In the summer of 1941, after Japan invaded the French colonies in Indochina, Washington initiated an economic blockade of Japan by the United States, Great Britain and Australia.

Pearl Harbor - the war is in full swing

In response, the headquarters of the Japanese emperor began to develop a plan and date for the attack on Pearl Harbor in order to intimidate America. The result was an air strike on the main base of the American Pacific Fleet on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The idea of ​​the operation belonged to the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Navy, Admiral Isoroko Yamamota. The story of the attack on Pearl Harbor, how it really happened, how many died during the bombing from both sides - read the details below.

History of the attack on Pearl Harbor

Preparing for battle

The preparatory actions before the attack included:

• combat coordination of crews of aircraft carriers, submarines, aircraft;
• preparation of military equipment;
• intelligence gathering.

Throughout July 1941, Japanese torpedo bombers practiced bombing in Kagoshima Bay, reminiscent of Pearl Harbor in outline. The preparation of pilots for the attack on Pearl Harbor was led by Captain Second Rank Mitsuo Fuchida. He will then lead his aces into the decisive battle.

The overall management of the preparations for the operation was entrusted by Emperor Hirohito to Chief of the Naval Staff Osami Nagano and Chief of the General Staff Hajime Sugiyama. And on September 5, they reported to the emperor about their readiness. At the same time, Sugiyama assured that Japanese territory was inaccessible to retaliatory American air strikes.

On November 26, 1941, the strike group under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo left the base on Iturup Island in the Kuril Archipelago and headed for the Hawaiian Islands.

Opponent forces on the eve of the battle on December 7, 1941

For the Battle of Pearl Harbor, a squadron was sent from the Japanese side, consisting of:

• 6 aircraft carriers: Hiryu, Akagi, Soryu, Kaga, Juikaku and Shokaku;
• 441 carrier-based aircraft, including the world's best B5N Nakajima torpedo bombers;
• outpost of two battleships, three cruisers, six submarines and eleven destroyers.

A group of pilots of the aircraft carrier "Juikaku". The picture was taken on the eve of the launch date of Operation Pearl Harbor.

American formation based at Pearl Harbor:

• 8 battleships;
• 2 heavy, 6 light cruisers;
• 30 destroyers and destroyers;
• 5 submarines;
• 227 aircraft.

Japanese aircraft carrier strike group

Aircraft carrier	Year of commissioning	Displacement, tons	Power, hp	Travel speed, knots	Navigation range, nautical miles	Crew, people	Air group, number of aircraft
"Akagi"	1927	41 300	133 000	31	8200	2000	91
"Hiryu"	1937	21 867	152 000	34	10330	1101	63
"Kaga"	1929	43 650	127 000	28	18 600	2016	85
"Soryu"	1937	19 800	152 000	34	7680	1103	69
"Shokaku"	1941	29 800	153 000	34	9700	1690	62
"Zuikaku"	1941	29 800	153 000	34	9700	1690	62

Shokaku and Zuikaku are aircraft carriers of the latest type of a single project.

Planes involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor

As part of the strike aircraft carrier group heading to the Hawaiian Islands, there were three types of aircraft:

Type	Speed, km/h	Flight range in km	Armament	Crew, people	Function
	450	1400	three 7.7 mm machine guns, a 250 kg bomb under the fuselage, two 60 kg bombs under the wings	2	Dive bomber. The lightly armed D3A1, due to its high maneuverability, had an advantage over the attacking fighters. Especially after dropping the combat load.
	545	1870	two 7.7 mm machine guns, two 20 mm cannons, two 60 kg bombs under the wings	1	Fighter. A6M2 is the most advanced vehicle in the Pacific theater of operations by 1941. The combination of high maneuverability, range and excellent armament forced the allies to avoid encounters with this aircraft.
	360	1100	7.7 mm machine gun, 457 mm torpedo or more than 500 kg of small bombs, or one 800 kg bomb	3	Torpedo bomber. The tactics of the combat use of the B5N2 involved, if possible, avoiding enemy fighters due to weak defensive weapons. But thanks to its high maneuverability in capable hands, it was an effective naval bomber.

