80: The Attack

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor attack, (December 7, 1941), surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island, Hawaii, by the Japanese that precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II. The strike climaxed a decade of worsening relations between the United States and Japan.

Prelude to war

(Pacific War: Japanese-controlled areas of China)

In the late 1930s, American foreign policy in the Pacific hinged on support for China, and aggression against China by Japan therefore necessarily would bring Japan into conflict with the United States. As early as 1931 the Tokyo government had extended its control over the Chinese province of Manchuria, and the following year the Japanese cemented their hold on the region with the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo. A clash at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing on July 7, 1937, signaled the beginning of open warfare between Japan and the United Front of Chinese Nationalists and the Chinese Communist Party. In response, the United States government extended its first loan to China in 1938. The Japanese seized Manchuria in 1931 and occupied much of the coast and North China Plain by 1941.

In July 1939 the U.S. announced the termination of the 1911 Treaty of Commerce and Navigation with Japan. Beginning in the summer of 1940, the U.S. began to restrict the export to Japan of materials useful in war. Between June 1940 and the fateful crisis of December 1941, the tension constantly mounted. In July 1941, by which time the Japanese had occupied all of Indochina and had entered into an alliance with the Axis powers (Germany and Italy), the U.S. government severed all commercial and financial relations with Japan. Japanese assets were frozen, and an embargo was declared on shipments to Japan of petroleum and other vital war materials. Militarists were steadily gaining in influence in the Tokyo government; they bitterly resented U.S. aid to China, which by this time had been stepped up. They saw in the German invasion of the Soviet Union an unrivaled opportunity to pursue a policy of aggression in the Far East without danger of an attack upon their rear by the forces of the Red Army. Nonetheless, negotiations looking to find some kind of understanding between the United States and Japan took place through the autumn of 1941, and not until near the end of November did it become clear that no agreement was possible.

(Tōjō Hideki)

Although Japan continued to negotiate with the United States up to the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, the government of Prime Minister Tōjō Hideki decided on war. Adm. Yamamoto Isoroku, the commander in chief of Japan’s Combined Fleet, had planned the attack against the U.S. Pacific Fleet with great care. Once the U.S. fleet was out of action, the way for the unhindered Japanese conquest of all of Southeast Asia and the Indonesian archipelago would be open. The order for the assault was issued on November 5, 1941, and on November 16 the task force began its rendezvous in the Kuril Islands. Commanders were instructed that the fleet might be recalled, however, in case of a favourable outcome of the negotiations in Washington, D.C. On November 26, Vice Adm. Nagumo Chuichi led a fleet including 6 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, and 11 destroyers to a point some 275 miles (440 km) north of Hawaii. From there about 360 planes in total were launched.

Warnings and responses

(Yamamoto Isoroku, commander in chief of Japan's Combined Fleet during World War II.)

The U.S. Pacific Fleet had been stationed at Pearl Harbor since April 1940. In addition to nearly 100 naval vessels, including 8 battleships, there were substantial military and air forces. As the tension mounted, Adm. Husband E. Kimmel and Lieut. Gen. Walter C. Short, who shared command at Pearl Harbor, were warned of the possibility of war, specifically on October 16 and again on November 24 and 27. The notice of November 27, to Kimmel, began, “This dispatch is to be considered a war warning,” went on to say that “negotiations have ceased,” and directed the admiral to “execute an appropriate defensive deployment.” Kimmel also was ordered to “undertake such reconnaissance and other measures as you deem necessary.” The communication of the same day to Short declared that “hostile action is possible at any moment” and, like its naval counterpart, urged “measures of reconnaissance.”

