7 December 1941
David M. Silver
launching point some 200 miles north of Oahu, having come 3,000 miles
across the Pacific, much of it by dead reckoning, without detection.
Immediately the heavy cruisers sent up four reconnaissance planes.
Except for the richest prize, the three carriers and their escort, the
entire Pacific Fleet was in port.
"It was still dark when the Japanese pilots, cheered by shouts of
'Banzai' from their comrades, took off from the carriers. The first wave
of 183 planes was formed and headed for Oahu by 0615, to be followed an
hour later by a second wave of 167 planes. Already a force consisting of
Japan's most modern submarines, based on Kwajalein in the Marshalls, had
taken up positions covering the entrance to Pearl Harbor, and five
midget submarines were making their way toward the open submarine net.
Flying at 9,000 feet, above a dense but broken layer of clouds, into a
magnificent sunrise, the first wave of aircraft reached Oahu, 'still
asleep in the morning mist,' at 0750. Part of the formation headed for
the Army's Wheeler and Hickam airfields; the rest for the fleet
anchorage at Ford Island. Five minutes later, after at least three of
the midget submarines had penetrated into the harbor, the Japanese
planes dropped their first bombs.
"The next two hours of that Sabbath morning on Oahu, where all attention
up to then had been focused on the possibility of sabotage, were a
nightmare. Bombs and torpedoes dropped everywhere, on ships in the
harbor, on Army installations, on depots, and other targets. Dive
bombers machine-gunned parked planes and the ground crews rushed
pell-mell to their battle stations. Within a half hour almost all the
great ships lined up in 'Battleship Row' had been hit. Oklahoma
capsized, West Virginia sank, Arizona was aflame, and California was
going down. Hickam and Wheeler Fields, hit in the first attack, suffered
badly. The Army planes, parked in close order, wing tip to wing tip,
were perfect targets.
"By 1000 the raid was over and the Japanese planes were heading north
toward the carriers. Three hours later the carriers were speeding away
to the northwest, still undetected, leaving behind them on Oahu death
and destruction. Some of the submarines remained in Hawaiian waters
until early January, a few venturing as far as the west coast, to report
on the movements of the Pacific Fleet and to attack American shipping.
The results achieved by the raid were a complete vindication of Admiral
Yamamoto, originator of the plan. The Japanese pilots had studied their
charts and intelligence reports well and knew exactly what to go after.
Though there were 94 naval vessels in the harbor, they concentrated on
the battle force of the Pacific Fleet, sinking or putting out of action
in less than two hours 8 battleships, 3 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, and
a number of auxiliary vessels. They also destroyed 92 naval planes and
damaged 31 more. The Army lost a total of 96 aircraft, including those
destroyed in depots and those later cannibalized. American casualties
for the day were 2,403 men killed and 1,178 wounded, most of them naval
personnel."
-- pp. 132-33, U.S. ARMY IN WORLD WAR II, The War in the
Pacific, Strategy and Command: The First Two Years
--
David M. Silver
http://www.heinleinsociety.org
"The Lieutenant expects your names to shine!"
Robert Anson Heinlein, USNA '29
Lt.(jg), USN, R'td
Tian
Dad. I wonder how I'd feel about Pearl Harbor if I'd seen the Hollywood
version at that age. I had to read about it in books instead.
--
Tian
http://tian.greens.org
Latest addition: Review of Tapestries of Hope, a film about Zimbabwe.
djinn
A tip of the cup to the east.