The Japanese predator will not get the tidbit - none of the three American aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet, for various reasons, was in the database. But the Japanese aces will find out about this already during the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Launch date of Operation Pearl Harbor

At six o'clock in the morning on December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft carriers were 350 km north of Oahu.

At this time, the first wave of attacking aircraft, led by Mitsuo Fuchida, went into the air:

• 40 B5N2 Nakajima torpedo bombers;
• 51 Aichi D3A1 dive bombers;
• A cover escort of 43 Mitsubishi A6M2 fighters. A6M2 as an additional task had to work on ground targets, especially on anti-aircraft posts.

The suddenness of the attack stunned the Americans. As an officer of the base staff later aptly put it, "there was no panic, an orderly nightmare reigned." The Japanese calmly and methodically, as in exercises, shot ships in the roadstead, airfields, ammunition depots. The exact number of how many died in Pearl Harbor is still hidden by the Americans.

The start of the attack. The picture was taken from the command bomber of Lieutenant Colonel Mitsuo Fuchida. Explosion in the center - torpedo strike on the battleship West Virginia

An hour later, at seven in the morning , the second wave of Japanese aircraft under the command of Lieutenant Shindo went into battle at the Pearl Harbor base:

• 54 B5N2 Nakajima torpedo bombers;
• 78 Aichi D3A1 dive bombers;
• 36 Mitsubishi A6M2 escort fighters.

By this time, the Americans had recovered from the shock of the first wave and put up a stubborn resistance. Fighters took to the air, the surviving anti-aircraft crews conducted aimed fire. The results of the attack of the second wave were not so impressive for the attackers.

Aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack

Now, decades later, December 7th is celebrated as National Remembrance Day in the United States. And in 1941, President Roosevelt addressed Congress and called the massacre arranged by the Japanese on the island of Oahu "a day forever marked with shame."

American death toll at Pearl Harbor:

• 8 battleships (4 sunk and 4 damaged);
• two destroyers sunk;
• 3 cruisers damaged;
• one support ship sunk, 3 damaged;
• 188 aircraft destroyed, 159 damaged;
• three and a half thousand sailors killed and wounded. A thousand of them died on the battleship Arizona.

The number of deaths in Pearl Harbor on the Japanese side was incomparably less:

• sunk 4 small submarines sunk, 1 ran aground;
• 29 aircraft shot down;
• 55 pilots died;
• 9 submarine crew members were killed, 1 was taken prisoner.

By evening, the planes that returned to the aircraft carriers were refueled with fuel and ammunition. The pilots were eager to fight.

Mitsuo Fuchida insisted on the need to finish off the enemy - to completely eliminate the strategic facilities at the base (fuel depots, docks and manpower), to find and destroy American aircraft carriers so that the number of Pearl Harbor victims would shock the enemy. But the commander of the operation, Admiral Nagumo, ordered to return.

In the future, some considered Nagumo's order a strategic mistake, others pointed to the correctness of the decision of an experienced admiral. But the main thing is not in doubt - the success of the attack on the Pearl Harbor base allowed Japan to actively attack without interference in all sectors of the Asia-Pacific military theater. The attack on Pearl Harbor is known as the only one in the history of the United States when bombs fell on the heads of Americans.

Revenge for Pearl Harbor

Doolittle Raid

On April 18, 1942, 16 B-25 bombers took off from the USS Hornet and headed for Tokyo. The squadron was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle. For the first time the territory of the Empire was bombarded. The invulnerability of the Japanese islands to air attacks, which Admiral Sugiyama convinced the emperor, was refuted.

Assassination of Admiral Yamamoto

Exactly one year after the Doolittle raid, American intelligence services put an end to the career and life of Admiral Yamamoto, the author of the idea of ​​attacking Pearl Harbor.

A special squadron was sent to intercept the admiral's air group on the morning of April 18, 1942. During the air battle between the Americans and Japanese escort fighters, the admiral's plane was shot down. Based on the results of radio interception, it was possible to find out the admiral's flight schedule during the inspection of Japanese forces in the Pacific Ocean. President Roosevelt, who was informed of the intelligence data, personally instructed the Secretary of the Navy to "punish Yamamoto."

