Pearl Harbor

On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, at 7:55 AM the Japanese Empire led a surprise attack on the US Naval base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, that would leave millions of Americans in shock, and heartbroken. Before the attack, the United States kept a low profile on International affairs, and concentrated on the domestic affairs at hand. This tragic moment in American history forever remembered. It is a mournful day for the American people, although, for the Japanese Empire it was an honorable day, one they would call a

Introduction: December 7 1941 marked a significant date, when the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the United States Naval base, Pearl Harbour. The day after the attack, on December 8 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented his Infamy Speech to American civilians stating that; “Yesterday, December 7th 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. I asked that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on December 7 1941”. The purpose of this report is to show that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had no prior knowledge about the surprise attack supported by historical evidence in comparison to Robert Stinnett’s thoughts, the American journalist and former sailor that knew about the Japanese planning a attack on Pearl Harbour in advance.

December 7, 1941 was one of America’s darkest days. This was the day of the famous pearl harbor bombing. This attack came from the Japanese attacking the American Naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack had been in the planning for many years to attack and weaken the United States Naval force. Japan wanted to do this to gain more superiority in the Atlantic and to grow their ties with European nations. In this paper I will talk about the people, the planning, the attack, and the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor bombing.

Introduction. I chose this battle because I had been hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor, but I did not know much about it. This paper talks about the countries that fought in this battle, where the battle was fought, what the geography was like during the battle, what the weather was like, what happened during this battle, how many casualties occurred, other things I learned about the battle, who won the battle, and how the battle was important to WWII.

December 7, 1941, was one of the worst attacks on the United States in U.S. history. Of that day 2,403 soldiers were killed in action, 1,178 were wounded in action. Numerous U.S. armed forces personnel were misjudged, which allowed the Japanese to carry out this terrible attack. Not only did the Japanese hit the U.S. where they knew it would hurt the most, but it crippled the United States’ entire Pacific Fleet.

On November 26, 1941, the Japanese Task Force comprised of six aircraft carriers. A support force, which included two battleships, three cruisers, nine destroyers, three submarines, escorted it and eight oil supply ships, began their trek to Hawaii. They must travel four thousand miles across open sea and remain undetected by the UNITED STATES Forces. (Wisniewski 20) The UNITED STATES Military knew a surprise attack by Japan was possible and they thought they were prepared. Adm. Husband E. Kimmel and Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short, the commanders of the UNITED STATES Naval and Army forces in Hawaii, respectively, had regularly scheduled training exercises and had taken many precautions to avert disaster. (Pearl Harbor’s History, Filmstrip)

On December 7th, 1941 Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan. On this horrific day over 2,400 Americans were killed by the bombs that the Japanese had dropped. A month preliminary to the attack, Japan sent a plenipotentiary to Washington to arrange the nation’s expansions in Asia. Although if the United States didn’t accept this aggression, Japan was ready to launch a surprise attack. President Roosevelt launched bombs to the Philippines between the Japanese and Dutch oil fields, before they had sent the plenipotentiary. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was over seven hours long, they were 353 Japanese fighter planes, torpedo planes launched bomb. They were a bombing blitz that destroyed 188 U.S. aircraft, had sunken 4 U.S. Navy battleships, and killed more than 2400 Americans with an additional 1,100 injured.

On December 6, President Roosevelt made his final plea to the Japanese Emperor for peace.4 The Japanese did not respond. Later that day the U.S. received and decoded 13 out of 14 messages from Japan. These messages led the U.S. to believe that Japan was on the verge of attacking somewhere in Southeast Asia. On December 7, the U.S. received the final part of the Japanese message that all diplomatic relations were to be severed. Another message was intercepted about an hour later. Due to delays the message could not be forwarded to Pearl Harbor until noon, 4 hours after the attack started. The first attack by Japan consisted of 183 planes, and took off for Pearl Harbor at 6 am. At 7:02 Army operators detected these planes and alerted Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor mistook these planes for American B-17’s due from the U.S. West Coast. At 7:15 the second group of Japanese planes took off for Pearl Harbor. At this point Pearl Harbor did not see itself in any danger and did not see an attack coming.5

On December 7, 1941 Japan stealthily attacked the U.S. Naval base located at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii resulting in many casualties. This IMC plan will outline the objectives, strategies and tactics in order to promote awareness of the attacks as well as develop positive community involvement.

