Just before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack at the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. Japan sent hundreds of fighter planes and bombers toward the naval base with no warning toward the United States, but the two countries were near war for decades. Japan believed that the best way to solve its economic and demographic problems was to expand its empire. No one believed that the Japanese would start the war on American territory. For Japan, starting an attack on American territory would be very inconvenient. The two pieces of land are about 4,000 miles apart and the travel to get to the United States would take a lot of fuel, and a lot of time. The barrage of bullets, bombs, torpedoes, and Kamikaze or suicide planes last almost 2 hours. Just before the start of the attack, Americans at the …show more content…
The Japanese were relentless in their bombing. The bombing was consistent the whole attack. When Imperial planes ran out of ammunition, some pilots were given orders to suicide bomb. These planes were known as Kamikazes. Kamikazes were so effective because you didn’t know which plane would dive bomb. They were completely random and could definitely pack a …show more content…
The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, one minelayer, and the 8 major battleships. The major United States aircraft carriers were not docked on December 7th. This proved vital to the fall of the Imperial Japanese in 1945. Although stunned by the attack at Pearl Harbor, submarines and the Pacific Fleets main fuel oil storage facilities emerged unscathed with the carriers.. These assets formed the foundation for the American response that led to victory at the Battle of Midway the following
The ship exploded and sank with more than 1,000 men trapped inside. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was Japan's target to destroy the U.S.'s naval base on Dec. 7th, 1941. Pearl Harbor was shot and bombed by planes and submarines led by Japan. The attack was a huge surprise but America acted immediately. Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? Japan attacked Pearl Harbor for 3 reasons: The new world order, expansion of the U.S. fleet, and U.S. oil embargo.
The Japanese understood the Ultimatum as if any circumstances they choose not to surrender, the termination would lead the country to face the brutality and a major lost which was stated above. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson had established a decision that the atomic bomb would be the “least abhorrent choice” that will be dropped above the city of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as its priority and weighs the value the lives of honourable soldiers attacked without a trace. Also the military advisers
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is located near the center of the Pacific Ocean, roughly two thousand miles from the U.S. mainland and about four thousand miles from Japan. No one believed that the Japanese would start a war with an attack on the distant islands of Hawaii. American intelligence believed that an attack by the Japanese would likely take place in one of the nearby European colonies in the South Pacific, for example, the Dutch East Indies, Singapore or Indochina. Due to the American military leaders not expecting an attack so close to home, the naval facilities at Pearl Harbor were quite undefended. This was an aspect in the Japanese strategy that they took into consideration, Pearl Harbor was an irresistibly easy
For example, the Japanese government and the United States appeared to be under negotiations in good faith. Not knowing that this was a strategy to surprise the United States. American intelligence had decoded Japanese communications that made it clear that Japan had no intention of reaching an agreement and, instead, was preparing to go to war against the United States. Japan attacked the United States in a place that they least expected it, at Pearl Harbor. On December 7,1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: the Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack and another 1,000 were wounded. This is an example of a justified reason to go to
Japanese pilots took to the skies with mounted machine guns on bomber planes and thousands of pounds of explosives, and bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. For example, they took off with fighter jets and bombers, killing 2,403 people and wounding 1,178. Under the cover of a storm, the Japanese flew in and dropped thousands of 500g bombs, hitting and sinking 18 United States ships, 6 of which were aircraft carriers. In addition, the attack was unwarned, and it killed thousands of soldiers and civilians, crushing the spirits of United States citizens. It destroyed the naval fleet in port at Pearl Harbor, which damaged the U.S severely. Unknown to many, they also bombed the U.S Air Force base in Hawaii, incapacitating 300 fighter jets and cargo planes. Furthermore, this unwarned attack was a cowardly act and dropping an atomic bomb was completely justified. The unwarned attack killed thousands of people, soldiers and citizens alike. Use of nuclear weapons as
On April 18, 1942, the Japanese capitol city of Tokyo and the nearby cities of Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe were bombed by sixteen United States Army B-25 bombers. In these attacks the United States damaged ammunition factories and steel plants. These small bombings did not really do much damage, but they did do their job, however, boosting the confidence of the American people. Captured Americans flying in the B-25 bombers were not considered Prisoners or War, but criminals, and went to trial. The Americans were put to death in some cases. Japan continued to build up a massive fleet that included four aircraft carriers, seven battleships, thirteen cruisers, forty destroyers, sixteen submarines and many troop transport ships (McGowen 24). The Japanese sailors had great morale and felt
The first major keystone of the U.S defensive was the Battle of the midway. This is when the japanese had thought that most of the U.S carriers had been destroyed. They did not expect the the U.S.S t Yorktown to have made such a hasty repair at Pearl Harbor, This was an advantage had the U.S had against the Japs. These faulty japanese assumptions were there downfall due to the fact that the U.S had set up an ambush of their own. This lead to the loss of the four major japanese carriers used in the six-carrier force during the Pearl Harbor Attack.
Japan attacked the Pearl Harbor. Japan and United States had been edging towards war for decades because U.S. was unhappy about the way Japan treated China. Nobody believed Japan would actually start war ,but on December 7 ,1941 just before 8 am Japanese fighter planes attacked Pearl Harbor on Hawaii. The day after the assault president Franklin D. Roosevelt asked congress to declare war against Japan.