30 ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR

I kicked him out of office because he showed no respect for the power of the president. Just because. I didn't kick him out because he's a stupid son of a bitch, although that's true, but the generals don't consider that a vice at all. Otherwise, half, if not three-quarters of our generals would end up in prison.

President Tarry Truman on Removal of General MacArthur from Command of US Forces in Korea

The date of the attack on Pearl Harbor was not chosen by chance. In a report to the Emperor, Admiral Nagano (Chief of the General Staff of the Navy) explained: "We will get additional advantages by starting operations on Sunday, the day of rest for the Americans, when a relatively large number of warships are concentrated in the port of Pearl Harbor."

Nagano also told the emperor: "We believe that the most auspicious time will be around the twentieth day of the lunar cycle, when the moon in the sky shines from midnight to sunrise." After consulting the lunar calendar, the Japanese military leaders found that Sunday, December 7, 1941, falls on the nineteenth day of the lunar cycle, and decided that this was exactly what they needed.

Admiral Nagumo's six-ship carrier strike formation, unprecedented in power, was escorted by two fast battleships, three cruisers, nine destroyers, three submarines, and eight tankers, which were to replenish fuel on warships en route. Defying the winter storms, the Japanese chose the northern route, far from the main sea lanes, avoiding areas they knew were patrolled from the air. The weather, given the time of year and latitude, was very favorable. Transferring fuel - a task that would have proved very difficult in a storm with heavy seas - was carried out in calm weather under the cover of fog. Even at the final stage of the operation, the weather favored the Japanese. When the first wave of aircraft approached Pearl Harbor, the clouds parted at the most favorable moment, so that everyone was convinced that the operation was assured by the grace of the gods.

The Japanese expected their ships to be discovered and attacked. Yamamoto warned his men that they would probably have to fight their way back to their original positions. They were astonished to find that the Americans were completely unprepared for the attack and put up little to no resistance.

Unlike the Western powers, Japan was aware of the importance of intelligence. The spies provided the Japanese command with detailed diagrams of Pearl Harbor's berths and a timetable for the arrival and departure of American battleships. Of particular importance in planning the operation was the fact that on weekends the American fleet, as a rule, was in the harbor. However, nothing contributed to the success of the Japanese raid as much as the lack of long-range aviation reconnaissance among the Americans. During the investigation into the causes of the disaster, an excuse was put forward that there were only 36 combat-ready aircraft available, thus conducting a full-fledged circular reconnaissance was impossible. Firstly, the fleet could ask for planes from the ground forces, but this was prevented by interagency rivalry. Secondly, in any case, it was generally believed that an attack, if it was to be carried out at all, should have been expected from the north, so at least in this sector it was possible to concentrate the available reconnaissance aircraft.

On December 3, codebreakers read a message sent from Tokyo to the Japanese embassy in Washington, instructing the codebreakers to destroy all scramblers and cipher tables except for one machine and one set. The assistant secretary of state, after reviewing the document, said that "the chances of avoiding war have decreased from one thousandth to one millionth." President Roosevelt was of the same opinion. "When do you think it will start?" he asked the assistant naval officer, who had shown him the intercept. But Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, saw no signs of impending war. The fleet continued to live according to the laws of peacetime. Even with the successful operation at Taranto, the American admirals stubbornly clung to the assumption that a torpedo dropped from an aircraft required depths of at least 100 feet to be effective. Kimmel forbade the installation of anti-torpedo nets in the area of ​​​​the berths, saying that this would interfere with the movement of ships.

It seems that the generals and admirals agreed on one thing: there should be no concessions to the looming threat of war. On the day before the Japanese attack, Rear Admiral Leary, who was inspecting the light cruiser Phoenix, put on white gloves on purpose to check for dust. Only after the end of the inspection, the team was released ashore. However, in practical terms, the ship was completely unprepared for battle: when the attack began the next morning, it was necessary to cut down the locks from the doors of the hook chamber and tear off the awnings over the anti-aircraft guns in order to clear their field of activity. In addition, it turned out that many fuses for anti-aircraft shells were unreliable: unexploded shells "rained on the shore."

