A great raid on Japan's national fortunes began...
At dawn on December 7, 1941, the tranquil pearl harbor was still asleep. The Japanese fleet, which had traveled thousands of miles, had now reached 220 nautical miles north of Oahu, a predetermined area, and 183 bombers and fighter jets from six carriers had leapt out into the sea, making the crisis at Pearl Harbor imminent.
Nearly two hundred planes soared majestically across the sky like locusts transiting through the sky, frightening. After day-to-day hard training, these high-quality Japanese pilots will soon usher in the moment of acceptance results.
Japanese aircraft headed for Pearl Harbor
As the Japanese pilots enjoyed their last-minute leisure time, admiring the beauty of the dawn outside the porthole, a miniature submarine of their cooperative combat team had quietly approached Pearl Harbor, and it was obvious that today was not the Lucky Day of the submarine! Before the submarine could enter Pearl Harbor, it was spotted by an American supply ship, which immediately reported that the destroyer Ward received the signal to intercept and sink the submarine.
The last moment of calm before the attack
The destroyer USS Ward sank a Japanese submarine
Japan has sent a total of 5 mini-submarines, and Yamamoto plans to use these 5 mini-submarines to blockade the port, in case the air force fails to successfully carry out the raid mission, as the second plan, the mini-submarine will continue to carry out the established task (including submarines carrying torpedoes for suicide attacks). The submarine sunk by the destroyer HMS Ward became the first shot and the first victim of the Battle of Pearl Harbor, and four other submarines were also sunk by the American army in this raid.
The first wave of seven squadrons arrived on Oahu, and the aviation units carrying out the raid could clearly overlook the neatly parked aircraft on the US airfield on Oahu, and after the battle order was issued, batches of bombs poured down like a storm, almost all the fighters on the ground were destroyed, and only a few were able to take off and return fire. However, due to the better maneuverability of Japanese Zero aircraft, a small number of aircraft that took off were quickly shot down. In just a few minutes, the US military airfield was completely destroyed, the ground was littered with fragmented aircraft parts, piles of smoke billowing aircraft wreckage, the runway was full of bomb craters, 188 aircraft were destroyed at the three military airports on Oahu, 155 aircraft were damaged, these air guards soaring in the blue sky were now reduced to scrap iron, the entire prevention and control system collapsed, and Pearl Harbor had lost its air superiority over the incoming enemy aircraft.
At the U.S. airfield on Oahu, the fighter jets were destroyed by the Japanese
Looking around at the ships of the Pacific Fleet in the harbor, the battleship Nevada was torn to pieces by the machine guns of the Japanese aircraft as soon as its flag was raised, and the commander quickly organized his personnel to fire on the aircraft attacking from starboard, and two Japanese planes were shot down. The battleship's stern was hit by a torpedo. The battered battleship NEVADA tried to escape pearl harbor in search of survival, but it had to run aground on the beach after being shot several times to prevent the ship from sinking.
Flag-raising ceremony for the battleship NEVADA
The battleship NEVADA attempted to break away from Pearl Harbor
The battleship Arizona was even more unlucky, the first torpedo hit the ammunition depot in the front of the hull and was detonated in an instant, an even more violent explosion occurred, and within 9 minutes the Arizona sank, and 1777 officers and men on board were buried in the sea.
The battleship USS Arizona was sunk
The rest of the ships in Pearl Harbor repeat the same catastrophe, one after another being shot, on fire, exploding, sinking...
Pacific Fleet Command desperately sent out to Washington and the entire Pacific Fleet: "Pearl Harbor is under air strike, this is not an exercise!" " warning.
The first wave of Japanese carrier-based aircraft successfully withdrew after completing the attack mission, followed by a second wave of 171 bombers and dive bombers, which also entered the sky over Pearl Harbor and continued to bomb and shoot wildly at the airfields and ships in Pearl Harbor.
Around 10 a.m., the catastrophe of the Pacific Fleet was over. This is also due to the fact that the commander of the Japanese Navy's First Air Fleet, Junichi Minamimoto, temporarily abandoned the third wave of attacks on Pearl Harbor, otherwise the tragedy of the port would have continued. Of course, after two rounds of raids, it is believed that the Pacific Fleet has taken precautions against this, and it is likely that there will be very little gained by attacking Japan again.
Nanyun decisively abandoned the third wave of attacks on Pearl Harbor
The results of the battle between the two sides
Japan lost 29 aircraft and 55 pilots, 556 bombs weighing 144 tons, plus 40 torpedoes and 5 miniature submarines in exchange for 4 of the 8 battleships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, 4 were sunk, one stranded, and the rest were severely damaged; 6 cruisers and 3 destroyers were damaged, 188 aircraft were destroyed, 155 aircraft were destroyed, and 2403 Pacific Fleet officers and men were killed, and the wounded were countless.
The U.S. Pacific Fleet suffered heavy losses
Diplomatic wrestling
Before the Battle of Pearl Harbor, Japan and the United States were also in full swing in diplomacy. Japan conveyed a 14-page "letter of state" to the Embassy in the United States, and arranged for Ambassador Nomura and Special Envoy Lacey to formally submit it to the United States at 1 p.m. Washington time. A glorious and just "raid" in Japan failed, and a shameful "sneak attack" became the best footnote in this period of history.
Historical significance
From a military point of view and strategic point of view, Japan's sneak attack war is undoubtedly classic, successful, brilliant, the United States Pacific Fleet was completely destroyed, in the short and medium term the Japanese Navy in Southeast Asia and the North Pacific is a well-deserved "sea overlord", since then it has successively seized the US military bases on Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines, and expanded its power all the way to the Indian Ocean.
In the long run, the attack completely swept the United States and its strong industrial and service economies into World War II, leading to the collapse of the Axis powers around the world. Since then, the victory of the Allied forces and the dominance of the United States in international politics have been both one and the other.
Subsequent
On December 8, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his famous "National Shame" speech on Capitol Hill, in which President Roosevelt exclaimed, "This day of great shame and humiliation must be remembered!" Requested the approval of the Diet for the declaration of war on Japan. The Americans, who had been quarreling with each other with different opinions, forgot their differences at this moment, and the whole country mobilized urgently, and they were united tightly and vowed to defeat Japan.
Roosevelt delivered a congressional speech preparing to declare war on Japan.
After the Battle of Pearl Harbor, the last great power on earth that had not yet been involved in World War II entered, and Roosevelt said in a telegram to Churchill: "Now we can be in the same boat through thick and thin", and China, which has been devastated by the war, can finally join hands with Britain and the United States to fight fascist Japan in the Far East.
After Japan personally awakened the war beast of the United States, it knew what kind of opponent they would face, and the Americans who "fought tooth for tat and blood for blood" were nervously brewing a "Doolittle air raid"...