On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked an American military base in Pearl Harbor and the United States found itself an active participant in World War II, and ultimately its beneficiary.

The report on losses after the attack on Pearl Harbor by Secretary Knox stated what was apparently intended from the very beginning: “The overall balance of power in the Pacific in terms of aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and submarines was not affected. They are all at sea and are looking for contact with the enemy,” that is, the Japanese attack did not cause any tangible damage. The fate of the American fleet based in the Gulf had already been decided, but in November 1941, Roosevelt asked about the upcoming events: “how should we bring them to the first strike position so that the damage would not be too destructive for us?”, which he wrote about in his diary. Recorded by Minister Stimpson.

Already in our time, the Japanese political scientist and grandson of Shigenori Togo, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the early 40s, Kazuhiko Togo, notes with bewilderment: “... there are incomprehensible things. For example, shortly before the Japanese attack, all three American aircraft carriers were withdrawn from Pearl Harbor.” Indeed, by order of the US Navy command, Kimmel sent 2 aircraft carriers, 6 cruisers and 14 destroyers to the islands of Midway and Wake, that is, the most expensive equipment was removed from the attack, which will finally become clear from the commission’s report.

To understand how this happened, it is necessary to reconstruct the course of previous events. The first attempt in 1939 to change the US Neutrality Act, which would have allowed states to enter the war, was opposed by Senator Vandenberg and the so-called “National Committee”, which included Henry Hoover, Henry Ford and Governor LaFollette. “Post-war documents and declassified documents of Congress, as well as the death of Roosevelt himself,” according to W. Engdahl: “show beyond any doubt that the President and his Secretary of Defense Henry Stimson deliberately incited Japan to war.” Robert Stinnett’s book “Day of Lies: The Truth About the Federal Reserve Fund and Pearl Harbor” says that the Roosevelt administration provoked the Japanese attack because its further actions could not be called anything other than a provocation.

On June 23, 1941, a note from presidential aide Harold Ickes landed on Roosevelt's desk, indicating that "an embargo on oil exports to Japan could be an effective way to start a conflict." The very next month, Deputy Secretary of State Dean Acheson banned the Japanese from importing oil and petroleum products from the United States. The Japanese fleet, according to Admiral Nagano, “burned 400 tons of oil per hour,” which the Japanese could only obtain by seizing the oil resources of Indonesia (Dutch East Indies), the Philippines and Malaysia. On November 20, 1941, Japanese Ambassador Nomura made a proposal for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, which included the clause: “The United States Government will supply Japan with the necessary amount of oil.”

In addition to the fact that the United States interrupted shipping communications with Japan and closed the Panama Canal to Japanese ships, on July 26, Roosevelt signed a decree on the seizure of Japanese banking assets worth a significant amount of $130 million at that time and the transfer of all financial and trade transactions with Japan under government control. The United States ignored all subsequent requests from politicians from the Land of the Rising Sun for a meeting of the heads of both countries to resolve relations.

On November 26, 1941, the Japanese Admiral Nomura, who was sent to the United States, was given a written demand to withdraw Japanese armed forces from China, Indonesia and North Korea, to terminate the tripartite pact with Germany and Italy, such an ultimatum response to Nomura’s proposals was clearly interpreted by Japan as the reluctance of the United States to resolve differences peacefully .

On May 7, 1940, the Pacific Fleet received an official order to remain in Pearl Harbor indefinitely; its leader, Admiral J. Richardson, in October tried to convince Roosevelt to withdraw the fleet from the Hawaiian Islands, since there it did not have a restraining influence on Japan. “...I must tell you that the senior officers of the fleet do not trust the civilian leadership of our country,” the admiral summed up the conversation, to which Roosevelt, in turn, remarked: “Joe, you don’t understand anything.” In January 1941, J. Richardson was fired, and his post was taken by Husband Kimmel, from whom not only were consistently hidden documents that could suggest that the target of the attack would be Pearl Harbor, but also, on the contrary, demonstrated those that had been created false impression of an impending attack on the Philippines.

William Endgall's book talks about documents that "prove that Roosevelt was fully aware of the plans for the bombing of Pearl Harbor several days before it began, down to the details of the movements of the Japanese fleet in the Pacific and the exact time of the operation." Churchill also admitted: Roosevelt “was fully aware of the immediate goals of the enemy operation. In fact, Roosevelt instructed the director of the International Red Cross to prepare for large casualties at Pearl Harbor because he had no intention of preventing or defending against a potential attack."

At a minimum, it is known for sure that on November 26, the day after the Secretary of War wrote about the imminent attack on Pearl Harbor, the British Prime Minister informed Roosevelt, indicating the exact date. Kimmel. Previously, when he tried to prepare for a clash with Japanese troops, the White House sent a notice that he was “complicating the situation,” and in late November he was told to completely stop conducting reconnaissance against a possible airstrike. A week before the tragic events, it was decided to leave the sector in the direction of 12 hours without patrolling, anti-aircraft artillery was not ready, in accordance with the anti-sabotage warning No. 1 of the technician, and the ships were herded into dense groups, which made them easy prey for air attack. The US Army commission that followed the event summed up the situation as follows: “everything was done to maximally favor an air attack, and the Japanese did not fail to take advantage of this.”

Colonel O. Sadtler, who, by virtue of his position, was familiar with the contents of Japanese correspondence and found coded words in it warning of an impending attack, also tried to prevent an attack on the American fleet. He wrote a warning to all garrisons, including Pearl Harbor, on behalf of the Chief of Staff, General J. Marshall, but he was practically ridiculed, despite the fact that the command knew from secret correspondence about the offensive operation developed in Tokyo under the code name "Magic" and could well have known that on January 7, 1941, Secretary of the Navy Koshiro Oikawa was studying a nine-page justification for the attack on Pearl Harbor. On September 24, 1941, it became known from incoming encryption that Japanese naval intelligence was requesting squares of the exact location of US ships in Pearl Harbor.

Regarding the deciphered Japanese codes, it is noteworthy that the head of the then official intelligence structure of the Special Operations Executive, William Donovan, who located his office in room No. 3603 of the Rockefeller Center, was excluded from among the recipients of the decrypted materials by the Army Chief of Staff, General George Marshall. It is also noteworthy that individual unit headquarters received a machine for deciphering the code, but the Pearl Harbor group did not receive a machine for deciphering the code, that is: in Rockefeller Center and on the base itself they were not supposed to know about the impending provocation. It is possible that Roosevelt “did not seem surprised” on the day of the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor, as William Donovan later recalled, because he himself was doing his best to bring it closer, because he was worried, according to the head of the Special Operations Executive, only that the public did not supported the declaration of war.

US intelligence services have been reading the encrypted correspondence of the Japanese fleet since the second half of the 20s, secretly re-photographing code books with the so-called “red code”. In 1924, the future head of the radio interception and decoding department at headquarters, Captain Lawrence F. Safford, joined the team of codebreakers, whose position during the hearings on the events related to Pearl Harbor would cause many to doubt the official version. Since 1932, Safford, using IBM equipment, has been developing those same decryption machines; in 1937, special radio stations were deployed for radio interception along a giant arc from the Philippines to Alaska. The efforts of more than 700 employees under the leadership of L. Safford and W. Friedman in August 1940 culminated in deciphering the complex “pink” or “purple code” that encrypted Japanese government diplomatic correspondence.

In addition to the high command, the US leadership was aware of the success of the codebreakers: President F. Roosevelt, Secretary of State C. Hull, Secretary of War G. Stimson and Secretary of the US Navy F. Knox, who were not familiar with only four of the 227 documents that made up the secret correspondence between Tokyo and the Japanese embassy in the USA. Accordingly, it is likely that they were aware of the contents of the meeting of the Imperial Government held on September 6, 1941 in the presence of the Emperor, which stated that if “there is no significant hope of reaching an agreement with our demands through the above-mentioned diplomatic negotiations, we will immediately decide on imposing readiness for war against the United States."