Officers who demanded that their subordinates prepare for war instead of a peaceful routine were extremely unpopular. The senior officer (first deputy commander) of the Indianapolis cruiser, who kept the ship on “combat readiness number two,” that is, with guns uncovered, ready for battle, and ammunition prepared, listened to complaints from his wife: “The wives of all cruiser officers ask me:“ What is Indianapolis doing? Are you going to fight alone? Their husbands are almost never at home, and they are very upset by this.” Already after the attack, when the fears of the senior officer were confirmed, the captain said: "Another week - and the team would have thrown us overboard."

A long time ago, back in 1921, General of the Air Corps "Billy" Mitchell carried out a demonstrative bombing of old battleships, showing that aircraft were capable of sinking large warships. Neither the large steel corporations that built these mighty ships that formed the basis of the fleets of all the world's leading powers, nor the admirals who adored battleships at the head of these fleets, liked this. The sinking of the leviathans was explained by the fact that Mitchell violated the restrictions placed on him by those who were determined to make his demonstration fail at any cost. Despite some lessons from the first year of the war in Europe, the strike power of bomber aircraft was soon forgotten. Even Yamamoto at home in Japan had to contend with skeptics who doubted the possibility of destroying large warships with air strikes.

Conspiracy theory

The confusion and confusion that led to the disaster gave rise to hundreds of far-fetched theories. By his domestic policies, Roosevelt had made fierce enemies who were ready to believe the worst about him. There are plenty of books and articles about what happened, sometimes from the pen of high-ranking American officials. Many falsely claim that President Roosevelt deliberately provoked Japan by contributing to the Pearl Harbor disaster. To prove their point, they cite misinterpreted and distorted accounts of the US-Japanese talks, alleging that the president knew the attack was coming.

The most complete work on what happened is Gordon W. Prange's 3,500-page work, the result of 37 years of research. In it, the author rightly rejects all such fictions. How can one agree that Roosevelt was ready to sacrifice the Pacific Fleet - the main weapon of the impending armed conflict - in order to justify a declaration of war?

The most absurd are the theories accusing Churchill of plotting to drag the United States into the war. The British Prime Minister allegedly knew about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor, but did nothing to prevent it. A recent book claims that the British read messages sent by Admiral Nagumo's strike force, but Churchill kept the results of the intercepts secret from the United States. In fact, the Americans themselves could read the Japanese ciphers, but Nagumo was so determined to maintain radio silence that the operator keys were physically removed from all transmitters.

No one knew better than Winston Churchill how vulnerable the British colonial possessions were. For two years, Great Britain was draining the strength of the troops stationed in Southeast Asia in order to continue the fight against the German war machine. She survived 1941 solely thanks to the continued support of Roosevelt and the help of the American fleet in the Atlantic. If Churchill wanted to avoid something, then the first on this list was the Japanese invasion of Malaya and Burma (the inevitable consequence of which would be the diversion of the United States military forces to the Pacific theater).

But the Pearl Harbor disaster was marked by a huge number of mistakes and short-sighted stupidity. Prang's work rejects the idea of ​​putting all the blame for what happened on any specific people.

“A great stain of shame lies on all of America, from the President to the Fourteenth Naval Region and the Department of Hawaii. There are no Pearl Harbor scapegoats."

On the morning of the attack, Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, the pilot chosen by Genda to lead the air strike force, woke up at 5 o'clock. At breakfast they told him, "Honolulu is sleeping." When asked how this was known, the officer on duty replied that calm music was broadcast on the radio.

Having carried out the last refueling of the ships, Nagumo conveyed Yamamoto's message to the personnel of the strike force. Following Admiral Togo, who drew up his address to the fleet in 1905 on the basis of Nelson's famous order before the battle of Trafalgar, Yamamoto declared: “The rise and fall of the empire depends on the outcome of this battle. Let everyone do their duty."

