The Attack on Pearl Harbor
America. He would later remark: “If I am
told to fight regardless of the consequences
I shall run wild for the first six months or
a year, but I have utterly no confidence for
the second or third year.”
Isoroku’s plan was reliant on complete
surprise. Initially, his intention was to
destroy the US Navy’s battleships in
the harbour as opposed to focussing
on its carriers. This is most likely due
to his belief that the attack could be
a largely symbolic event, used to bring
the Americans to the negotiating table.
Upon discovering that the water at Pearl
Harbor was too shallow for the torpedoes
necessary to destroy the battleships,
whereas aircraft could attack the carriers,
Isoroku nearly called off the entire mission.
Stille, in his book Yamamoto Isoroku,
states that this decision calls into question
“Yamamoto’s credentials as a strategic
planner as well as his status as a true air
power advocate.” The final plan, completed
with assistance from Commander Genda
Minoru, was broken down into two waves
Although the most recognised and
remembered Japanese target on
7 December 1941 was the US Pacific
Fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese
wreaked havoc at several other
installations as well.
Facilities and personnel of the Navy,
Marine Corps, and Army came under
fire on that dreadful morning as the
Japanese hit Hickam Field, Wheeler
Field, Bellows Field, Ewa Marine Corps
Air Station, and the naval air stations at
Kaneohe and Ford Island in the center of
Pearl Harbor. The Japanese also struck
American installations in the Philippines,
Wake Island and Midway Atoll, and
the British in Malaya during the hours
following the Pearl Harbor operation.
Bombers and fighters from the
Japanese aircraft carriers screamed
down on vulnerable targets across Oahu.
American aircraft had been parked
wingtip to wingtip to guard against
potential sabotage rather than dispersed
in protective concrete or earthen
revetments, and they made easy targets.
Hickam Field and Ford Island came
under attack just before 8am.
As the first bombs fell on Ford
Island Naval Air Station, Lieutenant
Commander Logan Ramsey, the
operations officer of Patrol Wing Two,
ordered the radio room to send theplain language message: “Air Raid Pearl
Harbor. This Is No Drill.” One hangar
took five bomb hits, and others were
damaged. At Hickam Field, 35 men were
killed while they were eating breakfast
when a Japanese bomb smashed the
mess hall. More than 20 others were
killed as they readied bombers for
training flights, and a large barracks
was utterly destroyed. At Wheeler
Field, where most of the island’s fighter
strength was stationed, Japanese dive
bombers and fighters destroyed most of
the 140 aircraft parked in neat rows.
36 Consolidated PBY Catalina
seaplanes at Kaneohe were shredded
by a dozen Japanese fighters in an
attack that lasted only eight minutes.
Just three planes at Kaneohe escaped
damage from the two attack waves.
Bellows Field was strafed by a single
Japanese fighter at about 08:30,
following a warning by one enlisted
man that Kaneohe had been “blown
to hell!” 29 of the 48 planes stationed
at Ewa Marine Corps Air Station were
destroyed by a flight of 21 fighters that
strafed completely unchallenged for
more than 20 minutes.
Before the dreadful day was done, 165
American aircraft had been destroyed,
with only a few of them after getting
into the air.In addition to Pearl Harbor, Japanese aircraft struck
several other American installations on 7 December 1941BELOW-LEFT
Marshall Admiral
Ya ma moto I s orok u ,
who orchestrated the
Pearl Harbor attack
BELOW-RIGHT
Minoru Genda, who
helped plan the Pearl
Harbor attack©^ AlamyImage^ source:^wiki/^ NavyHistorical^Foundation