Between November 28 and December 6, seven coded messages were intercepted confirming that Japan intended to attack Pearl Harbour. The inevitability of war with Japan finally became known the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor; six hours before the attack, its exact time became known - 7.30, which the US Army command decided to inform Hawaii not by a telephone call, but by a regular telegram that reached the addressee when the fleet was already sunk. And just before the attack, two soldiers on duty on the radar noticed Japanese planes, but no one answered the call to headquarters, and half an hour later, Kimmel’s wife, standing in a nightgown in the courtyard of her villa, was already reporting to her husband: “It looks like they covered the battleship Oklahoma "!"

In total, during the attack, 2403 (according to N. Yakovlev 2897) base employees were killed, 188 aircraft were destroyed, the old target ship Utah, the minelayer Oglala, the destroyers Cassin, Daune and Shaw and the battleship "Arizona", the burning image of which became a symbol of the defeat of Pearl Harbor. The death of the Arizona brought the largest number of victims - 47 officers and 1056 lower ranks, but added a number of questions. According to Nimitz's research, the Arizona was destroyed by a Val-234 dive bomber, but it would not have been able to lift the 800-kg bomb that allegedly destroyed the battleship; the Arizona also did not receive torpedo hits. Moreover, an examination of the ship by divers showed that the battleship, which was considered an impregnable fortress, sank as a result of a series of explosions that occurred inside the ship. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox then concluded that the bomb hit the battleship's smokestack.

Roosevelt himself appointed the composition of the first commission of Chief Justice O. Roberts, which was supposed to find out the circumstances of the tragedy. Her report was published many times, but never before 1946 were the 1,887 pages of interview transcripts and more than 3,000 pages of documents presented to the general public, since their contents obviously contradicted the conclusions, however, the President thanked O. Roberts “for his thorough and comprehensive investigation.” , which placed all the blame on the chief of the garrison, Walter Short, and Husband Kimmel, who was dismissed on March 1 with a promise to later be tried by a military tribunal. After the fateful tragedy, both worked in military production. In 1943, Kimmel requested materials from the Navy Department, but was refused under the pretext of security.

In 1944, presidential candidate Thomas Dewey intended to publicize the story of Japanese codes, which clearly indicated that Roosevelt knew about the impending operation, but the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General J. Marshall convinced him not to reveal his cards to the Japanese during hostilities. The following year, the Senate considered E. Thomas's bill, which provided for 10 years in prison for disclosing encrypted materials, but the Republicans rejected it, and more than 700 decrypted Japanese documents were presented to the new commission. Although the Republican members of the commission showed particular zeal in the investigation, they were forbidden to independently study the archives of government departments, and Secretary Grace Tully issued documents from the personal archive of the then deceased president at her own discretion. There were other oddities

“The testimony records are full of contradictions. What was said in the fall of 1945 invariably contradicted the testimony given before previous investigative commissions. In 1945, the documents were either hidden or disappeared, and the memory of the participants in the events was “refreshed”, or they completely forgot what happened. Therefore, in a number of cases persistent questions were answered with a stereotypical answer: “I don’t remember.” Even the senators who were eager to make political capital from the investigation grew tired and stopped delving into the case.” N. Yakovlev “Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 - Fact and Fiction”

A Japanese telegram dated December 4, 1941, warning of the outbreak of war, was deciphered and sent to US leaders, but already in 1944, a commission of the War Ministry stated: “The original telegram disappeared from the archives of the naval forces... Copies were found in other places, but now they all disappeared... Over the past year, the radio station's logs, in which the receipt of the telegram was recorded, were destroyed. An army witness testified that the army command never received this telegram.” One by one, the witnesses began to get confused in their memories. A. Krammer, who was in charge of the translation and distribution of deciphered materials, who was known as an absolute pedant, inserted his favorite word “exactly!” everywhere. After lunch with Admiral Stark, he suddenly began to give inconsistent testimony. This was achieved not only by having lunch with the higher command, but also by placing him in the psychiatric ward of the Bethesda naval hospital, from where, according to relatively modern research, he was released in exchange for changing his testimony and under the threat of lifelong imprisonment. The head of naval intelligence, Vice Admiral Theodore Wilkinson, presented the commission with 11 radio intercepts, which, as Marshall and others showed, did not exist, but in February 1946, during the work of the last commission, the car he was driving rolled off a ferry, which led to the death of the witness .

Also a “tough nut to crack” was the creator of decryption machines, Lawrence Safford, who earned the nickname “mad genius” from his subordinates for good reason. In February 1944, he appeared before Kimmel, claiming to have evidence that the admiral was “the victim of the most foul conspiracy in the history of the Navy,” which apparently inspired the admiral to tell Navy Chief E. King on November 15, 1945: “Immediately after Pearl Harbor, I believed that... I had to take the blame for Pearl Harbor... Now I refuse to accept any responsibility for the disaster at Pearl Harbor.” By this time, at least the ninth investigation had already taken place, and it still did not clarify the reasons that brought the United States into the world war. The latter was headed in 1946 by a lawyer with the revealing surname Morgan.

Safford stubbornly insisted that on December 4, having received a telephone message with a code word that meant war, he immediately reported this to Rear Admiral Knox. Safford was the only one to address the Navy's investigative committee, pointing out the pressure being applied. Chief Counsel Richardson pestered Safford for hours, resorting to legal maneuvers and pushing his testimony to the point of absurdity: “So, what you're saying is that there was a vast conspiracy from the White House, through the War Department, the Navy Department, through the Kramer Division, to destroy these copies?” To which Safford only retorted that the chief adviser is not the first who is trying to force him to change his testimony. Corresponding with researchers, he intrigued the public for another three decades, and most of all his wife, who out of harm’s way let journalists down the stairs and burned all the papers found in the house that mentioned Pearl Harbor, as a result of which Safford began to encrypt his notes from her.

Even modern researchers note that it is extremely difficult to investigate the nature of the incident that dragged the United States into the war, since secret dispatches were removed from the materials of the US Congress hearings, and later became available only in special archives. One of the researchers, Robert Stinnett, believes that President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Hull, Secretary of War Stimson and nine other people from the military leadership, whom Stimson himself lists in his diary, were behind the deliberate provocation of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Using the Freedom of Information Act, Stinnett spent a long time collecting documents that had survived censorship and came to the conclusion that the main organizer of the provocation was, after all, Roosevelt, who received a memo from naval intelligence officer A. McCollum in October 1940 (A. McCollum), containing instructions of eight actions, including an embargo, which were guaranteed to lead to war. However, for known reasons, the official version remains different.

Later than others, she began to build her own colonial empire. Only in the second half of the 19th century did this country change its eternal isolationism and turn to external expansion. However, the Land of the Rising Sun took on the construction of its sphere of influence with unprecedented vigor. A sweeping reform program and extraordinary efforts have catapulted Japan into the ranks of a world-class power. The ambitions of the new empire inevitably collided with the interests of the old powers.

Japan itself was very poor for any resources, but nearby lay the grandiose expanses of East Asia. The only problem was that all the most interesting areas for colonization were either directly included in Western colonial empires, or were under their control. Britain, Holland, France, and the USA were naturally concerned about the growing power of Japan. However, strategic resources - from oil to rubber - were not in Japanese hands.

Although the generally accepted date for the start of World War II is September 1, 1939, in Asia they have their own opinion on this matter. IN 1931 Japanese troops invaded Manchuria, and in 1937 the full-fledged conquest of China began. At first, the major powers only tacitly supported China's resistance. The USSR, USA, and European countries sent military materials, volunteers and instructors.