The carrier armada took up its starting positions 235 miles north of the target at 6 am on December 7, 1941. Vice Admiral Nagumo was on board the USS Akagi. The wind ruffled the historical flag “Z” raised on the mast, which was on the flagship of Togo during the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, which ended in a crushing defeat for the Russian fleet.

Two of Nagumo's aircraft carriers, Shokaku and Zuikaku, were brand new and had no combat experience. They had to provide support for the actions of the main forces. The first to take to the air were flying boats "Aiti" E13 A ("Jake"). They had to make sure that there were no enemy ships in the way of the shock armada. All carriers then turned to the east, into the wind, and increased their speed to 24 knots. Their decks rose up at an angle of 10 degrees. Subsequently, Fuchida said that under normal conditions, "not a single plane would be allowed to take off ... Every next plane that took off was greeted with loud shouts." The flagship, Kara, Soryu and Hiryu lifted the first wave into the air. Most of the pilots refused to take parachutes, saying that in the event of serious damage to the aircraft, they would “turn it into a bomb” - at the cost of their lives, they would send it to the enemy.

The first wave consisted of 183 vehicles. First, 43 A6M2 Zero fighters took off from the decks of aircraft carriers, quickly gaining altitude in order to cover the take-off of other aircraft from the air. Then 51 Aichi DZA4 (Val) dive bombers took off, then 49 Nakajima B5N2 (Kate) bombers and, finally, another 40 of the same machines equipped with the main weapon - torpedoes. Two planes never made it to Pearl Harbor: one Keith had an engine failure, and one Zero crashed on takeoff. All planes (181) took to the air in 15 minutes; during the exercise, this could not be done in less than 20 minutes.

Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

First flight. Starting at 7.40 am, duration 30 minutes

40 torpedo bombers

49 bombers

51 dive bombers

43 fighters

9 aircraft shot down

Second raid. Starting at 8.50 am, duration 65 minutes

54 bombers

78 dive bombers

35 fighters

20 aircraft shot down

The numbers on the diagram indicate (from northwest to southeast in each group of ships):

1. Minelayers "Ramsey", "Gamble", "Montgomery"

2. Minelayers "Trever", "Breeze", "Zane", "Perry", "Wasmouth"

3. Destroyers Monaghan, Farragut, Dale, Aylvin

4. Destroyers Henley, Patterson, Ralph Talbot

5. Destroyers Selfridge, Case, Tucker, Raid, Coningham; messenger ship "Whitney"

6. Destroyers "Phelps", "Maedonou", "Worden", "Dewey", "Hull"; messenger ship Dobbin

7. Submarines "Narwhal", "Dolphin", "Toytog"; aircraft towers "Thornton", "Halbert"

8. Destroyers Jarvis and Mugford (between Argonne and Sacramento)

9. Destroyer "Cummings"; minelayers "Preble", "Tracy", "Pruitt", "Sicard"; destroyer Shley; minesweeper "Greb"

10. Minesweepers "Bobolink", "Vaireo", "Terki", "Rail", "Turn"

The rest of the ships, not shown in the diagram, were anchored in the Western Bay. Also, the diagram does not show boats, tugs and auxiliary vessels.

The plan stipulated that if the effect of complete surprise was achieved, the Keiths would strike first, but if the enemy offered Serious resistance, dive bombers would lead the attack. Commander Fuchida was supposed to give the signal just before approaching the target.

Flying over thick clouds, Fuchida himself heard the "calm music" of American radio stations and used the signal of a commercial KGMB radio station in Honolulu to reach the target. The station normally didn't broadcast this early in the morning, but the US Air Force paid it to broadcast music throughout the night so that B-17 bombers bound for the Hawaiian Islands could tune their direction finders to this signal. Some people warned that this was very bad for privacy reasons, since everyone became aware when planes from the mainland flew to Hawaii.

