incident didn't exist.

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