Naval History and Heritage Command

(Adm. Husband Edward Kimmel)

In response to these warnings, the measures taken by the army and navy commanders were, as the event proved, far from adequate. Short ordered an alert against sabotage and concentrated most of his fighter planes at the base on Wheeler Field in an effort to prevent damage to them. He also gave orders to operate five of the mobile radar sets that had been set up in the island from 4:00 AM to 7:00 AM, considered to be the most dangerous period. (Radar training, however, was in a far-from-advanced stage.) Kimmel, despite the fact that his intelligence had not been able to locate substantial elements in the Japanese fleet—especially the first-line ships in carrier divisions 1 and 2—did not expand his reconnaissance activities to the northwest, the logical point for an attack. He moored the entire fleet (save that part which was at sea) in the harbour and permitted a part of his personnel to go on shore leave. Neither of these officers suspected that the base at Pearl Harbor would itself be subjected to attack. Nor, for that matter, is there any indication that their superiors in Washington were in any way conscious of the approaching danger. In the 10 days between the war warning of November 27 and the Japanese attack itself, no additional action was taken by Washington.

Early on Sunday morning, December 7, Washington learned that the Japanese ambassadors had been instructed to ask for an interview with the secretary of state at 1:00 PM (7:30 AM Pearl Harbor time). This was a clear indication that war was at hand. The message took some time to decode, and it was not in the hands of the chief of naval operations until about 10:30. It was delivered to the War Department between 9:00 and 10:00 AM. Gen. George C. Marshall, the U.S. Army chief of staff, was out horseback riding and did not see the dispatch until he arrived at his office about 11:15 AM. The chief of naval operations, Adm. Harold Stark, even then did not think that the communication called for any additional instructions to Kimmel. However, Marshall did decide to send a new warning and gave orders to the military command to communicate with the navy. He did not telephone, fearing that his words might be intercepted, and instead sent his dispatch by telegram. There was a mix-up in communication, however, and the warning did not reach Hawaii until after the attack had begun. It is important to note that it had not been filed until noon, only an hour before the Japanese planes moved in on the base.

At Pearl Harbor itself, there were incidents that, properly interpreted, might have given a brief warning. Four hours before the decisive moment, a Japanese submarine was sighted by the minesweeper USS Condor. About two and a half hours later, the commander of the destroyer USS Ward sent a message saying that he “had attacked, fired upon, and dropped depth charges upon submarine operating in defensive sea area” near Pearl Harbor. While Kimmel waited for confirmation of this report, the Japanese opened hostilities. In these same morning hours, U.S. Army Pvt. George Elliott, practicing on the radar set after its normal closing time, noticed a large flight of planes on the screen. When he telephoned his lieutenant, he was told to disregard the observation, as a flight of B-17 bombers from the United States was expected at that time. Once again an opportunity was missed.

The attack Learn why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor causing the United States to join Allied forces in World War II The first Japanese dive-bomber appeared over Pearl Harbor at 7:55 AM (local time). It was part of a first wave of nearly 200 aircraft, including torpedo planes, bombers, and fighters. Within a quarter of an hour the various airfields at the base were subjected to savage attack. Due to Short’s anti-sabotage measures, the U.S. military aircraft were packed tightly together at the Naval Air Station on Ford Island and adjoining Wheeler and Hickam fields, and many were destroyed on the ground by Japanese strafing. At Wheeler Field in particular the destruction was fearful. Of the 126 planes on the ground, 42 were totally destroyed, 41 were damaged, and only 43 were left fit for service. Only 6 U.S. planes got into the air to repel the attackers of this first assault. In total, more than 180 aircraft were destroyed.

On December 7, 1941, Japanese airplanes strike the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II. From “The Second World War: Triumph of the Axis” (1963), a documentary by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation. At the same time a massive action was directed against Kimmel’s fleet. The ships anchored in the harbour made perfect targets for the Japanese bombers, and, because it was Sunday morning (a time chosen by the Japanese for maximum surprise), they were not fully manned. Most of the damage to the battleships was inflicted in the first 30 minutes of the assault. The battleship USS Arizona blew up with a tremendous explosion. Riddled with bombs and torpedoes, the USS West Virginia settled on an even keel on the bottom of the harbour. The USS Oklahoma, hit by four torpedoes within five minutes, rolled completely over, with its bottom and propeller rising above the waters of the harbour. The USS California, the flagship of the Pacific Battle Force, was torpedoed and ordered abandoned as it slowly sank in shallow water. The target ship USS Utah also was sunk. Hardly a vessel escaped damage. The antiaircraft crews on the various vessels were fairly prompt in getting into action, and army personnel fired with what they had, but the force of the attack was in no serious way blunted.