Soviet commanders on the shore of the lake Hassan during the Japanese invasion. In the summer of 1938, a two-week conflict occurred between Soviet and Japanese troops near Lake Khasan, which ended in victory for the USSR. Photo © RIA Novosti

In 1938 and 1939, the Japanese probed the USSR's positions on the lake Hassan and the river Khalkhin Gol. In the first case, the attack degenerated into heavy fighting with an uncertain result. But at Khalkhin Gol, the Japanese contingent was completely defeated by the Red Army. After this, Japan gradually lost enthusiasm for land campaigns. Plans for a big war against the USSR were shelved (as it turned out, forever), but plans for sea voyages were now being worked out more actively. Moreover, the situation for the Japanese in this direction has improved.

European countries had no time for East Asia; they had enough of their own worries in Europe, where a new world war was beginning. However, so far the United States has remained on the sidelines. Americans watched with concern Japan's attempts to expand its sphere of influence across the compass. In the White House, politicians are just saw themselves as hegemons in the Pacific.

In 1940, when Hitler had beaten the Allied armies on the European continent, the Japanese government began sending ultimatums to the British and French, demanding that they stop supplying China with arms and ammunition. Churchill agreed to this without much pleasure, although what was happening was reminiscent of the recent Munich Agreement .

The British gained little time. The Japanese began by plundering the French colonies, for which no one could fight now that France itself had been defeated by Hitler. French Indochina - present-day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos - was actually annexed by Japan and its friendly Thailand. After this, the Japanese targeted the Dutch-owned Indonesia. The meaning of the Japanese claims was obvious. Nickel, rubber, oil, manganese - Indonesia was supposed to become the resource base of the Japanese Empire.

The aircraft carrier Zuikaku before the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hitokappu Bay. Photo © Wikimedia Commons

After this, Washington was no longer just worried, but began to ring all the bells. Japanese deposits frozen in American banks, and President Roosevelt refused a meeting with representatives of Tokyo to discuss plans for the division of Asia. Moreover, Roosevelt announced the need to withdraw Japanese troops from Indochina.

Since September 1941, Japan has been preparing for war. Her opponents became at once Britain, France, Netherlands and USA.

Pearl Harbor

Japan's problem was a severe lack of resources. The country managed to create a powerful fleet and superbly trained naval aviation - but did not have the opportunity to wage war against the great powers for years. Chief of the Fleet General Staff Nagano formulated directly: in the very first days of the war, a terrible blow should be dealt to the enemy, from which the enemy will not recover. The main targets of the attack were to be Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong and the US Navy base in Hawaii, in Pearl Harbor.

Group photograph of fighter pilots from the air group of the Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The names of only a few pilots are known. In the second row, third from the right, is Lieutenant Masao Sato, to the left of him are Masatoshi Makino and Yuzo Tsukamoto. Photo © Wikimedia Commons

The key base of the US fleet in the Pacific Ocean, Pearl Harbor, or in Russian - Pearl Harbor, was in Hawaii. As is easy to see, it is located very far from the areas that the Japanese wanted to conquer. However, Pearl Harbor could become a base for a strike in the rear of the Japanese fleet and army. The Japanese hoped that the destruction of the base and the destruction of the ships located there would give them several months of operations without serious resistance, and that the morale of the Americans would be dealt a crushing blow.

The Army and Navy plan called for the rapid capture of a “defensive perimeter” from Burma through Timor, New Guinea and Wake Atoll to the Kuril Islands, after which it was necessary to defend the achieved lines. To do this, it was necessary to defeat all enemy fleets with a stunning blow. The British were at war in Europe and could send literally a few large ships to the Pacific Ocean. France and the Netherlands were occupied and could not really resist. The main problem remained - US Navy.

In November, both sides already understood that a clash could not be avoided. Moreover, the Americans even began to play for aggravation. On November 26, a note was sent to the Japanese government, harsh by any standards. What was demanded from Tokyo was no longer the withdrawal of troops from Indochina, but complete cleansing of China and concluding a non-aggression pact with all neighbors, including the USSR, the Netherlands and the same China. In essence, the Japanese were asked to capitulate.

Meanwhile, the Japanese fleet had already gone to sea. His goal was Pearl Harbor with its battleships, which were considered the main striking force of the fleet. The backbone of the attacking force consisted of six Japanese aircraft carriers.

Japanese planes prepare to take off from the heavy aircraft carrier Shokaku to attack Pearl Harbor. Photo © Military album

The admiral planned the raid Isoroku Yamamoto. This naval commander literally prayed for naval aviation and gave priority to aircraft carrier formations. Vice Admiral was in direct command of the attack Chuichi Nagumo. This admiral was credited with a certain lack of creative thinking, but hardly anyone could question his professionalism. When discussions were still going on between diplomats, the squadron Nagumo already gathered at the island Iturup(now Russian territory). On December 2, already on the way, Nagumo received a dispatch: “The date of declaration of war is December 8.” In Hawaii, due to the time difference, it was still the 7th.

The Americans already guessed what was happening. But guessing does not mean knowing. Hawaii was considered too far away for a Japanese attack. Therefore, the intercepted telegram for the Japanese consul in Honolulu was simply put aside in the general queue for decryption. On December 6, the Americans found out that a large Japanese formation was moving towards Singapore. This was true, but from the information received they concluded: since the Japanese are planning an attack on the English colony, it means that nothing threatens Hawaii.

Husband Kimmel

Meanwhile at Pearl Harbor, Admiral Kimmel, commander of US Pacific forces, ordered the base to be placed on high alert. The Americans were afraid of acts of sabotage, so they made a frankly controversial decision - they concentrated the planes in one place, so that in case of emergency it would be easier to protect them from saboteurs. In reality, they were brought together to die under Japanese air strikes.

The Japanese planned a combined attack of bombers and torpedo bombers. The fact is that the ships were often parked in two rows in Pearl Harbor, so not everything could be hit with torpedoes. There were no anti-torpedo nets in the harbor - it was mistakenly believed that it was too shallow.

The Americans were significantly lucky: for reasons unrelated to the future war, some ships left Pearl Harbor in advance, including the aircraft carriers Lexington and Enterprise. Considering how complex and expensive aircraft carriers are to manufacture, this could be considered a huge stroke of luck. As a result, there were eight battleships and many smaller vessels and ships in the harbor.

Sunday under the bombs

After seven o'clock in the morning, the American radar detected unidentified aircraft. This was honestly reported to the authorities, but the officers assumed that these were American planes, which they were just expecting. The officer who reported to the radar operators simply said, "Don't worry about it."

Just at this moment in Washington they deciphered another Japanese radiogram - and grabbed their heads. Cryptographers left no doubt: we are talking about the imminent start of war. A warning radio message was sent to Hawaii. She was literally just minutes late.

Photo © Wikimedia Commons

At 07:51 the first wave of bombers under the command of captain 1st rank Mitsuo Fuchida reached the target. Futida tapped the signal "Tora-tora-tora!" on the aircraft carrier. (“Tiger-tiger-tiger!”) This was a signal about the successful start of the attack.

Japanese bombs began to fall on airfields and ship docks.

Admiral Kimmel ran out onto the veranda of his house just to see the torpedo bombers entering his ships. The wife of one of the officers who was present pointed to the harbor and shouted: “They are finishing off Oklahoma!” “I see what they are doing,” the admiral answered through clenched teeth.

The Japanese plan turned out to be far from ideal. Many pilots actually searched for targets on their own, so the bombs fell on unimportant targets. So, they turned an old target ship into a sieve, mistaking it for a battleship. A separate group of aircraft destroyed a flying boat base - far from the most significant object on the base. The Japanese even chased individual cars!

