The attack on Pearl Harbor was known as Operation Z to the Japanese. This attack was performed on December 7, 1941. It was our initial beginning of the WWII. The attack came in two waves consisting of 353 Jap planes launched from six aircraft carriers. During this raid four American battleships were sunk. Two of which were raised and restored. They achieved in sinking or damaging an anti aircraft training ship, one minelayer, three cruisers, and three destroyers. The total aircrafts destroyed was 188. 2402 people affiliated with Pearl Harbor were killed and 1282 were injured. Many other places on the island were also damaged. The aftermath on the Jap’s was light. Only 29 of their aircrafts were lost, five midget subs and 65 servicemen were killed or wounded. We were able to catch one Jap sailor.
The Japanese’s original plans were to wipe out the entire Pacific American fleet. The Jap’s were willing to do anything because they needed natural resources. Because of the Export Control Act the U.S. halted the trade with Jap’s of various items. The Jap’s saw this as unfriendly acts. We discounted oil to Japan which really upset them. FDR placed fleets in Hawaii and in the Philippines to try and discourage Japan aggression in the Far East. Many Americans thought Japan would attack the Philippines rather than Pearl Harbor and even if they did attack we thought it wouldn’t have been so bad. The attach really wasn’t planned out to well because many of the American ships were located in shallow water and could be brought back up and restored. Also many would be saved because it was close to the harbor and people could get supplies to get the injured out quickly.
The Jap’s set out towards Hawaii on November 26, 1941 with six aircraft carriers. They had a total of 408 aircrafts aboard. They launched only 360 and left 48 on board for a possible defense. The Jap’s came in two waves. The first one was to wipe out as much as they could and the second one was to clean up whatever was left. All the attacking aircrafts had torpedoes that were able to navigate in shallow water.
The first wave was mistaken by the Americans as six b-17 bombers. Although this was the biggest echo they had ever seen on the radar we didn’t pose it as a threat. The attack started at 7:48 A.M. Hawaii time. They were assigned to attach the battleships. The second wave of 171 attacked the air fields. Luckily they didn’t destroy everything and we were able to rebuild and get back at them.
It was quite interesting researching Pearl Harbor. It brought a lot of the little things that were hit to my attention. I have seen the movie Pearl Harbor and that was interesting too but it didn’t cover all of the points. I would like to see a documentary of the whole WWII like from beginning to end of the war. I didn’t know exactly how many planes were launched from the Jap’s but after I found out I was astonished that they didn’t do more damage. We were lucky to have the battle ships in the harbor at the time so we could recover a lot of what should have been damaged. It was also a pleasure to go and speak with my great grandmother about WWII. Although she couldn’t recall much she helped me understand what it was like to live in the heartland during WWII..
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