07 December, 1941

Well, if you’ve been paying attention the last few days, you knew this was coming.

TORA! TORA! TORA!

And with those words, the attack begins.

“A day that will live in infamy!”

07 | December | 2008 | Today's History Lesson (wordpress.com)

At just a few minutes before 8:00 am, the guns on the Japanese fighters started blazing and the bombs and torpedoes started falling.

Ninety minutes later, after two separate waves of attacks, it was over…for both sides.

As far as the U.S. was concerned, it was a huge disaster.  Yamamoto’s goal of tactical surprise was perfectly executed.  The various groups of planes arrived over their targets with almost surgical precision (if air attacks can be assessed that way), making it nearly impossible for the U.S. soldiers to focus on one target.  What’s more, the Japanese had off-loaded handful of midget submarines early on the 7th.  At least one had been discovered and sunk several hours before the attacks began, but still no serious alarms were raised.  As the smoke rose over Oahu, five battleships rested on Pearl’s harbor floor, three cruisers were damaged or sunk, and three destroyers were damaged or sunk, along with a handful of other ships.  More than 300 aircraft had been wrecked or damaged, and 2,400 people had taken their last breaths, with another 1,300 wounded.

FDR’s remarks:

The commander in charge of the attack, Admiral Yamamoto is alleged to have said afterwards:

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

I highly recommend the movie I referenced earlier, as well.

06 December, 1941

The Japanese Fleet lead by Admiral Yamamoto abord the Akagi (pictured above) is almost to Pearl Harbor and America has completely misread Hirohito’s intentions.

FDR to Japanese emperor: "Prevent further death and destruction" – HISTORY

President Roosevelt—convinced on the basis of intelligence reports that the Japanese fleet is headed for Thailand, not the United States—telegrams Emperor Hirohito with the request that “for the sake of humanity,” the emperor intervene “to prevent further death and destruction in the world.”

The Royal Australian Air Force had sighted Japanese escorts, cruisers, and destroyers on patrol near the Malayan coast, south of Cape Cambodia. An Aussie pilot managed to radio that it looked as if the Japanese warships were headed for Thailand—just before he was shot down by the Japanese. Back in England, Prime Minister Churchill called a meeting of his chiefs of staff to discuss the crisis. While reports were coming in describing Thailand as the Japanese destination, they began to question whether it could have been a diversion. British intelligence had intercepted the Japanese code “Raffles,” a warning to the Japanese fleet to be on alert—but for what?

It was a bluff.

Meanwhile, 600 miles northwest of Hawaii, Admiral Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese fleet, announced to his men: “The rise or fall of the empire depends upon this battle. Everyone will do his duty with utmost efforts.” Thailand was, in fact, a bluff.

05 December, 1941

The Kido Butai  is approaching Pearl Harbor!

The Kido Butai has been making it’s way toward it’s December 7th destination: Pearl Harbor.

So far it has been quietly making its way across the Pacific. The U.S. is apparently unaware of the fleet.

That all became at risk on this day in 1941.

Why? Because a Russian trawler got in the way and almost screwed up everything.

A fleet of this size is nearly impossible to hide, but Nagumo somehow managed…until December 5, 1941, when they ran smack-dab into the Russian transport trawler Uritsky.  Instantly, the intrigue began to build.  Russia was at war with Japan’s ally, Germany, but Russia was not in open conflict with Japan, thanks in part to the Tripartite Pact, which allowed Japan to maintain its non-aggression pact with Russia.  Furthermore, Japan wasn’t really interested in open war with the Soviets…they were on there way to Hawai’i to try and stifle an open war with the United States.

There’s more.  Some have said (though I’m not sure it’s been proven) that the Uritsky notified Russian officials of the Kido Butai (roughly translated as “Mobile Force”), who then quickly told the Japanese that allowing a certain transport to continue floating would insure that nobody, particularly the United States, was informed of a certain carrier force moving east.

But it wasn’t just about protecting a transport carrying a few tanks.  Joseph Stalin had good reason to keep quiet about the fleet, too.  He was in a desperate situation with the Germans (as we saw just yesterday), and military moves he was making (which we’ll discuss shortly) meant he really didn’t want a war with Japan, which would tie up troops in the Far East.  What’s more, while Stalin was a pretty good guesser, it didn’t take a scientist to see that the Kido Butai heading east pretty much meant one thing:  Pearl Harbor.  So Stalin bet that an attack was coming…an attack that would bring America into the war, which he really did want.

So Nagumo allowed the Uritsky to continue unmolested to its destination:  Vladivostok.  And the Russians apparently kept quiet, too, as the Kido Butai closed in on sleepy Sunday morning Oahu.

TL;DR – Rumor: The Russians knew about the attack on Pearl Harbor and did nothing. Two days later, the U.S. Navy would suffer for the Russian silence.

02 December, 1941

Climb Mount Niitaka.

The stage is set for war. Japan is going to war with the United States. In 5 days.

(actually 6, because at the time the fleet was on the other side of the International Date Line)

So on December 2, 1941, the coded message, Niitakayama Nobore (“Climb Mount Niitaka“), arrived on Nagumo’s flagship.  The Admiral then opened a set of top secret documents which confirmed that Japan would be going to war with the United States, Britain, and Holland.  It also gave a date for the opening of hostilities…December 8th (the 7th on the Pearl Harbor side of the International Date Line).

26 November, 1941

A rare double “On This Day” post for me. But I’m going to be hitting Pearl Harbor pretty hard over the next two weeks, and this is where it kind of officially begins.

The Kidō Butai  sets sail for Pearl Harbor, it’s exact destination still under sealed orders.

The Kidō Butai (機動部隊, "Mobile Unit/Force") was the Combined Fleet's tactical designation for its combined carrier battle groups.^[15] The title was used as a term of convenience; it was not a formal name for the organization. It consisted of Japan's six largest carriers, carrying the 1st Air Fleet.

Thus began the first phase of the planned attack on Pearl Harbor.

On November 26, 1941, a Japanese task force (the Striking Force) of six aircraft carriers—Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, Hiryū, Shōkaku, and Zuikaku—departed Hittokapu Bay on Kasatka (now Iterup) Island in the Kuril Islands, en route to a position northwest of Hawaii, intending to launch its 408 aircraft to attack Pearl Harbor: 360 for the two attack waves and 48 on defensive combat air patrol (CAP), including nine fighters from the first wave.