Photo © Wikimedia Commons

However, the bulk of the planes hit the targets they were originally going to hit. American air defense responded very sluggishly. It was Sunday, many sailors were on leave and were now stunnedly watching from the shore the destruction of their ships. One of the officers had just gotten out of the shower and realized how serious things were when a bomber flew at full speed right over his bathroom.

At first, many ships reacted sluggishly: “What the hell, today is Sunday, are there really no other days to organize exercises!” However, bombs and torpedoes quickly convinced of the seriousness of what was happening.

To the battleship" Oklahoma" (the same one that the woman was pointing out to Admiral Kimmel) was hit by four torpedoes. It was a fatal blow, the ship immediately began to capsize. The battleship, according to eyewitnesses' description, collapsed on its side "slowly and majestically." Then bombers attacked the battleships. One of bombs hit the battleship's cellars precisely" Arizona"The pillar of fire shot up 300 meters. The ship flared up like a torch and quickly began to sink. Almost the entire crew died. The fate of the sailors trapped in the interior of the battleship was especially terrible: they drowned only some time later. The effect of the raid could have been even worse, but the Japanese used bombs of poor quality and many of them simply did not explode.

At 08:12, Kimmel sent a radio message to Washington: “The Japanese are bombing Pearl Harbor.” At that moment, a huge fire was already burning in the harbor. Many crew members jumped into the water, but now they were burning alive: fuel oil was burning on the surface.

Photo © A&E TELEVISION NETWORKS, LLC

On December 7, 1941, the Pacific War began with an attack by Japanese carrier-based aircraft on the American base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. But America itself provoked it

It was an incredibly elegant start to the war in Japanese style. On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the American fleet in Pearl Harbor exactly five minutes before the flags were raised.

American sailors performed this ceremony every day - at 8 am, at the same time, on all ships docked in the bay in blessed Hawaii, a jack was raised at the bow, and the stars and stripes of the state flag were raised at the stern.

On the battleships they also played the national anthem on sparkling brass instruments. The funny hats of the sailors, whose stomachs had already been digesting a wonderful American breakfast full of proteins and vitamins for fifteen minutes, the white uniform of naval officers with wide shoulder straps, very reminiscent of the Russian one, the sounds of music - it was a chic start to the day, promising shore leave (December 7th fell as once on Sunday), and suddenly at the very moment when everything was ready for the ceremony, Japanese torpedo bombers appeared low over the water.

Subsequently, one of the Japanese pilots, Yoshio Shiga, recalled: “It was a wonderful sight, the sight of the American fleet made a deep impression on me.

While the Japanese ships were camouflaged in dark gray tones, the American ones shone. I immediately realized that it was easy to attack, but the consequences of dropping bombs would be serious.”

Pearl Harbor after the attack. Line of burning American battleships

The torpedoes rushed towards the American battleships. After 8 minutes, the battleship Oklahoma capsized - the armored giant buried its masts directly into the shallow bottom, with a round, whale-like starboard side and part of the keel sticking out on the surface. Inside it floated four hundred corpses of those who did not manage to jump overboard.

The battleship Arizona exploded, literally falling into pieces - after a bomb hit, the ammunition in its cellars detonated. The Lord took 1,102 innocent souls to himself in one fell swoop. No one from his team escaped!

Others were a little more fortunate. The battleship West Virginia caught fire like a torch and sank to the bottom - only the shallow depth of the bay saved it. The California sank right next to the pier.

Not a single American battleship, except for the Nevada, had time to move during the attack. They were all PERFECT stationary targets. This is roughly how a hunter shoots fat ducks dozing peacefully on the water.

It was a disgrace such as the American Navy had never known before or since. The full list of losses looked like this - 5 battleships were sunk, three were damaged. Three light cruisers are temporarily out of action. Two destroyers were destroyed. Another one was seriously damaged. Most of the American squadron, which held the entire Pacific Ocean in fear, was turned into a pile of scrap metal in less than an hour.

Japanese happiness. Battleship Arizona turned into scrap metal

No one knew that this scrap metal carried a deep symbolic meaning. Just a year before the start of the war, US President Roosevelt banned American firms from exporting scrap metal to Japan. Thus, he deprived this country, which has almost no natural resources, of the opportunity to feed its industry with steel.

However, Roosevelt was an exceptional hypocrite and actor. He pretended even to his children, playing the kindly grandfather in a wheelchair, supposedly most concerned about free world trade and the image of the United States in the narrow eyes of the Japanese, like peepholes.

The president's son Eliot recalls his conversation with his dad in September 1940 in the book "Through His Eyes." Japan was at war in China. The Americans secretly supported the Chinese general Chiang Kai-shek.
But Eliot Roosevelt was worried about why his home country, led by his dad, was still selling scrap iron to Japan? The son asked his father: “Why? After all, we cannot help but know that scrap iron sent to Japan brings death to the Chinese?”

At the airport. Americans are saving the remains of their aircraft

POLICY OF DUPLICITY.
Old Roosevelt, according to his son, allegedly answered, and “thoughtfully”:
“We are a peaceful nation. This is not just a condition. It's a certain mindset. This means that we do not want war; this means that we are not ready for war. Scrap iron is not considered military material in our country. Therefore, Japan, like any other country with which we maintain trade relations, has every opportunity to buy this material from us. Little of. If we suddenly stopped selling scrap iron to Japan, she would have the right to consider that we had committed an unfriendly act, using an instrument of trade to strangle her, to starve her. And that is not all. She would have the right to consider such a step on our part as grounds for severing diplomatic relations. I'll go even further. If she considered us insufficiently prepared for war, insufficiently armed, she could even use this as a pretext to declare war.”

But just a few days after this conversation - September 26, 1940 - President Roosevelt, on behalf of the American government, announced a ban on the export of scrap metal, iron and steel to foreign countries, with the exception of Great Britain, Canada and the countries of South America.

Japan was not included in this list of consumers of American scrap. Consequently, Roosevelt was well aware that he was forcing her to attack the United States. Moreover, in the same conversation with his son, this outstanding Japanophobe, who was at the head of the United States, admitted: “In essence, we are engaged in pacifying Japan. It's a disgusting word, and don't think I like it. But that's just the way it is. We are appeasing Japan to buy time. to create a first-class navy, a first-class army and a first-class aviation."

Consequently, already on September 26, Roosevelt believed that the navy, army and air force had reached that high stage of development when Japan could no longer be “pacified”, but, on the contrary, ruffled feathers.

Battleship West Virginia. Despite the fire, it will be restored

Back on May 16, 1940, on the initiative of the president, a new military program was adopted. Roosevelt was in a hurry. He addressed Congress in the days when it became clear that France was losing the war to Germany. Hitler's tanks were just breaking through the Ardennes towards Paris.

The president's first words were: "Tough times are coming." As one of Roosevelt’s closest associates, Edward Stettinius, who was responsible for the mobilization of American industry, wrote in the book “Lend-Lease - a Weapon of Victory,” “the President asked Congress for two special appropriations for the expansion of the army and navy, totaling about 2, 5 billion dollars.

The fate of the Maginot Line, like that of the five nations who had learned the hard way over the past five weeks that neutrality and good intentions are no defense against aggression, led the President to declare: “There are no old methods of defense that are sufficient today and do not need improvement. No one at any time today can ignore the threat of attack.”

He then announced a figure that set Congress and the nation ablaze: “I would like our country to be able to produce at least 50,000 airplanes a year.”

TANKS LIKE REFRIGERATORS. It was after this that the Americans began churning out tanks and planes like refrigerators. They chose a win-win scheme in a commercial sense. Naturally, no Hitler threatened the United States.
Without an ocean-going fleet, he could not land not only on the American coast, but even in England. Moreover, the Germans and Americans were not at war. Only Great Britain fought.