At half past seven in the morning, a flying boat of the PBI of the naval aviation found a small Japanese submarine at the entrance to the port and, dropping depth charges, sank it. At 6.45 in the morning, the operator of the land radar station saw a dot on the screen - it was one of the Japanese flying boats sent out for reconnaissance. This SCR-270 long-range radar detection of air targets in the town of Opa-na looked at exactly the sector of the ocean where the Japanese fleet was located. Radar operators did not attach much importance to the incident, but after a few minutes the screen lit up with numerous dots, indicating the approach of a large group of aircraft.

On weekdays, radar operators worked around the clock, but on weekends the shift ended at seven in the morning, after which the radars were turned off. On that fateful day, the car taking the soldiers to breakfast was delayed. Testimony of cinematographer Joseph Lockard:

“At 7.02 Elliot, crouching in front of the screen, suddenly exclaimed: “What is this?” "Let me see," I said. There was a huge luminous spot on the screen; I have never seen such!

When we first discovered them, they were, I think, 155 miles away. Now I’m not sure about these numbers anymore, but I remember for sure that the planes were approaching us strictly from the north ... At first, we decided that there was some kind of equipment failure, so we ran a series of tests... All the devices were functioning properly, so we began to determine the coordinates of the target. Then someone offered to contact the authorities by phone. [The telephone operator, after a long search, connected the operators to Lieutenant Kermit Tyler.] We were told: “Everything is in order. B-17s should arrive from the States; True, they are pretty off course.

We led the target for some time, then called the headquarters again. Lieutenant Tyler told us not to worry.

We flew the planes, but when they were about 20 miles from the island, they disappeared from the locator screen due to interference caused by a signal reflected from the mountain range.

At 7:40 a.m., Fuchida, flying along the coast of Oahu, fired a flare. This was the signal for the bombers to swerve to attack Haleiwa and Wheeler airfields and Schofield barracks. However, the escort fighters did not see this missile, so Fuchida was forced to launch a second one. Two missiles were a signal that it was not possible to take the defense by surprise. Therefore, the aircraft began to operate according to a backup plan. Instead of a successive strike, first by torpedo bombers and then by bombers, the formation of Japanese aircraft collapsed, and a free hunt began.

A 550-pound bomb hit the barracks of Hickham airfield and, exploding in the dining room, killed the soldiers who were having breakfast there. Japanese pilots, who did not meet resistance, flew at very low altitudes. Some aircraft with non-retractable landing gear cut telegraph wires with them. American soldiers on the ground have lifelong nightmare memories of pilots watching them from the cockpits of low-flying aircraft. The Japanese attack on Hickham airfield coincided with the arrival of B-17 bombers, some of which were shot down during landing approach. The rest, turning away to Bellows airfield, stumbled upon Japanese fighters. The American bombers were not able to repel their attacks, since all machine guns were removed and mothballed. The American planes stationed at the airfields were excellent targets. By order of the commander of the ground forces, they stood wing to wing - as he explained, to prevent sabotage.

Looking around the inner roadstead, Fuchida saw battleships huddled around Ford Island. At 7:49 a.m., he sent a prearranged message informing the fleet of the start of the attack. All history textbooks contain this battle cry: “Torah! Torah! Torah!" ("Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!").

In fact, the radio stations installed on Japanese aircraft were very primitive. Messages were not transmitted by radiotelephone, but using Morse code.

Lieutenant Commander Tadakazu Yoshioka, who was on the Akagi, was in charge of communications, and he chose two different, easily recognizable signals to communicate. Fuchida was supposed to announce the start of the attack by transmitting a dot-dot-dash-dot-dot signal ("that"), which, if the enemy was taken by surprise, was to be followed by a dot-dot-dot signal ("ra" ). For greater reliability, the signals should have been transmitted three times. Subsequently, Yoshioka admitted that he had no intention of turning the two syllables of to-ra into the word "tora", in Japanese "tiger". Be that as it may, the radio operator of Fuchida's plane transmitted the agreed signal.