The US entered World War II on December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The surprise attack on the American Naval base occurred in the morning of December 7th 1941. The Pacific naval fleet was docked in Pearl Harbor when the first Japanese aircraft swooped down from over head and started bombing American ships. Both sailors and marines began to take battle stations or general quarters on the ships to ward off the Japanese attack but to no prevail. The Japanese emerged triumphantly from the assault on the US at Pearl Harbor by destroying most of the American fleet. After this attack the Japanese were almost unopposed in their conquest of conquering south East Asia. Japan achieved a long series of military successes. In December 1941, Guam and Wake
“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” (Roosevelt). Japan surprise attacked the Hawaiian naval base, Pearl Harbor, approximately at 7:55 am. The intent of the Japanese strike was to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with plans to seize overseas territories belonging to United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States.
Pearl Harbor, the beginning of the war between Japan and the United States, was the start of dreadful war organized by Japanese aircraft. The attack was a withheld, destructive attack against the United State's naval base in Hawaii. This attack on December 7, 1941 was originally a plan to conquer the Dutch East Indies without being interrupted by the U.S. Pacific fleet. The Japanese were tired of negotiations with the United States, they wanted to continue their expansion, but the United States had placed an extremely restrictive embargo on Japan in the hopes of curbing Japan's aggression. This terrible ambush resulted in the United State's entry into World War II. The aerial attacks were sent in two waves, this resulted in the sinking of multiple U.S. Battleships, Destroyers, Cruisers, and Auxiliaries, which led to thousands of U.S. personnel casualties and many wounded army, marines, and navy soldiers including many citizens.
Japanese pilots took to the skies with mounted machine guns on bomber planes and thousands of pounds of explosives, and bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. For example, they took off with fighter jets and bombers, killing 2,403 people and wounding 1,178. Under the cover of a storm, the Japanese flew in and dropped thousands of 500g bombs, hitting and sinking 18 United States ships, 6 of which were aircraft carriers. In addition, the attack was unwarned, and it killed thousands of soldiers and civilians, crushing the spirits of United States citizens. It destroyed the naval fleet in port at Pearl Harbor, which damaged the U.S severely. Unknown to many, they also bombed the U.S Air Force base in Hawaii, incapacitating 300 fighter jets and cargo planes. Furthermore, this unwarned attack was a cowardly act and dropping an atomic bomb was completely justified. The unwarned attack killed thousands of people, soldiers and citizens alike. Use of nuclear weapons as a retaliation to an unwarned attack is
In July 1940, the U.S. placed an embargo on Japan, hoping they would restrain Japan 's military aggression in China. Japan, a proud nation, would not hear of being dictated to by the United States and began to prepare for the attack on Pearl Harbor in early 1941. Meanwhile, there was some warning of the attack on America, but it went without being duly acknowledged. The day before the attack occurred, a code-breaker intercepted a message from the Japanese concerning the movement of ships at Pearl Harbor. The operator relayed the message to the superior officers who said they would get back to the radioman on Monday, December 8, 1941 (Socolow 43). Also, on the morning of the attack, a radar operator saw a large group of airplanes on the radar screen, and when he reported this, the senior officer said it was probably just some US Bombers and not to worry about them (HistoryNet.Com). The Japanese planes flew under the radar by flying through a pass in the mountains called Kolekole Pass. This maneuver added to the surprise of the attack. The frantic attack began on Sunday at 7:55 in the morning. A little before ten the entire attack was over (Pearl Harbor, Attack On). The men of Pearl Harbor fought with valor.
Returning to their aircraft carriers to refuel and rearm the Japanese bombers noticed the U.S. fleet and prepared for their attack. Sent from the aircraft carriers were Devastator Torpedo Bombers and Dauntless Dive Bombers. The first to attack were the Torpedo Bombers, flying low to the sea the Japanese were able to defend their ship’s with ease. The Japanese destroyed 35 Torpedo Bombers, only 6 made it to their target destination which was one of the four Japanese aircraft carriers, but to their surprise none of their torpedo’s hit the intended target. Although the Torpedo Bombers did not hit their target their sacrifice was not in vain. High above the Dauntless Dive Bombers were closing in on their targets without any resistance. With just enough cloud coverage the Dive Bombers were able to approach their targets with ease. Within the first day the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu, were hit, set ablaze, and abandoned (). According to ..: Over the next two days, the US Navy and US forces on Midway continued their attacks, forcing the Japanese to abandon the battle and retreat to Japan. The Japanese lost approximately 4,800 men, four carriers, one cruiser, and hundreds of aircraft, while the United States lost approximately 307 men, one carrier, one destroyer, and over 100 aircraft.
Japan's Attack on Pearl Harbour In December 1941, Pearl Harbour was attacked by the Japanese. It was the consequence of a series of events which brought tension between Japan and America to boiling point. Japan was a country growing in power and stature and America soon came to realise that this growth could prove a threat to them. America aimed to stop Japan's growth in its tracks as they realised that if the situation was left to evolve much longer then the situation may be out of their control.