PACIFIC WAR EVENTS At 8:50 AM the second wave of the attack began. Less successful than the first, it nonetheless inflicted heavy damage. The battleship USS Nevada had sustained a torpedo hit during the first wave, but its position at the end of Battleship Row allowed it greater freedom of action than the other moored capital ships. It was attempting to get underway when the second wave hit. It was struck by seven or eight bombs and was grounded at the head of the channel. The battleship USS Pennsylvania was set ablaze by bombs, and the two destroyers moored near it were reduced to wrecks. The destroyer USS Shaw was split in two by a great explosion. Shortly after 9:00 AM the Japanese withdrew. No one could doubt that the Japanese had gained a great success. The Arizona and the Oklahoma were destroyed with great loss of life, and six other battleships suffered varying degrees of damage. Three cruisers, three destroyers, and other vessels were also damaged. U.S. military casualties totaled more than 3,400, including more than 2,300 killed. Heavy damage was inflicted on both army and navy aircraft on the ground. The Japanese lost from 29 to 60 planes, five midget submarines, perhaps one or two fleet submarines, and fewer than 100 men. The Japanese task force retired from the theatre of battle without being attacked. There was, however, one consoling feature to the tragedy. As a result of the dispositions made by Kimmel, two U.S. aircraft carriers were not in the harbour. The USS Enterprise, under Adm. William F. Halsey, was on a mission to reinforce the Wake Island garrison with marine planes and aviators. The USS Lexington was undertaking a similar mission to ferry marine dive-bombers to Midway. These operations also meant that seven heavy cruisers and a division of destroyers were at sea. The Enterprise was scheduled to return to Pearl Harbor on December 6 but was delayed by weather. A third carrier, the USS Saratoga, was embarking a fresh complement of aircraft in San Diego on the morning of the attack.

The Pearl Harbor attack severely crippled U.S. naval and air strength in the Pacific. However, of the eight battleships, all but the Arizona and Oklahoma were eventually repaired and returned to service, and the Japanese failed to destroy the important oil storage facilities on the island. The “date which will live in infamy,” as U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt termed it, unified the U.S. public and swept away any earlier support for neutrality. On December 8 Congress declared war on Japan with only one dissenting vote (Rep. Jeannette Rankin of Montana, who had also voted against U.S. entry into World War I).

Investigations, accusations, and interpretations The extent of the disaster and the unpreparedness of the U.S. military provoked considerable criticism and led to numerous investigations. Both Kimmel and Short were relieved of duty, and, almost immediately after the assault, the president appointed a commission headed by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts to examine the facts and to fix responsibility. At a later date both army and navy boards reviewed the problem. In 1946 a full-scale congressional investigation took place. Prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks, probably no episode in U.S. military history was so thoroughly examined, and on none has a wider divergence of opinion been expressed.

The most extreme view of the disaster is not to be found in any of the numerous investigations, but was disseminated long after the tragedy by those supporting the so-called “Back Door to War” theory. Among the earliest and most prominent exponents of this theory was Rear Adm. Robert A. Theobald, a Pacific task force commander whose career was sidelined after he clashed with superiors and failed to challenge the Japanese attacks on Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians. In The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor (1954), Theobald asserted that Roosevelt “by unrelenting diplomatic pressure” “enticed” Japan “to initiate hostilities with a surprise attack by holding the Pacific fleet in Hawaiian waters as an invitation to that attack.” This position found little support among mainstream historians at the time, and declassified documents relating to the capabilities and limitations of U.S. code-breaking efforts would serve to further undermine the “Back Door” theory. Roosevelt did indeed pursue a policy of support for Nationalist China which acted as a substantial irritant to the Tokyo government and did much to provoke it to action. At the same time, there is substantial evidence that he sought to postpone a clash, rather than to incite one, and even in the closing days of the negotiations he made an appeal to Japanese Emperor Hirohito, which, if listened to, might have had that effect.