And the United States generously supplied her with weapons and equipment, increasing the capacity of its industry for its own rearmament and deployment of a new army. This system was called Lend-Lease. After Hitler's invasion of the USSR, Roosevelt extended it to his “friend” Stalin. By the end of September 1941, the Soviet Union had ordered supplies for $145,710,823. According to Stettinius, “The Russians bought aviation gasoline, toluene, machine tools and equipment, as well as telephone wire, boots, fabrics and much more. They also needed planes, tanks and anti-tank guns.”

Pearl Harbor. Photo taken by the Japanese pilot at the time of the attack

ROOSEVELT FOOTBALL. All this allowed the United States to secretly prepare for war with Japan, which was bogged down in China, and further take the prize in the battle for world domination by landing in Europe at a time when Germany is exhausted from the confrontation on the Eastern Front.

We usually remember the cynical phrase of Roosevelt’s heir - Harry Truman who said in June 1941: “Let the Russians and Germans kill each other as much as possible, and we will help them”. But in fact, Truman was just voicing conversations from Roosevelt’s inner circle.

The president himself told his son in 1942: “Imagine it’s a football match and we’re the reserve players sitting on the bench. At the moment, the main players are the Russians, the Chinese and, to a lesser extent, the British. We are destined to play the role of... the players who will enter the game at the decisive moment... We will go into the game to score the decisive goal."

One should not think that Roosevelt was a philanthropist who was going to save the world out of a desire to take the most honorable place in heaven.

America provided assistance to its allies only for money and recognition of its vision of the future structure of the world. The United States even twisted the arms of its historical ancestral home, Great Britain. Roosevelt demanded that Churchill open the way for American goods to the British colonies.

The fat man with a cigar insisted:“Mr. President, England does not for a moment intend to give up its predominant position in the British Dominions. The trade which has brought greatness to England will continue on the terms set by English ministers."
But the American president continued to stubbornly educate his British colleague: “Somewhere along this line you and I may have some disagreements.”

Roosevelt to his son: “This is a football match, and we are the reserve players. We will go into the game to score the decisive goal."

The differences were overcome only on August 13, 1941, on board the American cruiser Augusta, where the famous Atlantic Charter was signed right in the ocean.
The fourth, most important point of it said: the United States and Great Britain “will strive to ensure a situation in which all countries - great or small, victorious or defeated - would have access on an equal basis to trade and to the world's sources of raw materials.”

In practice, these beautiful words meant that the world's raw materials should go to the strongest- that is, the United States of America. The hidden irony of the document was that less than three weeks before the conclusion of the Atlantic Charter on July 26, 1941, the USA, England and Holland announced the freezing of Japanese capital and banned the export of oil and even petroleum products to Japan - the Americans from their territory, where a wide oil production, and the British and Dutch from their colonies in Southeast Asia. What kind of “free trade” could we be talking about?

Roosevelt suggested that the small island country either suffocate in the grip of an economic blockade, or try its luck in a suicidal war against the United States and Great Britain.
The Japanese could not lose face and chose war. American sailors who saw the sunrise for the last time in their lives at Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, could only thank their president for this, who measured the world by the standards of big profits.
They were pawns in a big geopolitical game that had to be “surrendered” in order to cause an explosion of “righteous anger” among American housewives and their sons, zombified by the “ideals of democracy.”

It was Churchill who handed over Britain's trade interests to Roosevelt.

REVENGE USA. However, Pearl Harbor paradoxically benefited the American fleet. He irretrievably lost only two battleships - Oklahoma and Arizona. All the other “shortcomings” throughout 1942 were not only raised and repaired, but also radically modernized. By a happy coincidence, the base itself and its shipbuilding potential were not damaged.

Revenge over Pearl Harbor occurred on the night of October 24-25, 1944 in Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. The American squadron, led by Rear Admiral Oldendorf (a descendant of German emigrants), faced two Japanese battleships, four cruisers and eight destroyers.
Japanese ships slowly passed through the narrow Surigao Strait, without radar and unaware that the American admiral of German origin could see them clearly in the darkness.

Oldendorf's battle line consisted entirely of the resurrected "dead men" of Pearl Harbor - the battleships West Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, California and Pennsylvania. Admiral Nishimura's flagship battleship Yaamashiro broke in half. Following him, the battleship Fuso was sent to the bottom.
The entire battle took just ten minutes. The battleship Pennsylvania, which brought up the rear, did not have time to fire a single shell at all. All targets were hit in pitch darkness according to radar readings.

The provocative calculation of Franklin Roosevelt, who lured the Japanese into the Pearl Harbor trap three years earlier, was completely justified. The cunning and strong defeated the desperate and brave. The bloody morning of Pearl Harbor was actually the dawn of American world dominance.

13.07.2013 1 28077

On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft delivered a crushing blow to the American base in Hawaii. In two hours, the US Pacific Fleet was destroyed, more than 2,400 people were killed.

The next day, President Roosevelt, speaking to Congress, said that this day “will go down in history as a symbol of shame.” Another day later, the United States entered World War II. What took place on December 7 at Pearl Harbor: a surprise attack or a carefully planned government conspiracy?

The two-hour attack on Pearl Harbor (“Pearl Bay”) not only influenced the course of the war, but also changed world history. Volumes of military, historical and popular literature have been written about this episode (it cannot be called a battle or engagement), documentaries and feature films have been made. However, historians and conspiracy theorists are still looking for answers to the questions: how did it happen that the Americans were not prepared for the Japanese attack? Why were the losses so great? Who is to blame for what happened? Did the President know about the coming invasion? Did he do nothing specifically to drag the country into hostilities?

"PURPLE" CODE: the secret becomes clear

The existence of a conspiracy is supported by the fact that by the summer of 1940, the Americans “cracked” the Japanese secret diplomatic code, called “Purple.” This allowed American intelligence to monitor all communications from the Japanese General Staff. Thus, all secret correspondence was an open book for the Americans. What did they learn from the encryption?

An aerial view of the battleships in the first minutes after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941. (U.S. Navy photo)

Messages intercepted in the fall of 1941 indicate that the Japanese were indeed up to something. On September 24, 1941, Washington read a coded message from the Office of Naval Intelligence of Japan sent to the consul in Honolulu, which requested squares for the exact location of US warships at Pearl Harbor.

At that time, the Japanese were negotiating with the United States, trying to prevent or at least delay the outbreak of war between the two countries. In one of the secret messages, the Japanese Foreign Minister urged the negotiators to resolve problems with the United States by November 29, otherwise, the code said, “events will happen automatically.” And already on December 1, 1941, after the negotiations failed, the military intercepted a report in which the Japanese ambassador in Berlin informed Hitler about the extreme danger of war, “approaching faster than one might think.”

By the way, it is interesting that some headquarters of military units received machines for deciphering the “Purple” code, but for some reason Pearl Harbor did not receive such a machine...

"FLYING TIGERS": THE PATH TO WARRIOR

One of the most important questions concerns the role of the government and President Roosevelt. Was he trying to provoke the Japanese into attacking the United States in order to gain the support of the American population for his war plans?

As you know, relations with the Japanese began to deteriorate long before Pearl Harbor. In 1937, Japan sank an American warship in China on the Yangtze River. Both countries made public attempts at negotiations, but Roosevelt issued several unacceptable ultimatums to Japanese negotiators and openly lent money to the Chinese Nationalists, whom the Japanese were fighting at the time.

On June 23, 1941, the day after Germany attacked the USSR, Secretary of the Interior and Assistant to the President Harold Ickes presented a memo to the President in which he indicated that “imposing an embargo on oil exports to Japan could be an effective way to start a conflict. And if, thanks to this step, we indirectly get involved in a world war, then we will avoid criticism of complicity with communist Russia.” Which is what was done. And a month later, Roosevelt froze the financial assets of the “Asian Tiger” in the United States.

