In the 1930s, Japan launched a war of aggression against China. By the early 1940s, Japan had sneaked into Pearl Harbor in the United States and dragged the United States into the battlefield. The war ended in Japan's unconditional surrender. So during World War II, Japan obviously could not defeat the United States, so why did it insist on sneaking into Pearl Harbor in the United States?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > First, the Japanese army provoked the United States to attack Pearl Harbor, what is the inside story? </h1>
In World War II, the United States has been secretly accumulating wealth behind its backs and strengthening its industrial level. At this time, Japan hit the stone with a pebble and ran to sneak attack Pearl Harbor in the United States, and the United States also participated in the world war. Looking closely at the reasons for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, there are three main points:
First, the Japanese military has been struggling to choose whether to go north or south to expand its own path of aggression. Because in the Battle of Nomonkan, the Japanese could not resist the firepower of the Soviet army, so they gave up the idea of going north and chose to go south. Moreover, Japan is a resource-poor island country, and the constant war consumption of oil, rubber and other war necessities has undoubtedly aggravated the country's lack of resources. If Japan wants to continue the war, it must find a way to obtain more resources. Coupled with the fact that the United States banned the transportation of oil to Japan at that time, Japan was forced to go to war with the United States.
Second, as early as 1940, the commander of the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy, Isoroku Yamamoto, began to plan an attack on Pearl Harbor in the United States. However, at that time, most of the upper echelons of the Japanese military department opposed this plan, and the Japanese army's offensive in the Chinese battlefield was not particularly smooth, so the plan to attack Pearl Harbor in the United States could only be temporarily abandoned.
In fact, the entire attack on Pearl Harbor was basically led by Yamamoto Fifty-six. This person has a very serious gambler mentality, he also likes to gamble in his ordinary life, and often grabs the opportunity to pull colleagues to gamble a few rounds together. His philosophy of war is high risk, high reward. Therefore, he hoped to establish Japan's national fortunes by sneaking into Pearl Harbor. Even when his plan was opposed by the emperor, he submitted his resignation as a way to blackmail the emperor. Eventually, as he wished, the Japanese implemented a sneak attack plan.
Third, Japan's thinking is too naïve. Although Japan knows that the power gap between the United States and the United States is huge. However, they believe that if they successfully attack Pearl Harbor, then the US Navy will temporarily withdraw from the Pacific, so that Japan can strive for a long time to continuously and proactively attack the United States, thus disrupting the rhythm of the United States, undermining the War Deployment of the United States, and making the United States unable to exert its war potential. Although after the sneak attack, the situation did develop in the direction Yamamoto had expected. But they underestimate America's power too much, and their ideas are too naïve.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="20" > Japan sent six aircraft carriers to attack Pearl Harbor</h1>
Pearl Harbor is located in the Hawaiian Islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean between Japan and the United States and is the most important base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. On January 7, 1941, Yamamoto began to propose to the Minister of the Navy and Shiro Kawako the idea of attacking Pearl Harbor. In June of the same year, the plan for the attack on Pearl Harbor was officially proposed, but it caused a huge controversy in the upper echelons of Japan, and many people said that this plan could not be implemented. Isoroku Yamamoto then offered his resignation as a way to blackmail them. It was not until mid-October that the Japanese approved a plan to attack Pearl Harbor in order to move south.
In the early morning of December 7, 1941. Japan sent aircraft carriers to Pearl Harbor, and began a plan to attack Pearl Harbor. At 7:53, japan sent back a signal of the success of the sneak attack, after which the second wave of attack was launched again, and the attacked American troops suffered heavy losses. In this sneak attack, the six aircraft carriers sent by Japan were Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Wyvern, Shōzuru, and Mizuzuru. The six aircraft carriers included fighters, torpedo bombers, dive bombers and horizontal bombers totaled 414. In total, the fighters attacked Pearl Harbor in two separate times, which damaged a total of 55 carrier-based aircraft. According to the reports of the parties concerned and the military documents later published by the United States and the Japanese military, the specific contents of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor were recorded. The United States discovers Japan's periscope at 3:42.
Starting at 6 a.m., Japan sent reconnaissance aircraft to Pearl Harbor. At 6:10, Lieutenant General Nanyun gave the order to start the attack, and it was not until 1:30 p.m. that day that Lieutenant General Nanyun gave the order to return. By 4:25 a.m., the President of Hawaii signed the Provisional Act, and the sneak attack was over.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="21" >3. The fatal mistake of the Japanese sneak attack</h1>
The attack on Pearl Harbor was undoubtedly a fatal mistake for Japan. First, the Japanese military's decision to position U.S. aircraft carriers as targets was wrong. Mito Harada, the pilot who first developed the plan for a attack on Pearl Harbor, insisted that the focus of the attack was on U.S. aircraft carriers. So he formulated the plan with 90 bombers as the main force of the first attack. The first attack is crucial, because the United States will inevitably react after being attacked, so that in the second wave of attack, the United States will be prepared to respond and reduce the effectiveness of Japan's attack. It was just that Harada did not expect that at the time of the first wave of attack, the American aircraft carrier was not at Pearl Harbor at all.
Second, Japan's temporary adjustment of the battle plan led to the confusion of the entire sneak attack plan. The day before the attack fleet departed, Harada wondered if the Americans would have a defensive army. So his sister quietly held a secret meeting behind the back of the chief. The result of the final discussion was to let him go to the mobile site to deal with it. It was also this temporary adjustment that led to the confusion of the entire battle plan. All the officers and staff officers were absent during the battle, leaving only three mid-level cadets.
Third, according to the predetermined plan, the battleship's torpedo attack aircraft attacked in two teams. The two teams attacked 500 meters apart. However, in fact, the port was chaotic, and the action of the attack fleet was seriously deformed, and the two teams were actually separated by 1600 meters, which was a three-fold distance difference. In turn, the army in the back could not see the army in front, and the wingman could not find the formation captain. Therefore, after a japanese bombing, only three battleships were really sunk by the United States, so the overall hit rate of the Japanese army was reduced by 70%.
In addition, the timing of Japan's choice of sneak attack is very coincidental. December 7 is Sunday, a day when most of the U.S. military will not be in the cabin. If Japan had known this earlier, the United States would have suffered heavy losses.
Another thing is that Japan only blew up ships but did not destroy the docks. If the U.S. dock is also blown up, the U.S. ships will have nowhere to anchor, and the large number of damaged warships will have nowhere to repair.
Finally, Japan did not blow up the oil stored five miles away from Pearl Harbor. If the fuel is blown up, American warplanes and aircraft will become scrap iron.
In general, although the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a superficial victory, it was only temporary. Since then, the United States has thus participated in a world war, and the balance of forces between the two sides can be imagined. The end result was undoubtedly a crushing defeat for Japan.