The success of the attack on Pearl Harbor was primarily due to the Americans’ false estimate of the enemy’s capabilities and intentions. The authorities in Washington knew that the Japanese forces were moving southward into the Gulf of Thailand. They did not believe that coincident with this move the Japanese could or would mount an attack on the Hawaiian base. It seemed logical, too, that the Japanese would avoid such action because it would inevitably bring the United States into the war; operations in the Pacific directed against the British and the Dutch might not have had this effect. The possibility of an air attack on Pearl Harbor had been frequently discussed among U.S. military planners in the course of the year, but, as matters came to a crisis, for the reasons mentioned above, it fell into the background.

It is a difficult matter (and one on which divergent opinions will long be held) to apportion responsibility between Washington and the commanders on the spot. In a report presented only a few weeks after it had been appointed by Roosevelt on December 17, 1941, the Roberts Commission placed the principal blame for the disaster upon Kimmel and Short. The army and navy commissions which later examined the problem took a contrary view, throwing the blame on the War and Navy departments. The majority report of a congressional committee, rendered in 1946, while not avoiding criticism of the chief of naval operations and the U.S. Army chief of staff, stressed the lack of preparation in Hawaii. Two members of this committee strongly dissented, severely blaming the authorities in Washington, and a third took a kind of middle ground.

Those who defend the position of the Hawaiian commanders make the following points. Short replied to Marshall’s warning of November 27, “Department alerted to prevent sabotage.” When this reply passed over the chief of staff’s desk, he neglected to notice that it mentioned only this one kind of preparation (as did Gen. Leonard T. Gerow, his subordinate). At no time in the next 10 days was this neglect repaired. As for Kimmel, the point has been made that he was inadequately informed as to the seriousness of the crisis. In the months before Pearl Harbor, the armed services, through the breaking of the Japanese code, were able to get much information as to Japanese purposes. Not a small part of this related to the position of the naval forces in Hawaii. Kimmel himself claimed that had he been put in possession of this material, he would have taken far stronger measures than he actually did. In defense of his failure to undertake more vigorous measures of reconnaissance, he urged the importance of his training program and the limited nature of his resources.

The critics of Washington also asserted that by the evening of December 6 the president had clear evidence that war was impending and that he should have taken prompt measures to alert the War and Navy departments. This view attached little importance to the warnings of November 27. Those who were critical of the commanders on the spot took the view that the warnings given were sufficient and that a deplorable lack of imagination was shown in acting on them. A rash of questions are raised. Why was the possibility of an air attack not taken into account? Why were Short’s airplanes drawn up in such fashion as to be most exposed to enemy attack? Why was the radar training program not more advanced? Why did Kimmel handle his schedule so that the Japanese could count on all the battleships being in port on Sunday? Why were normal weekend leaves and liberties granted? Why was not some attempt made to improve reconnaissance? Why was the report on the Japanese submarine not taken more seriously? Those who emphasize the responsibility of Kimmel and Short also call attention to the fact that the war warnings of November 27 brought much more vigorous action on the part of the commanders in the Canal Zone and the Philippines.

Whatever judgment may be rendered on this matter, more important than the question of responsibility is the question of the historical significance of Pearl Harbor. Here the verdict is easier to reach. Great as the Japanese success was in the short run, great as the humiliation inflicted on the United States was, the attack was, in the longer perspective, a monstrous error on the part of the government in Tokyo. Even from a tactical point of view it was a blunder. In their intent to destroy the fleet, the Japanese neglected the great oil supplies on Hawaii, the destruction of which would have immobilized the United States for months to come. More important, the Japanese attack brought the U.S. government into the war, unified the American people, and made the ultimate defeat of the Japanese militarists inevitable. There had been much antiwar sentiment in the United States in the fall of 1941. Had the Japanese commanders directed their attention against the British and Dutch, it would have been at least doubtful whether Roosevelt could have led the American people into the war in the Pacific. As in so many other instances in the history of the 20th century, in spite of the weaknesses of the democracies, the autocratic states made errors even more vital than the errors of the democracies. Pearl Harbor was atoned for in four and a half years of war, but the blunders of Japanese militarists resulted in utter and total defeat.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Pearl-Harbor-attack