However, President Roosevelt was against imposing a complete embargo. He wanted to tighten the screws, but not for good, but only, as he himself put it, “for a day or two.” His goal was to keep Japan in a state of maximum uncertainty without pushing it over the edge. The President believed that he could use oil as a tool of diplomacy, and not as a trigger that could be pulled to unleash a massacre.

Meanwhile, the Americans began to actively help China. In the summer, the Flying Tigers aviation group was sent to the Celestial Empire, which operated against the Japanese as part of the army of President Chiang Kai-shek. Although these pilots were officially considered volunteers, they were hired by US military bases.

The income of these strange aviators was five times higher than the salary of ordinary American pilots. Politician and publicist Patrick Buchanan believes that "they were sent to fight Japan in the months before Pearl Harbor as part of a secret operation emanating from the White House and from President Roosevelt personally."

KNEW OR DIDN'T KNOW?

By provoking the Japanese by reading all the intelligence reports, President Roosevelt could not remain completely unaware of the impending attack on Pearl Harbor. Here are just a few facts that prove the awareness of the top person.

On November 25, 1941, Secretary of War Stimson wrote in his diary that Roosevelt spoke of a possible attack within the next few days and asked “how should we get them into a first-strike position without the damage being too damaging to us?” Despite the risk, we will allow the Japanese to carry out the first strike. The government understands that the full support of the American people is necessary to ensure that no one is left in any doubt about Japan's aggressive intentions."

On November 26, US Secretary of State K. Hull presented the Japanese representative with a note proposing the withdrawal of troops from all countries of Southeast Asia. In Tokyo, this proposal was considered an American ultimatum. Soon, a powerful aircraft carrier squadron located in the Kuril Islands area received an order to weigh anchor and begin moving towards the target in radio silence. And the goal was... the Hawaiian Islands.
On December 5, Roosevelt wrote to the Australian Prime Minister: “The Japanese must always be taken into account. Perhaps the next 4-5 days will resolve this problem.”

What about Pearl Harbor? Was the command of the military base really “blissfully unaware”? A few weeks before the attack, on November 27, 1941, General Marshall sent the following coded message to Pearl Harbor: “Hostile action is likely at any moment. If military action cannot be avoided, then the United States wants Japan to be the first to use force.”

The airfield at the US Navy base on Ford Island. In the background you can see flames from burning ships after the Japanese attack, December 7, 1941. (U.S. Navy photo):

DAY OF SHAME

It turns out that the army, navy and ruling circles knew everything perfectly and prepared for the attack in advance. However, what happened on December 7, 1941 in Pearl Bay can be called, in the words of Marshal Zhukov, “ignoring the obvious threat of attack.”

The day before the attack, another Japanese encryption was read, from which it became known that war was inevitable. How did “important and interested persons” react?

Roosevelt called the fleet commander, Admiral Stark, but he was in the theater and was not disturbed. The next morning, Washington learned the exact time of the attack - 07:30 on December 7, Hawaiian time. 6 hours left. Admiral Stark wanted to call the commander of the Pacific Fleet, but decided to report to the President first. Roosevelt received Stark after 10:00, the meeting began, but the president’s personal physician came and took him away for procedures. We conferred without the president and left for lunch at 12:00.

The Chief of Staff of the US Army, General Marshall, did not want to interrupt his morning horseback ride and showed up for duty only at 11:25. He also decided not to call Hawaii, but sent an encrypted telegram, ordering it to be transmitted through the army radio station. There was radio interference in Hawaii, so the telegram was taken to a commercial telegraph office, forgetting to mark it as “urgent.” At the Hawaiian post office, the telegram was thrown into a box, where it waited for the messenger (by the way, Japanese), who regularly picked up all the mail for the American fleet. A messenger carefully delivered it to headquarters three hours after the Japanese sank the American fleet.

At Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, at 07:02, two soldiers on radar duty spotted Japanese planes 250 km from the island. They tried to report this to headquarters by direct telephone, but no one answered there. Then they contacted the lieutenant on duty by telephone, who was in a hurry for breakfast and did not talk to them for long.

The soldiers turned off the radar and also left for breakfast. And two waves of aircraft that took off from Japanese aircraft carriers (40 torpedo bombers, 129 dive bombers and 79 fighters) were already approaching Pearl Harbor, where all the armored forces of the US Pacific Fleet were located - 8 battleships (for comparison: the USSR had only three of them, with during the First World War). At 07:55 Japanese planes began to dive.

The commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Kimmel, began directing the battle in his pajamas from the courtyard of his villa, located on the mountain. He received the first report from his wife, who was standing nearby in a nightgown: “It looks like they covered the battleship Oklahoma!” - “I see it myself!” - the naval commander confirmed.
On American ships, the sailors had just had breakfast, but the officers were still eating. Half of the crew was on leave on shore; random sailors stood at the anti-aircraft guns. Five of the eight battleship commanders also had fun on the shore. The guns had no shells, and the keys to the shell stores could not be found. Finally, the armored doors of the storerooms were broken down, and in the confusion they began to fire training shells at the Japanese planes. When Kimmel was brought to headquarters, according to an eyewitness, there was no panic there. “Ordered horror” reigned there.

Japanese bomber over Pearl Harbor

At 09:45 the Japanese took off. We summed up the results. All 8 battleships were disabled. The Japanese hoped to find aircraft carriers in the bay, but they were absent, so in a rage they bombed anything. Almost all of Pearl Harbor's aircraft were destroyed: 188 aircraft burned and 128 were damaged. 2,403 US military personnel were killed and 117 were wounded. There were 40 explosions in the city, killing 68 civilians and injuring 35. Of these explosions, only one was a Japanese bomb, the other 39 were American anti-aircraft shells.

The Japanese lost 29 aircraft and 55 people...

CONSEQUENCES

Yet, despite all the evidence, explicit and implicit, it is impossible to prove that there was a conspiracy, because Washington did not order a reduction in the level of combat readiness on the eve of the attack. And that's a fact.

The consequences of the attack on Pearl Harbor were more than important for both American and world history.

The attack served as the impetus for Hitler to declare war on the United States, and consequently to the unconditional inclusion of all American economic, industrial, financial, organizational, scientific, technical and military power in the cause of war. The attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the reasons (it is difficult to say how important) the use of atomic weapons against Japan.

We can add one more, probably the most important consequence of this attack - it opened a new chapter in everything related to US participation and intervention in all conflicts in the world.

Anastasia GROSS

Oahu, Hawaiian Islands

Opponents

Commanders of the forces of the parties

Strengths of the parties

Pearl Harbor attack- a sudden combined attack by Japanese carrier-based aircraft from the carrier formation of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo and Japanese midget submarines, delivered to the site of the attack by submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy, on American naval and air bases located in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu (Hawaii islands), which occurred on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941.

Prerequisites for the war

In 1932, large-scale exercises were held in the United States, during which the defense of the Hawaiian Islands from attack from sea and air was practiced. Contrary to the expectations of the “defenders,” Admiral Yarmouth left the cruisers and battleships behind and moved towards Hawaii with only two high-speed aircraft carriers - USS Saratoga And USS Lexington. Being 40 miles from the target, he lifted 152 aircraft, which “destroyed” all aircraft at the base and gained complete air supremacy. However, the chief negotiator concluded that “a major air strike on Oahu in the face of strong air power defending the island is highly questionable. The aircraft carriers will be hit, and the attacking aircraft will suffer heavy losses." The American command was not convinced by the results of similar exercises in 1937 and 1938, when carrier-based aircraft conditionally destroyed shipyards, airfields and ships.

