Diplomatic communication between Japan and the United States continued until November 1941. Japan came up with a final negotiating plan, which roughly meant agreeing to immediately withdraw from Indochina, open the trade gateway, and withdraw the Japanese army from China within two years, except for 25 years of garrisons in North China, Inner Mongolia, and Hainan.
On November 27, 1941, when the U.S. top management was discussing Japan's proposal, the U.S. Navy found that the Japanese fleet was moving south along the coast of Taiwan, and the number was very large. The top level of the United States was immediately furious and immediately informed Japan, your plan is not working, I will give you one, the general content is: quickly withdraw troops from Southeast Asia, China and Manchuria, the United States will not recognize any garbage Wang Jingwei government, let alone admit what Manchukuo!
When Japan received this circular, it also held an urgent meeting, at which it thought of three countermeasures:
1. Avoid war even if diplomatic representations fail.
2. Go to war immediately.
3. Conduct a new round of diplomatic efforts
The meeting set the tone for two people, one was Nagano Shushi Navy Commander-in-Chief, who said: "The War Preparedness of the United States is increasing every day, while Japan is chronically poor (the Navy uses 400 tons of fuel per hour), and now is not discussing the opportunity to go to war with the United States, missing today's opportunity, the war depends on the Americans, and it will never fall back into the hands of Japan." Army Chief of Staff Moto Sugiyama put it more specifically: "The beginning of December is the most appropriate time to start a war, only one month, and this month is unlikely to open a diplomatic stalemate." If diplomatic representations were to be made, they should be used as a means of covering up attempts to go to war. ”
Japanese Combined Fleet
At this point, the big men of the army and navy decided to fight, war was inevitable, and at the imperial council on December 1, 1941, the unanimous decision to go to war against the United States was approved by the emperor. Incidentally, a small matter was decided at the meeting, which seemed to people at the time, and it was decided to submit a declaration of war to the United States 30 minutes before the start of the war. But the final execution of this small matter changed the nature of Pearl Harbor.
On December 2, the Japanese wartime headquarters issued an order to the mobile forces of the Combined Japanese Fleet in the Pacific Ocean to start the war(1208) to the mobile forces of the Combined Japanese Fleet. It means that the war will start on December 8. At 3:15 a.m. on December 8 (8:15 a.m. Hawaiian time on the 7th), 350 carrier-based aircraft from the Japanese Combined Fleet Maneuver Force conducted a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and after paying the price of 29 aircraft being shot down, 74 damaged, and 55 killed, sank and destroyed 8 U.S. battleships and two destroyers.
It should be said that this is a miracle in the history of war, the Japanese Navy won, but the Japanese Navy achieved only a tactical victory, politically, morally and strategically.
Politically, it is utterly foolish to engage in the United States. Not to mention that a moral trick has been lost. Due to the mistakes of the staff of the Japanese Embassy in the United States, the time for the declaration of war to be actually submitted to the U.S. government was two hours after the start of the war! So now when we talk about Pearl Harbor, we are all talking about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Strategically, the surprise attack only dealt a blow to the battleships of the Pacific Fleet, but not to the harbor facilities and fuel supply facilities, leaving the U.S. military with room to quickly repair the damaged battleships, not to mention that the aircraft carriers that happened to be out of port were not damaged in the slightest.
The largest naval and air war in human history has officially begun.
Attack on Pearl Harbor