Attack on Pearl Harbor - Report Example

ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR Introduction The Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii was attacked on the morning of 7th December, 1941. The surprise attack was made by the Japanese on the American naval base at around 8 am and within just two hours; they had bombed more than 2,400 Americans, damaged and sunk more than 20 ships, and destroyed over 188 U.S. aircrafts.1 On that fateful Sunday morning, the surprise attack happened; however, the US and Japan had been at the verge of war since the US government was unhappy with Japans attitude towards China. The Japanese government had it that the only possible way to solve to resolve its economic and demographic crisis was to enter into China’s territory, taking over its import market. As such, in 1937, the Japanese government had declared war on China. The American response to this aggression was with economic sanctions and trade embargoes. The reason behind this was the conclusion that without adequate access to money and goods such as important supplies for example oil, Japan would abandon its agitation towards war on China. This only made the Japanese government more agitated to wage war. After months of negotiations between Washington, DC and Tokyo, no side was willing to compromise and reach a decision, therefore, war was inevitable.2 No one expected that the Japanese would initiate the war with an attack on American soil. The American intelligence expected Japan to attack a nearby European colony especially in the southern pacific or Indochina or Singapore. The distance between Hawaii and Japan was about 4,000 miles and they did not expect an attack so close to come so the naval base was not essentially manned. The Japanese attacked the Hawaiian Island because if they hit the mainland, they would still use the island on their way back and the chances of being followed by a retaliatory attack were high. If they came near the US coast, the chances of being detected and forced to turn back were also high. The Japanese also recognized that the largest percentage of all immediate forces were naval forces, therefore they decided to bomb Pearl Harbor because it held the largest number of naval forces in the pacific. By doing so, they crippled any efforts of an attack force that would most likely follow them to retaliate.3 The Japanese also used deception in that at the time their navy forces were approaching the Pearl Harbor, their representatives were busy in Washington DC trying to convince the American government that they were not going to attack America. The Japanese intelligence was convinced that by attacking the American pacific carriers at the naval base, the Americans would not oppose their planned pacific agendas. The Japanese also thought that Germany would win the war on the eastern front therefore finishing off Great Britain. Britain’s loss meant that part of Asia such as India and Burma would soon be orphaned and Japan would only have a crippled US to deal with. Hence the attack seemed appropriate at the time and the outcome would most likely be negotiated or lead to Japan defeating the US. Therefore their take over agenda could have been accomplished that way. How the attack happened Sunday mornings were a relaxed time for the naval forces at the Pearl Harbor. Most of the people were either having their breakfast, some still sleeping while the others were getting ready for church. The attack caught everybody unawares; no one seemed to realize that the naval base was under attack. Approximately around eight o’clock that morning, loud explosions started with pillars of smoke and loud booms. A low flying aircraft belonging to the Japanese was seen and this is what made the forces realize that this was not a training exercise but rather an attack. The Japanese had carefully planned the attack that was executed on that day even with full knowledge that this would be a risky exercise. The Japanese attack force led by Admiral Chui chi Nagumo departed from north east of Japan on the twenty sixth day of November that year to begin its journey across the pacific. The attack force snack six aircraft carriers, nine destroyers, two heavy battleships and heavy cruisers, a lighter cruiser and about three submarines across the pacific. This was not an easy task, hence it must have taken along time to plan and execute. They would zigzag across the pacific avoiding major shipping lines since they were worried that they would be detected by other ships. They managed to reach their destination after being at sea for over a week near Oahu, Hawaii. 4 They made their stop about 230 miles north of the island. On that particular morning of 7th December, the Japanese released around 183 of their aircraft as the first wave of attack on Pearl Harbor. 167 additional aircrafts were released as part of the second wave of attack. The aircrafts reached the naval base located at the southern side of the island around at around a few minutes to eight o’clock. The leader of air attack Commander Mitsuo Fuchida shouted “Tora!” a coded message to mean that they had caught the American navy forces unawares. The man in charge of the Pearl Harbor Admiral Husband Kimmel dispatched out a message to all US naval fleet to alert them that Pearl Harbor was facing an attack and that it was not a drill exercise. As damaging as the Pearl Harbor attack was, the pacific aircraft carriers, the submarines and the fuel oil storage were left untouched. These are what formed a foundation that enabled the Americans to retaliate with the battle of the midway the following year and the defeat of the Japanese empire after four years. Eye witness account Marine Corporal E.C Nightingale was aboard Arizona one of the ships that was attacked on that day. 5He was leaving the breakfast table when he heard the ships siren and suddenly a loud explosion that led him to the day where he witnessed a bomb strike the Nevada, another ship belonging to the Americans. A marine color guard alerted him that they were being attacked and at this time he could hear machine gun fire. He rushed to the secondary aft, his battle station and then went to the boat deck and at this juncture he could hear the anti-craft guns in full action rapidly firing. He came across several of the naval lieutenants who had been badly injured and killed by the enemy. In the secondary aft, he heard a loud explosion that made the entire ship shake violently. When he looked at the boat deck, everything was on fire. He then responded this to the major who ordered everybody to leave. He was the last to leave ensuring that everybody else was out. Bodies burnt beyond recognition were all over the ship. He then made his way to the quay and bent to remove his shoes when a loud explosion forced him into the water. He struggled to swim through to the pipeline which was approximately a hundred and fifty feet away. Halfway he lost his strength and could not swim anymore. Luckily enough, Major Shapely was swimming along and on seeing how distressed he was, grasped him and asked him to hang on to him. They were about twenty feet away from the pipeline when Major’s strength began to wear out. However, he struggled and swam on and finally reached the pipeline where they were directed to a shelter by the marine. The marine corporal says the damage caused was immense and especially the lives that were lost. The battleship Arizona alone was sank with over a thousand men trapped inside. Torpedoes that were coming from the Japanese side pierced through the Oklahoma battleship with over four hundred sailors lost its balanced and slipped into the water. At the time the attack came to an end, all of the battleships had sustained significant damage. However, all with an exception of Utah and Arizona were salvaged and repaired eventually. Almost 2500 men were killed in the attack and over a thousand were injured.6 All of the pacific fleet’s carriers were absent on that day on different missions while others had returned to the mainland. The oil fuel storage, yards, repair shops and the docks were left intact. This is what enabled the US navy to recover quickly from the attack. Conclusion On December 8th, President Roosevelt issued a statement on the events of the previous day. The congress approved Presidents Roosevelt’s declaration of war against the Japanese. The Japanese intention was to push the US into agreeing on a lift of the sanctions it had slapped against them, instead, they pushed America into a conflict that led to Japan’s first invasion by a foreign power. A few days after this, the countries allied to Japan, Germany and Italy, declared war against America. The congress responded to this and after two years after this conflict, America had entered the Second World War. Bibliography Lord, Walter. Day of Infamy. New York: H. Holt, 2001. Tucker, Spencer. World War II at Sea: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2012. "Attack at Pearl Harbor, 1941," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (1997). Hill, Richard F. Hitler Attacks Pearl Harbor: Why the United States Declared War on Germany. Boulder, Co: Rienner, 2002. Richard Hill, Hitler Attacks Pearl Harbor: Why the United States Declared War on Germany. Boulder, (Boulder, Co: Rienner, 2002), 14. Stille, Mark. Tora! Tora! Tora! Pearl Harbor 1941. 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