The fact is that in the 30s the battleship was considered the main weapon at sea (and even in the political arena). The country that had this class of ships forced even such major powers as the USA and Great Britain to reckon with itself. Both in the USA and even in Japan, which was inferior to the potential enemy in battleships, the prevailing idea was that the fate of the war would be decided in a general battle, where this class would play the main role. Aircraft carriers had already appeared in the fleets of these countries, but both sides assigned them, although an important, but secondary role. Their task was to nullify the advantage of the enemy's battle fleet.

November 11, 1940 planes from an English aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious struck, located in the harbor of Taranto. The result was the destruction of one and the disabling of two battleships.

It is not known exactly when the Japanese came up with the idea to attack Pearl Harbor. So, in 1927-1928, then a captain of the 2nd rank, who had just graduated from the naval staff college, Kusaka Ryunosuke, the future chief of staff of the 1st aircraft carrier fleet, began to work out an attack on a base in the Hawaiian Islands. Soon he was to teach a course on aviation to a group of 10 important people, among whom was Nagano Osami, for which he wrote a document in which he argued that the basis of the strategy of the war with the United States had so far been a general battle with the entire American fleet. But if the enemy refuses to go to the open sea, Japan needs to seize the initiative, so a strike on Pearl Harbor is necessary, and it can only be carried out by air forces. This document was printed in an edition of 30 copies and, after excluding direct references to America, it was sent to the command staff. It may well be that Yamamoto saw this document, and in his head the idea took on clearer forms, the results of the American exercises convinced him, and the Taranto attack convinced even his sworn opponents

And although Yamamoto was against the war in general, and the conclusion of the Tripartite Pact in particular, he understood that the fate of Japan depended on how it entered the war and how it would conduct it. Therefore, as commander, he prepared the fleet, especially the carrier fleet, as much as possible for combat operations, and when war became inevitable, he implemented a plan to attack the US Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor.

But it is worth understanding that not a single Yamamoto “had a hand” in this plan. When war with the United States became all but certain, he turned to Rear Admiral Kaijiro Onishi, chief of staff of the 11th Air Force. However, he had at his disposal land-based aircraft, mainly Zero fighters and G3M and G4M medium torpedo bombers, whose range was not sufficient to operate even from the Marshall Islands. Onishi advised to contact his deputy, Minoru Genda.

In addition to being a superb fighter pilot whose unit became widely known as the "Genda Magicians", Genda was a superb tactician and expert in the use of aircraft carriers in battle. He comprehensively studied the possibilities of attacking the fleet in the harbor and came to the conclusion that in order to destroy the US Pacific Fleet in its main base, it was necessary to use all 6 heavy aircraft carriers, select the best aviators and ensure complete secrecy to ensure surprise, on which the success of the operation largely depended.

One of the leading officers of the headquarters of the United Fleet, Kuroshima Kameto, took up the detailed development of the plan. He was, perhaps, the most eccentric staff officer: as soon as inspiration struck him, he locked himself in his cabin, battened down the portholes and sat down completely naked at the table, burned incense and chain-smoked. It was Kuroshima Kameto who developed the plan at the tactical level, taking into account the slightest nuances.

The plan was then presented to the Naval General Staff, where it met with strong opposition. This is explained by the fact that the naval general staff intended to use aircraft carriers in the south, because few believed that base aircraft could support operations to capture the southern regions as effectively. In addition, many doubted the success of the proposed attack, because much depended on factors that the Japanese could not influence: surprise, how many ships would be in the base, etc. Here it is worth turning to the personality of the commander-in-chief himself - Yamamoto was known for his love of gambling, and was ready to take this risk, hoping to win. Therefore, he was unshakable and threatened to resign. With this formulation of the issue, the Chief of the Naval General Staff, Nagano, had to agree with Yamamoto’s plan. But since Admiral Nagumo also doubted success, Yamamoto said that he was ready to personally lead the aircraft carrier force into battle if Nagumo did not decide on this operation.

What forced Japan to go to war with such a powerful industrial country as the United States of America? In 1937, the Sino-Japanese War began. The fighting moved south until Japanese forces established themselves in northern Indochina in September 1940. At the same time, Japan entered into a military alliance with Germany and Italy, which greatly influenced its relations with the United States. And when Japan invaded southern Indochina in July 1941, the United States, Great Britain and Holland dealt a crushing economic blow - an embargo on oil exports to Japan. It is not difficult to understand how important oil was for Japan: the fleet's fuel reserves amounted to 6,450,000 tons, with the most economical use they would last for 3-4 years, after which the country would be forced to comply with any demand of the above-mentioned powers. Therefore, it was decided to seize the oil-rich areas of Southeast Asia. But the question arose: how would the United States react to this? We also had to take into account the fact that at the beginning of 1941 the Pacific Fleet was transferred to Pearl Harbor. The admirals discussed 2 options for the development of events - first, begin to capture areas of Southeast Asia, and then, when the American fleet goes to sea, destroy it in a general battle; or preventively destroy a potential threat, and then concentrate all forces on the occupation. The second option was chosen.

Strengths of the parties

USA

Fire Support Group (Rear Admiral D. Mikawa): third battleship brigade: battleships IJN Hiei And IJN Kirishima; 8th Cruiser Brigade: heavy cruisers IJN Tone And IJN Chikuma .

Patrol Squad (Captain 1st Rank K. Imaizumi):

Submarines I-19 , I-21 , I-23 .

Auxiliary ships for the Strike Force:

8 tankers and transports. Midway Atoll Neutralization Squad(Captain 1st Rank K. Konishi):

Destroyers IJN Akebono And IJN Ushio .

Attack

The strike force left the Kure naval base in successive groups and passed through the Inland Sea of ​​Japan between November 10 and 18, 1941. On November 22, the task force assembled in Hitokappu Bay (Kuril Islands). Canvas covers were loaded onto the ships to protect the guns in stormy weather, aircraft carriers accepted thousands of barrels of fuel, and people were given warm uniforms. On November 26 at - 06:00, the ships left the bay and headed in different routes to the assembly point, where they were supposed to receive the last instructions, depending on whether the war should have started or not. On December 1, it was decided to start a war, which was reported to Admiral Nagumo the next day: Yamamoto, from the flagship stationed in the Inland Sea, transmitted a coded order: “Climb Mount Niitaka,” which meant that the attack was scheduled for December 7 (local time).

There were also 30 submarines of various types operating in the Pearl Harbor area, of which 16 were long-range submarines. 11 of them carried one seaplane, and 5 carried “dwarf” submarines.

At 00:50 on December 7, being only a few hours away from the aircraft take-off point, the formation received a message that there were no American aircraft carriers in the harbor. The message, however, stated that the battleships were at Pearl Harbor, so Vice Admiral Nagumo and his staff decided to proceed as planned.

At 06:00, the carriers, being only 230 miles north of Hawaii, began scrambling aircraft. The takeoff of each aircraft was precisely synchronized with the pitching of the aircraft carriers, which reached 15°.

The first wave included: 40 Nakajima B5N2 carrier-based torpedo bombers (type “97”), armed with torpedoes, which were equipped with wooden stabilizers specifically for attacking in a shallow harbor; 49 aircraft of this type carried an 800 kg armor-piercing bomb, specially developed by deeply modernizing the battleship's shell; 51 Aichi D3A1 dive bombers (type “99”), carrying a 250 kg bomb; 43 Mitsubishi A6M2 fighters (type “0”).

