On December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor, the anchorage of the U.S. Pacific Navy, U.S. naval officers and men were celebrating their days off, and every Sunday was the day they most looked forward to because they could relax. But on this day they were destined to have no time to rest, because japan's First Air Fleet had already come to sneak up on them through the northern Pacific Ocean, and this day was destined to be a day of disaster. After this battle, the U.S. Pacific Fleet suffered heavy losses, and the Japanese Navy gained an advantageous position over the U.S. Navy.
At the cost, the Japanese Navy only paid part of the loss of carrier-based aircraft, which is very rare in naval history, and the results that were often achieved through fierce fleet decisive battles in the past are now easily pocketed, which inevitably makes the Japanese nation celebrate. The streets of Japanese cities were filled with celebratory crowds, chanting "Commander Yamamoto 560,000 years old of the Combined Fleet," and to put it mildly, these people were all terrified. The Japanese Naval Ministry was even more illuminated, with good wine and good dishes being served, and each one was drunk, as if they had won the final victory in the war.
However, one of these celebratory people was very unsociable, and there was no joy of victory on his face, but on the contrary, he was full of sorrow. Who is this person? Coincidentally, this person was the mastermind of Pearl Harbor, the commander of the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy, and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Yamamoto's sad face made sense, because he had realized that the attack on Pearl Harbor was not a victory, but a complete defeat, and Japan had lost the war.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > the background of the war</h1>
In fact, in Yamamoto's eyes, attacking the United States was not a cost-effective thing. Because of the contradiction between Japan and the United States, in essence, it is because Japan's expansionist behavior has greatly aroused dissatisfaction on the Part of the United States. And who is the person who expanded this matter? The sworn enemies of the Japanese Navy, those army red deer who have never seen the world.
After the Battle of France in 1940, the Japanese Army took the opportunity to send troops to seize French colonies in Southeast Asia, which further exacerbated the dissatisfaction of the United States with Japan. The Japanese Army's move is essentially to seize interests, but this interest is not Japan's interest, but the Japanese Army's own interests.
In 1937, when Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China, the Japanese Navy seized a large amount of legal tender because of its rapid attack and seized the Kuomintang's purse bag, Shanghai. In accordance with Japan's principle of feeding war with war, the Japanese Navy used these legal tenders to purchase a large number of military supplies and materials in China, while the Japanese Army, which did not obtain so many legal tenders, was somewhat unsustainable, so it had done the absurd thing of printing counterfeit money and squeezing the Japanese Navy that used real money in the market.
Yamamoto originally thought that the Japanese Army would print counterfeit money at most, but he did not expect that the Japanese Army would plan the seizure of French colonies. The operation itself was a success, giving the Japanese Army access to the resources they desperately needed, but it also led directly to the deterioration of relations between Japan and the United States.
Because the United States also has interests in Southeast Asia, especially in the Philippines, that is almost the bridgehead of the United States in Asia, and now Japan's aggression and expansion in China have affected the interests of the United States, and now the Japanese Army has robbed the French colonies over there.
As a result, the Americans pulled together the British and Dutch, who were equally nervous with the Japanese, and began to adopt an embargo on Japan, and froze Japanese assets in these three countries. After all, Japan is a resource-poor island country, and many of the resources on weekdays depend on the imports of the above three countries, especially oil, rubber and non-ferrous metals, which is almost unable to provide for japan. Unlike Britain, Japan has a large number of colonies that can provide resources, and once trade is cut off, it will inevitably fall into trouble, and in order to solve this dilemma, the Japanese side must actively take action, any action.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > two, worried Yamamoto</h1>
Japan referred to this situation as the "ABCD" encirclement, which means that Japan was in an internationally inferior position under the joint blockade imposed by the United States, Britain, China, and the Netherlands, and was very eager to rely on diplomatic means to break this blockade until December 1941.
But the Attitude of the United States is also very tough, demanding that Japan return the Occupied French Colonies and give up the interests at hand in the Chinese battlefield - not that the Americans are good-hearted, but that the Americans want to replace the Japanese, after all, the Japanese have affected the interests of the United States in China.
Negotiations between the United States and Japan have been inconclusive for a long time, which means that the contradictions between the United States and Japan cannot be reconciled, so the only option left seems to be war. After all, war is a continuation of politics, and in the past when the white knife went into the red knife, the problems that could not be solved between the great powers at the negotiating table would eventually be solved by means of war.
In the eyes of most of the military and political leaders on the Japanese side, war between Japan and the United States was inevitable, and it was time to adopt a southward strategy to seize the colonies in British and American hands and provide more resources for Japan's war machine.
But among these people, some insightful people in the Japanese Navy were not included, such as the commander of the combined fleet, Isoroku Yamamoto. Isoroku Yamamoto had served as a military attaché at the Japanese Embassy in the United States, and compared to most of japan's takeshi, Yamamoto knew the strength of the United States very well, and knew even more how terrifying it would be for the seemingly young country to fully activate its war machine.
