Today, historian Rick Britton talks about: THIS WEEK IN U.S. HISTORY – This week, on December 7, marked the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. A surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy, the attack–a war crime because Japan had not declared war–led to the United States’ entry into World War II the following day.
Japan intended the 7:48 a.m. attack as a preventive action to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan planned in Southeast Asia. Pearl Harbor was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese fighter planes, dive bombers, and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk. (All but the USS Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war.) Also: 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Important base installations such as the power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked.
Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed. One Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured. The lack of any formal warning led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy.”
What’s most interesting, perhaps, are the two critical mistakes made by the Japanese high command: 1) They decided to attack despite knowing that the U.S. Navy’s three Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers–Enterprise, Lexington, and Saratoga–were not present at Pearl Harbor. 2) They decided not to launch a third wave, one which would have targeted important installations.
ALSO: Starting on January 26th, 2017, Rick Britton will be presenting a OLLI at U.Va. class at Michie Tavern: “The Early History of Albemarle County!”
• Jan. 26 – Albemarle’s Beginnings: the Monacans, the Land and Its Settlement by Europeans
• Feb. 2 – Brilliance Forgotten: Dr. Thomas Walker & the Founding of Charlottesville
• Feb. 9 – Albemarle’s Lost Town: Milton on the Rivanna
• Feb. 16 – Traveling Albemarle: The County’s Roads, Taverns, & Rivers