There have been many tragic times in American history, one of which was the bombing of Pearl harbor. It was a very influential day in American history that will never be forgotten.
On December 7 1941 the empire of Japan attacked the United states. In what seemed like mere seconds 2000 americans lay dead. However tension between the U. S and Japan went back for nearly the past ten years. In 1931 Japan invaded China, many countries had colonial interests around the world (Fitzgerald, 2006, p. 14). In response countries like the U. S and Great Britain started to increase military size and strength. They also cut the shipment of oil and other raw materials to Japan.
Because Japan was such a small nation they didn’t have plenty of resources lieing around. They needed iron, rubber, oil and nickel to help supply the war effort (Fitzgerald, p. 16). When the U. S stopped supplying them they need to get resources from somewhere else Japan’s leaders saw southeast Asia. The U. S had many interests in this area, and did not want Japan to overrun the are and threaten U. S possession. And on September 27, 1940 Japan signed the tripartite pact with Germany and Italy to form the Axis Alliance (Fitzgerald, p. 16).
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Peace talks between the U. S and Japan started, however secretly Japanese leaders were putting a war plan together. The plan revolved around the base of Hawaii Pearl Harbor which had been home to the U. S Pacific fleet since the spring of 1940 (Fitzgerald, p20). But on October 16, 1941 when Hideki Tojo became premier of Japan war was emmett he had always been in favor of going to war with the U. S and now he had the power to make it happen.
And in the center of the harbor was Ford island home to the Naval air station and patrol and utility plane hangers some of the deepest waters in Pearl Harbor are right off Ford island (Fitzgerald, p24). So that was where the battleships were that area is called battleship row. However the idea to attack Pearl Harbor came from Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, he was commander of the Japanese fleet. Yamamoto had gone to school in the United States and was later a representative for the Japanese navy in Washington D. C (Fitzgerald, p. 24).
Yamamoto believed the only way to cripple the U. S was by a surprise attack, but also with this he knew it would only put the U. S navy out of commision for a while. He believed his country would not win a long term war with the U. S that is what he told a member of the Japanese cabinet (Fitzgerald, p. 25). The japanese troops began training, they practiced refueling there ships at sea and taking a plane off an aircraft carrier neither of which had never been done (Fitzgerald, p26). And finally in October of 1941 the Japanese war staff gave the ok for Yamamoto’s plan. There were people who thought a war was possible with Japan never thought it would happen in Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese selected the day on December 6. The Japanese called it X-day. It was a Sunday and they Knew everyone would be enjoying their day off. At 5:30 two scout planes had taken off to make sure the coast was clear when they got the ok they waited 20 minutes, and then the first wave of the attack was commenced (Fitzgerald, p. 41). 183 Japanese planes had taken off there were torpedo bombers, dive bomber, horizontal bombers and fighter planes (Fitzgerald, p42).
As soon as the first group of plans left the carrier deck a second wave was brought up, in total more than 350 Japanese planes left for the mission at Pearl Harbor. As they were flying they had to remain totally silent the only way to communicate with each other was by hand signals. The attack on Pearl Harbor began at about 7:55 A. M. Hawaii time(Fitzgerald, p46). When the first bomb hit it exploded a seaplane ramp in Ford island. Many thought the army was just doing target practice even after the first bomb hit.
The Japanese knew if they attacked the airfields at the same time they attacked the harbor it would be absolute chaos on the ground. The japanese not only wanted to bomb planes and ships but wanted to get any many american pilots as possible (Fitzgerald, p. 52). Many tried to get planes up at Ewa field but because the planes were in a single straight line it made it very easy for the Japanese to destroy all the planes before even getting they could even get off the ground.