As Japanese aircraft approached the islands, one of five Japanese mini-submarines was sunk near the harbor entrance. At 03:42, the commander of one of the US Navy minesweepers spotted the submarine's periscope approximately two miles from the harbor entrance. He reported this to the destroyer USS Aaron Ward, who unsuccessfully searched for it until this or another mini-submarine was discovered from the Catalina flying boat. The submarine tried to make its way into the harbor, following the repair ship Antares. At 06:45 USS Aaron Ward sank her with artillery fire and depth charges. At 06:54, the commander of the 14th naval region was told from the destroyer: “We attacked, fired and dropped depth charges on a submarine cruising within our territorial waters.” Due to a delay in decoding, the duty officer received this message only at 07:12. He handed it over to Admiral Block, who ordered the destroyer USS Monaghan come to the rescue USS Aaron Ward.

At 07:02, the approaching aircraft were detected using a radar station, which Privates Joseph Lockard and George Elliott reported to the information center. Duty Officer Joseph MacDonald relayed the information to 1st Lt. C. Tyler. He, in turn, reassured the rank and file, saying that reinforcements were coming to them. The radio station, which broadcast music that pilots usually used as a bearing, also spoke about this. The B-17 bombers were indeed about to arrive, but the radar spotted the Japanese. Ironically, numerous signals of an attack were, if not ignored, then left without due attention.

Futida in his memoirs is rather inaccurate in describing the signal for the start of the attack. He actually gave it at 07:49, but back at 07:40 he fired one black flare, which meant that the attack was going according to plan (i.e. a surprise attack). However, Lieutenant Commander Itaya, leading the fighters, did not notice the signal, so Fuchida fired a second missile, also black. It was also noticed by the commander of the dive bombers, who understood this as a loss of surprise, and in this case the dive bombers should go on the attack immediately. But smoke from bomb hits could interfere with torpedoing, so the torpedo bombers were also forced to hurry.

Despite the explosions and the ensuing chaos, at exactly 08:00 on the battleship USS Nevada Military musicians, led by conductor Auden MacMillan, began performing the US anthem. They got a little confused only once, when a bomb fell next to the ship.

The main target of the Japanese, undoubtedly, were American aircraft carriers. But they were not in the harbor at the time of the attack. Therefore, the pilots concentrated their efforts on the battleships, since they were also a significant target.

The main striking force was 40 torpedo bombers. Because There were no aircraft carriers, 16 aircraft were left without a main target and acted at their own discretion, which also brought some confusion into the actions of the Japanese. The light cruiser was the first to be torpedoed. USS Raleigh(CL-7) and target ship USS Utah(an old battleship, but some pilots mistook it for an aircraft carrier). My brother was the next to be hit. USS Raleigh, light cruiser Detroit (CL-8).

At this time, Commander Vincent Murphy spoke on the phone with Admiral Kimmel about the destroyer's report USS Aaron Ward. The messenger who came to the commander reported the attack on Pearl Harbor (“this is not an exercise”), after which he informed the admiral about it. Kimmel relayed the message to the Commanders of the Navy, Atlantic Fleet and Asiatic Fleet, as well as all forces on the high seas. The message was sent at 08:00 and read: “The air raid on Pearl Harbor is not a training exercise.”

Rear Admiral W. Furlong, who was on board the minelayer USS Oglala(CM-4), seeing the planes over the harbor, immediately realized what was happening and ordered a signal, which went up on the minelayer’s mast at 07:55 and contained the following: “All ships leave the bay.” Almost at the same time, one of the torpedoes passed under the bottom USS Oglala and exploded on board a light cruiser USS Helena(CL-50). It would seem that the minelayer was lucky, but, ironically, the explosion literally tore off the plating of the minesag’s starboard side, causing it to sink.

USS Oklahoma was moored to the battleship USS Maryland and took a powerful blow. The battleship was hit by 9 torpedoes, causing it to capsize.

Almost simultaneously the battleship was attacked USS West Virginia, moored to USS Tennessee. Despite the fact that he is just like USS Oklahoma received 9 torpedo hits, and an additional 2 bomb hits, thanks to the efforts of 1st Lieutenant Claude W. Ricketts and his first mate Ensign Billingsley, who carried out counter-flooding, the battleship did not capsize, which made it possible to restore it.

At 08:06 the battleship received the first torpedo hit USS California. In total, the battleship received 3 torpedo hits and one bomb hit.

Battleship USS Nevada was the only battleship that set sail. Therefore, the Japanese concentrated their fire on it, hoping to sink it in the fairway and block the harbor for many months. As a result, the ship received one torpedo and 5 bomb hits. The Americans' hope of bringing the battleship to the open sea did not materialize, and it was grounded.

Hospital ship USS Vestal, moored to USS Arizona, reported a torpedo hit the battleship. After the attack, the ship was examined and no traces of torpedo hits were found, but veteran Donald Stratton, who served on USS Arizona, and after the war continues to claim that there was a hit.

This battleship was attacked by bombers at 08:11, and one of the bombs caused the main caliber of the bow magazines to explode, which destroyed the ship.

The airfield on Ford Island, the US Air Force bases Hickam and Wheeler, and the seaplane base were attacked by bombers and fighters.

Japanese fighters attacked the B-17s, which were unable to fight back. They then attacked Dontlesses (American carrier-based dive bombers) from an aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. Several American planes were shot down after the attack by their own anti-aircraft guns.

The second echelon consisted of 167 aircraft: 54 B5N2, carrying 250 kg and 6-60 kg bombs; 78 D3A1 with 250 kg bomb; 35 A6M2 fighters. It is easy to notice that there were no torpedo bombers in the second wave, because the emphasis was placed on the first wave, and fighter cover was also reduced.

However, it was at this time that the American pilots were able to provide some decent resistance. Most of the planes were destroyed, but several pilots managed to take off and even shoot down some of the enemy planes. Between 8:15 a.m. and 10 o'clock, two sorties were made from the unattacked Haleiwa airfield, in which 4 P-40 aircraft and one P-36 each took part. They shot down 7 Japanese aircraft at the cost of losing one aircraft. From Bellows Airfield until 9:50 a.m. Not a single plane was able to take off, and the first plane took off from Hickam airfield only at 11:27 a.m.

Among the numerous tragic and heroic episodes, there were also curious ones. This is a story about a destroyer USS Dale. Ernest Schnabel said after the war that a young boatswain named Fuller, during the respite between the first and second waves, was clearing the deck of wooden objects. He came across a box of ice cream and decided to throw it overboard. However, he was stopped, the box was opened and the ice cream was distributed among the entire crew. If on that day someone could impartially observe the events, he would have seen a destroyer going into the canal, and the crew sitting at combat posts and eating ice cream!

Bottom line

Japan was forced to attack the United States because... negotiations, despite the efforts of Japanese diplomats, did not lead to anything, and she could not afford to stall for time, because. resources were very, very limited.

The attack was planned by the best specialists of the Japanese fleet, and highly qualified aviators were trained.

Japan expected the American fleet to be destroyed and the American nation to lose heart. If the first task was completed, although not completely, then the second was failed. The Americans went through the entire war under the slogan: “Remember Pearl Harbor!”, and the battleship USS Arizona became for them a symbol of the “Day of Shame”.

But it is also incorrect to say that the entire American, and even the US Pacific Fleet, went down. The absence of aircraft carriers in the harbor helped America win the Battle of Midway, considered the turning point in the Pacific War. After it, Japan lost the opportunity to conduct major offensive operations.

Nagumo was careful and did not strike at the infrastructure of the base, and even the Americans do not deny that this would have played no less, and perhaps a greater role, than the destruction of the fleet. He left oil storage facilities and docks intact.

Success could be developed. But they decided to use the aircraft carriers for conquest in Southeast Asia, where they were supposed to suppress airfields and fight enemy aircraft, which were an order of magnitude inferior to the Japanese. Only the Doolittle Raid prompted them to take active action, which ultimately led to Japan's defeat.

Notes

1. Grand Joint Exercise No. 4
2. So, when dreadnoughts entered the Brazilian fleet