What Happened In The Pearl Harbor Attack – Amid rising tensions with the U.S., Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941—which was later described as “a day that will live in infamy.” Most of the U.S. Navy ships they were damaged or destroyed and in the end about 2,400 Americans were killed.
Masao Asada had just finished delivering groceries around Pearl Harbor, Oahu, when he heard the grandkids. No big deal, he thought he was used to hearing the noise of drilling operations in the Pacific Ocean. But my strength is coming.
What Happened In The Pearl Harbor Attack
Asada jumped into his truck and drove toward the port used by the U.S. Navy and Army. While on the way, the driver of another car flagged him down. “Get out of here!” the man shouted, Asada remembered in an oral history that was taken years later. “This is not normal! It’s a war.” That’s when Asada looked up at the sky and saw Japanese warplanes approaching.
Pearl Harbor Attack
The grocery store owner was one of the thousands who witnessed the stunning Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941—a battle that, though only 90 minutes long, that changed world history irrevocably.
US Navy ships huddled together on what started out as a peaceful Sunday morning in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. A Japanese photographer took this photo near the start of the surprise attack.
Tensions between Japan and the US fluctuated throughout the 20th century and worsened in the 1930s when Japan attempted to conquer China, even attacking the population. In 1937, China and Japan went to war. In 1940, the US considered Japanese expansion into China a threat to its interests so it began to provide military aid to China and began to allow Japan. After Japan signed security treaties with Nazi Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union in 1940 and 1941, the US froze Japanese goods and embargoed all exports to Japan.
Meanwhile, Nazi Germany continued to conquer much of Europe. Although the US was officially neutral in both conflicts, its position was further challenged by the wars in Japan and Nazi Germany.
How The Press Reported Pearl Harbor Attack To The World
Neutrality was the most divisive issue of its time, and much of the American public, which remembered the losses of World War I and was still recovering from the effects of the Depression the Great Depression, which opposed entering into any war overseas. However, many Americans wanted the nation to help their troubled allies. President Franklin D. Roosevelt accomplished this through the Lend-Lease Program, which provided allies such as Great Britain and China with weapons and military equipment.
But as Japan continues its war with China, the conflict with the U.S. U.S. Navy it was too powerful, and Japan did not have the resources it needed to eliminate the American threat to their imperial ambitions. But they had one trick: surprise. Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku convinced Japanese military officials that instead of declaring war against the U.S., they should confront them in the Pacific, causing as much damage to the Pacific Fleet as possible.
When the American forces of the country gathered after a surprise attack, Yamamoto argued, Japan could conquer the Pacific islands. Japan was desperate for supplies, and the islands between Japan and the U.S. furthest point. Hawaii could provide much needed oil and rubber.
Yamamoto spent months patiently planning the operation with naval commander Minoru Genda and others. In December 1941, Japan’s emperor, Hirohito, finally gave in to months of military pressure and allowed the war.
Pearl Harbor Fun Facts
Despite evidence that Japan was building up an air force, the attack surprised the U.S. On December 6, 1941, military officers even intercepted a message indicating that war was imminent. But the military did not know that Pearl Harbor was the target—and by the time the message was on its way to the telegraph office in Honolulu, the attack had already begun.
The first attack on Pearl Harbor was actually fired before dawn by the U.S.S. Ward, an American pirate who had been alerted by an early morning sighting of a submarine’s periscope near the harbor entrance. The Warsank submarine. But since the American forces did not expect an air attack, there was no general alarm. At 7:48 a.m. in Hawaii time, the first wave of Japanese dive bombers began to fly over Pearl Harbor. Their target was Navy-held Ford Island and seven nearby battleships on what was known as “Battleship Row.”
Within minutes, most of the U.S. fleet they were damaged or destroyed. During the two waves, a total of 353 Japanese aircraft and 28 submarines destroyed two battleships, the Oklahoma and the Arizona, and destroyed the rest and other ships. a lot. The Japanese also targeted nearby airfields.
Although surprised, the Americans fought back. They had anti-aircraft guns and even shot down other planes; in total, 29 Japanese planes were shot down during the attack.
Attack On Pearl Harbor
In the end, about 2,400 Americans died. About half of the deaths occurred in Arizona, which took a direct hit on its back. 38 groups of brothers, including many groups of three brothers, worked on the ship, and only one of those groups survived.
Some civilians were killed by friendly fire when anti-aircraft guns that did not explode when fired at Japanese planes fell. Only 64 Japanese soldiers were killed that day.
The attack shocked the nation—and put the U.S. in a war it had been able to avoid for years. The day after the attack, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. Calling December 7 “an infamous day,” he told the U.S. Senate. that the nation is in great danger. Only one member of Congress, Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, voted against the proclamation. Rankin, an anti-war activist and the first woman in Congress, also voted against US entry into World War I.
On December 11, Germany and Italy honored their alliance with Japan and declared war on the U.S., which quickly escalated. What followed would be a conflict that devastated much of Europe and Japan and resulted in 15 million war dead, 25 million war wounded, and at least 45 million civilians died. Ultimately, 416,800 American service members would die in the war.
World War Ii: Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor had another brutal legacy. Japanese military action was used to justify the internment of approximately 120,000 Japanese nationals in the U.S. mainland, including 70,000 U.S. citizens. And it ended forever the U.S.’ pre-1941 position of isolation and neutrality.
The attack on Pearl Harbor marked the entry of the world’s most powerful military power into World War II. It was also a big change in society. “Everybody I talk to seems to feel that the old world we lived in before December 7, 1941 is over,” said Pittsburgh cab company executive Paul L. .Houston interviewing a man on the street in February 1942. And we are in a new universe.
80 years after Montford Point Camp was established to train African American recruits, their relatives and other Marines are fighting to document their contributions before it’s too late.
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Michael Ray Michael Ray oversees reporting on European history and military affairs for. He received a B.A. in history from Michigan State University in 1995. He was a teacher in the cities of Chicago and Seoul, …
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On December 7, 1941, more than 2,300 United States soldiers were killed, more than 1,100 were wounded and eight battleships were damaged or destroyed when a US naval base was destroyed. Pearl Harbor was, according to the U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, “was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Government of Japan.” This attack, organized by Adm. The Japanese Yamamoto Isoroku was as much a tactical success as it was a strategic failure. Three U.S. aircraft carriers The Pacific Fleet was all at sea and thus escaped harm, and most of the damaged ships on December 7 were repaired and returned to service. While the USS
How The Attack On Pearl Harbor Changed History
Sunk (these two ships accounted for nearly two-thirds of American casualties), the recovery of the remaining ships was aided by several factors. Pearl Harbor has a depth of only 45 meters (13.7 meters), which means that many ships that “sunk” were there.
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