As long as the American factories are fully operational, the Japanese Navy, which is slightly superior at this stage, will be completely crushed by the industrial power of the United States. This is the war of the industrial age, and the competition is no longer as simple as the courage of the army, but the collision and confrontation of national strength, and in this regard, Japan is absolutely inferior.
However, the Japanese military and political leadership has already made up its mind to fight, and only when the US-Japan negotiations break down will it adopt war measures against the United States and force the United States to make concessions to Japan. Yamamoto's greatest fears had finally happened, and he had no confidence in going to war with the United States without being ready for war, and he himself was pessimistic about the prediction of war, and he once said to his cronies: "The first six months or a year can be attacked smoothly." But I had no confidence in the second and third years of war. ”
In other words, Yamamoto really did not have the confidence to fight the United States for a long time, so he hoped that he would be able to hit the United States morale by destroying the Pacific Fleet that the United States used to deter Japan, and force the United States to make considerable concessions to Japan.
Yamamoto's method of defeating the U.S. Pacific Fleet was also unique, sending all six of Japan's main aircraft carriers to form an air fleet, advancing into Hawaiian waters via the northern Pacific Ocean, which was often typhoons in winter, and then using carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier to attack the main ships of the Pacific Fleet moored in Pearl Harbor.
It was a crazy plan, and even the generals involved in the plan were eventually shaken, and only Yamamoto Fifty-Six firmly carried it out, because he knew that this was the only opportunity in Japan, an opportunity so slim that even he himself was not sure whether he could seize it...
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" > three, terrible consequences</h1>
The plan was ultimately successful, but in terms of results, Yamamoto was really unhappy, and the plan was too badly deviated. The destroyed capital ships were all battleships, none of the three aircraft carriers in the target were in port, and because the plan was too hasty, the fleet was not full of fuel and heavy ammunition, causing no substantial damage to the port facilities at Pearl Harbor. Yamamoto expected that it would not be long, at most two months, for the U.S. Pacific Fleet to recover and re-enter the ocean to engage Japan.
Not many people in the Japanese Navy at that time had a clear understanding of this, only Yamamoto Isoroku himself. Before the war, he repeatedly demanded that the diplomatic service must submit Japan's declaration of war against the United States to the United States government one hour before the war. However, there was a huge flaw in this link in the Japanese diplomatic service, and the Japanese ambassador to the United States only submitted the declaration of war to the United States Secretary of State Hull after the war. After reading the declaration of war, Hull angrily said: "In my fifty years in office, I have never seen such a despicable and shameless government and such a hypocritical and distorted document!" You can get out now! ”
There was nothing more to say, Japan was at war against the United States without declaring it, and Yamamoto knew exactly what that meant. In his own words, ancient samurai would kick the enemy's pillow during night raids, waking the enemy from a deep sleep before slashing it with a sword. But now? Friends who are familiar with the rules of international affairs should understand that the "rules of engagement" have been established in modern times, and japan's practice has completely destroyed the rules of engagement. The United States has suffered outright humiliation this time, and even for the sake of face, the "cowboys" of the United States will not let Japan go.
It should be pointed out that Yamamoto Learned something even more infuriating later- before the Japanese Navy was about to attack Pearl Harbor, US President Roosevelt suddenly sent a lengthy telegram to the Japanese side, which contained the content of Roosevelt's wish to personally visit Japan and interview With Japanese Emperor Hirohito to discuss the diplomatic contradictions and solutions between the United States and Japan.
Yamamoto knew what that meant, it meant that the United States had heard the news through some channel right before Japan launched its attack, and in order to avoid the two countries falling into a state of war, Roosevelt lowered his stance in the hope of easing relations with Japan, even if it was to make certain concessions.
But where did this message go? Hidden by Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, he thought that the telegram could not be handed over to Hirohito, lest Hirohito shake his resolve at the last moment, so the telegram was hidden by him, forging the illusion that the negotiations would completely break down and the Japanese Navy must launch an attack.
If it weren't for the intelligence officers of the Japanese Navy who obtained this information from the Army, I am afraid that Yamamoto Fifty-Six would have been kept in the dark like most people in Japan. But now he knew the news was too late, the war had broken out, and neither Japan nor the United States had any way to retreat.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" > conclusion</h1>
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a complete failure, Yamamoto was well aware of what Japan's future would be, that in the future war Japan would quickly lose its dominant position, and that the United States would crush the Japanese Navy with countless warships and crush the Japanese Army on the islands. Therefore, when the Japanese people celebrated the victory and the Japanese high-level advocated that they could win the final victory in the war against the United States within a year, Yamamoto was worried, because he knew that Japan had lost the war and had no hope of victory.
Reference: Commander of the Combined Fleet: Isoroku Yamamoto
History of the Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Navy
The Complete History of the Pacific War