Pearl Harbor, on the south coast of Oahu, is an intricate winding harbor perfect for a naval base. In the middle of the open water area is Ford Island, around which numerous moorings are arranged, including the “battleship row”, where large ships stood in twos.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, flags were hoisted on the battleships that stood peacefully at the berths. On the Nevada, when the first Japanese planes rushed at her, the orchestra played the American anthem. So deeply ingrained in the minds of everyone was the belief that “this is simply impossible here” that most American sailors refused to believe their own ears and eyes. Many have only heard the music of the Stars and Stripes. The helmsman of the Arizona says:

“But then the bombs began to fall, deafening explosions were heard and - bang! - one of them hit the nose of our battleship. I said to one of those who stood nearby: “It seems that someone will get it on the first number. After all, they hit the ship! ”, I still continued to believe that these were exercises, but they were too close to the combat situation, since the battleship was damaged.”

Another member of the Arizona crew, Don Stratton, a sailor first class, shared his impressions fifty years after the incident in a special issue of Life magazine:

“We received a hit on the starboard side, and immediately flared ammunition and aviation kerosene. There was a terrible explosion, and a fireball shot up into the air for 400 feet. Of the 50 or 60 people who were on duty with me, I think only six survived. I had 60 percent of my skin burned. From the Vestal, an auxiliary ship moored nearby, they threw a line at us, and we climbed over it on our hands at a height of 45 feet above the surface of the water.

To penetrate the thick armored decks of battleships, the Japanese used 16-inch shells converted into 1760-pound HEAT bombs. One such bomb pierced the deck of the Arizona in the area of ​​​​turret number two of the main caliber and hit the propulsion chamber, where there were over a million pounds of explosives. A terrible explosion followed, throwing the huge ship about 20 feet above the surface of the water, after which the battleship broke in two and quickly sank at a depth of 40 feet.

Admiral Kimmel ran out onto the lawn of his house, pulling on his white tunic as he went. From there, the "battleship row" was perfectly visible. His neighbor (wife of Captain Earl, chief of staff of the fleet) saw that Kimmel's face was as white as his tunic. Kimmel recalled: "The sky was full of enemy planes." Before his eyes, the Arizona jumped over the water, crashed down and disappeared from view.

Looks like they hit the Oklahoma too,” Mrs. Earl said.

Yes, I see,” said Kimmel.

Provided that the aircraft descended to a very low altitude, the wooden horizontal rudders mounted on Japanese torpedoes ensured that the torpedo sank only to a depth of 35 feet, and then, without getting stuck in the bottom silt, floated to combat depth and rushed to the target. (In May 1991, while clearing the bottom, one such torpedo was raised to the surface. Currently, its tail section with improved horizontal rudders is on display at the Arizona Memorial.)

One sailor, who was on the upper deck of the West Virginia, calmly looked at the dive bombers entering the target. He was so sure that this was an exercise that he moved to the other side to look at the torpedoes dropped into the water.

“We saw how three aircraft flying very low above the surface of the water dropped torpedoes. My friend patted me on the shoulder and said, "When they hit the ship, we will only hear a soft knock." And suddenly there was an infernal roar, and a wall of water, like a wave in a twelve-point storm, rolled over the deck and washed us away to the opposite side. Six more torpedoes hit our ship. The Tennessee was hit by a bomb. A huge fragment of our captain vomited the insides. We carried him down, and he gave orders until his death.”

The Oklahoma was hit by seven torpedoes. She was struck first by Second Lieutenant Jinichi Goto, who claimed to have been flying about 60 feet above the surface of the water. "The anti-aircraft fire was very dense," Goto recalled on the fiftieth anniversary of the attack. Seeing the column of water raised by the explosion, he exclaimed: "Atarimashita!" - "Got it!"

Oil spilled from the tanks of the "California" flared up, and soon the entire port was covered with black smoke. The Oklahoma went aboard and sank. One of her crewmen, George DeLonge, was in the aft rudder compartment, located on the third floor below deck level, a crypt-like room that, under normal circumstances, was avoided by people prone to claustrophobia. DeLong took his place at the signal of the combat alarm, then the command was heard: “Close the watertight bulkheads!” - and his compartment was tightly battened down from the outside. DeLonge and seven of his comrades remained inside.