Prior to the upcoming Coral Sea battle, a number of Japanese military messages had been intercepted by the U.S. Navy signals intelligence unit. The first, dated March 28, 1942, was encoded as stating “The objective of MO will be first to restrict the enemy fleet movements and will be accomplished by means of attacks on the north coast of Australia.” (“Battle of the Coral Sea”) Subsequent messages were intercepted that provided allied forces with updated details concerning IJN fleet progress, as well as elements of IJN plans that included battleship and carrier logistics. This resulted in the U.S. Navy’s deployment of a cotillion of numerous warships and support craft, and also the carriers Lexington and Yorktown (“Battle of the Coral Seas”). In the upcoming battle, these ships would do battle against a superior IJN force comprised of far more battleships, submarines and support craft, as well as aircraft carriers.

It was a day full of ongoing horror that was covered in the media unlike any day before it.on Dec. 8, 1941, one day after the bloodiest attack on U.S. soil by a foreign country, news organizations attempted to make sense of it all. Far removed from the future 24/7 news cycle, the correspondents of the era had only bits and pieces of information from the Japanese assault on Hawaii and did their best to put it into a broader context. Looking back on the articles on the 69th anniversary, the stories are often unclear about exactly how the attack on the Pearl Harbor Naval Base happened. What was evident, however, was that it was destined to bring about another world war. Its conclusion remained unknown.

On December 7, 1941 the infamous bombing of Pearl Harbour by the Japanese took place, but who was really responsible? Many historians lay the blame with President Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR), citing his approach to the war as antagonistic and inciting a Japanese attack. This report however will highlight that the Japanese were the real antagonises, deliberately and purposely attacking the United States (US), United Kingdom and Holland, and Pearl Harbour was but a pawn in their war plan, thus alleviating FDR of the historical responsibility bequeathed to him over the last 70 years. The key elements within this review focus on Japan's Pacific War plans, FDR's

Unfortunately, the officer on duty ignored the warning. Had he not, the attack on Pearl Harbor could have been less severe, if not countered completely. In addition, the task of almost the entirety of the air defense of Pearl Harbor fell upon the United States Navy and the United States Air Corp, despite the 16th Coast Artillery Regiment having eighty-two 3-inch anti-aircraft guns, twenty 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, and one hundred and nine .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns. The Army Air Corp’s P-36 and P-40 pursuit planes were the main deterrent to enemy aircraft, unfortunately, this was the target of the Japanese Naval Fleet (Anti-aircraft). At the end of the attack, only a few P-36’s were able to escape the barrage of bullets and bombs, and managed to destroy ten of the Japanese Zero’s, while the 16th Coast Artillery Regiment brought down six.

Breaking news; last week on December 7 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. Japan attacked as a preventative, so the U.S pacific fleet couldn’t interfere in the world war that is currently happening. As you probably know Pearl Harbor is located on island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. The japanese attack by dropping bombs out of ships and planes. The Japanese were very prepared and used the element of surprise, so they could attack Pearl Harbor. We have figured out what happened on the day of December 7th, so here is a brief timeline; at 6am the first wave of fighters left Japan, then at 7:33 the Americans got a message from Japan, they decoded the message and decided they wanted to fight. Hawaii didn’t get the message

Shortly before 8am on Sunday 7 December 1941 , the first of two waves of Japanese aircraft launched a devastating attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet, moored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The raid, which came with no warning and no declaration of war, destroyed four battleships, leaving an additional 4 damaged in merely two hours. The attack destroyed 188 US aircraft, killed more than 2,400 Americans, and injured another 1,200 . Although remembered as “the day that will live in infamy”, the exact reason behind the attack on Pearl Harbor still remains unknown. Some believe that the Japanese were galvanized by Germany to attack the United States because of the assumption that the United States would be unable to concentrate all of its resources toward the fight with Japan. Germany desired assistance in the fight during World War II and, because of that, nearly guaranteed the United States’ defeat if Japan attacked. On the other side, it is believed that the Japanese prompted the Pacific war with the attack on Pearl Harbor in order to eliminate their primary competitor for resources in the Pacific and fulfill its destiny of creating a “greater East Asian co-prosperity sphere” .