A little before eight a.m., a massive Japanese assault force attacked the naval base and the adjoining army air force's Hickam field. The armada consisted of 5 heavy aircraft carriers, 2 heavy cruisers, 35 submarines, 2 light cruisers, 9 oilers, 2 battleships and 11 destroyers. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the sneak attack a Day of Infamy, in asking Congress for a Declaration of War the following day.
The assault came in two waves. The first consisted of 183 aircraft, including 40 torpedo planes, 49 fixed-level bombers, 51 dive bombers and 43 fighters.
The second consisted of 170 planes. Fifty-four of them were fixed-level bombers, 80 were dive-bombers and 36 were fighter planes. Over 350 Japanese planes were involved in the surprise attack, which lasted two hours.
By the end of the day, over 2,000 American troops had lost their lives and nearly 3,600 were wounded.
US Navy Began Downgrading Battleships after the Attack
The attack caught the US forces off guard, asleep, figuratively speaking, and nearly wiped out the US Pacific fleet. Nine battleships were lost, resulting in a downgrading of those hitherto super warships for future use, by the US Navy. Aircraft carriers took their place.
In addition, the US lost 3 destroyers, 1 mine craft, 3 auxiliaries and 328 aircraft were sunk or disabled.
It was a devastating blow for US defenses in the Pacific. Just a few months before the attack, President Roosevelt had ordered the Pacific fleet to depart the West Coast of the US and become headquartered in Pearl Harbor, in order to thwart Japanese aggressive moves in the Pacific Ocean.
Japan Regarded US As a Threat to Its Ambitious Plans in the Pacific
A brouhaha was already brewing, for in response to Japanese aggression in the Far East, the US and several Western European countries had embargoed exports of vital materials to them and frozen their assets in banks.
Post-war information shows that Japan indeed had designs of expansion in the Pacific and needed imports desperately. Its rulers saw the export and asset freeze and the shift of the US Pacific fleet to Pearl Harbor as deterrents to their ambitions.
The US almost had time to get ready, a possibility that has caused a great deal of controversy in the American high command. Through its intelligence sources, the Navy knew a huge Japanese force was steaming toward some objective in the Pacific Ocean, but did not know its destination. When a cable alert was finally sent to Pearl Harbor, it was too late.
Assault Was a Brilliant Tactical Victory but a Catastrophic Strategic Defeat
Although the assault was a tactical victory for the powerful military faction in Japan, the brash move was a strategic failure. The surprise strike awakened the US, hitherto tuned in mostly to the war in Europe, where the Axis powers had already conquered Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and France.
When Japan signed a treaty with the Axis countries, most powerful of which was Hitler’s Third Reich in Germany, America came to its senses. The Congress declared war on Japan on Monday, December 8, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and on Germany three days later.
In 1945, the fifth year of the war, the US dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and effectively ended World War II. Unlike World War I, both victors and survivors of the costliest and most destructive war in history adopted a more cooperative frame of mind. The United Nations was born.
Popularity of Japanese Products in US Indicates Time Has Healed the Wounds
Considering the popularity in the 21st century in America of products from Japanese manufacturers like Mitsubishi, Sony, Toyota, Honda, Seiko, and Cannon, it hardly seems possible that Pearl Harbor occurred and American animosity toward Japan was so intense that “Remember Pearl Harbor” rang from the voices of patriots.
Nor were the Japanese free of malice toward the US. One cause for that was that after the Pearl Harbor attack, many Japanese-American citizens were illegally incarcerated in internment camps, on the grounds they were security risks.
In addition, of course, the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US, which killed, maimed or sickened hundreds of thousands, caused Japanese to curse their fate and enemies. The island empire surrendered on August 15, 1945, six days after the second atomic drop.
However, an old American proverb says, “Time heals all wounds.” And so it did.
Remembering Pearl Harbor Should Become the Refrain of Entire World
Nevertheless,the entire world needs to reflect deeply on Pearl Harbor Day, presently and into the future. The horrors of the consequential events set in motion at Hiroshima and Nagasaki demands that we strive for reason, in managing Prometheus unchained that fateful day.
Americans will always memorialize the brave ones who died there. More importantly for Mankind, however, is that people all around the globe remember how the Day of Infamy played out.
By dropping the tubby twin bombs – code names “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” – in order to shorten the war, the US shouted this apocryphal message to the world, perhaps unintentionally: Mankind is playing with fire, and perilously close to creating Armageddon.
References:
U.S. Navy Museum-Fact Sheet:Pearl Harbor
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
Franklin D. Roosevelt's Speech to the U.S. Congress on December 8th, 1941 (as delivered)
"Day of Infamy": Wall Street Journal Archives
Howard Bryan Bonham - Howard Bryan Bonham is a former daily newspaper editor and award-winning financial writer.