Almost immediately after that, torpedo explosions thundered, and the huge battleship began to lie on its side. "All cutlery and other items fell from the table to the floor." The lights went out, and the ship continued to capsize. “I realized that now my head is where my legs were just a short time ago. When the ship finally stopped spinning and we were able to let go of what we were holding on to, we realized that it had turned upside down.”

Water began to seep into the openings of the ventilation system. The sailors, using improvised means, tried to plug all the cracks as tightly as possible, but the water continued to rise. When she was already up to her chest, the sailors began to knock on the hull with a wrench, giving an SOS signal using Morse code. After some time, a hole was made in the skin with pneumatic drills, and Delong was saved. At that time he was 19 years old, and he was destined to stay alive and tell what happened to him, fifty years later. Most of his comrades died.

By 8:25 a.m., six battleships were sunk, sinking, or badly damaged. The first air raid lasted about thirty minutes. The second wave, consisting of 167 aircraft, flew up at 8.40. The bombers struck first, then the dive bombers, and the fighters came last. By this time, the number of American anti-aircraft guns that had entered the battle had increased significantly, and they managed to shoot down three fighters.

One young midshipman of the naval reserve, who delivered documents to the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet that morning, remembers what happened as if it were only yesterday:

“On that fateful morning, I had to go into the office of Admiral Husband Kimmel several times. He was a lean, middle-aged man with a very short temper. He was completely different from the actors who played his role in the films. Far from calm and collected, the real Admiral Kimmel cursed and screamed every time he read the horrific reports of sinking and exploding battleships, planes destroyed on airfields, and bombed-out barracks that I delivered to him. He blushed and got excited. I don’t blame him for taking all his anger out on me, because that day I brought only bad news.”

Kimmel had every reason to be angry. He got this position, jumping over the heads of other naval commanders, after his predecessor as commander of the Pacific Fleet strongly opposed the transfer of the main base from San Diego to Pearl Harbor. Now Kimmel knew that all the anger would be directed at him - and also at the commander of the ground forces stationed in the Hawaiian Islands - and he would undoubtedly be removed from office.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor took place at a time when American aircraft carriers were not at the base. The Sara-toga was sent to California for repairs and maintenance. The Enterprise, carrying planes to the Marine Corps base on Wake Atoll, was supposed to anchor thirty minutes before the start of the attack, but was delayed while replenishing fuel supplies. SBD-2 planes taking off from an aircraft carrier. Downless bound for Ford Island encountered the first wave of Japanese bombers. The naval pilots thought they were ground planes from the Yua field airfield, the Marine Corps Air Force base, but then their planes came under fire from anti-aircraft guns, and they were attacked by Japanese fighters. However, even now the American pilots could not believe that the war had begun. Midshipman Manuel Gonzalez shouted over the radio: “Please don't shoot! This is board six-b-three. It's an American plane!", but he was shot down by a Zero. Of the sixteen Downlesss, five were shot down. Some were shot down by Japanese fighters, the rest by American anti-aircraft gunners. The Enterprise, turning to the west, walked away from the island and returned only after dark. But by that time the sky was not yet safe. The orderly of the naval hospital recalls:

“It was already getting dark when four low-flying planes appeared over the strait, heading for the piers. Almost all naval anti-aircraft guns opened fire on them. The saddest thing is that it turned out that they were American planes from the aircraft carrier Enterprise. Three planes were shot down, and the fourth pilot was taken to our hospital with numerous wounds. In total, the hospital could receive about 300 patients. By midnight we already had 960 wounded. And on the street, like stacks of firewood, 313 dead were stacked.

It was vital for the Japanese to destroy all American aircraft so that none of them could follow the Japanese bombers returning to the aircraft carriers and establish the location of the fleet. Therefore, airfields were the primary target, and during the first raid, more aircraft were used to attack American airfields than to attack warships. At 9 am, a second wave of Japanese aircraft appeared. Each pilot had his own specific task, with the main emphasis being placed on the bombing of airfields.

The last Japanese planes turned back at about 0945. On the ground, 188 American aircraft were destroyed and 159 damaged. Fuchida lingered over the target for a long time, studying the consequences of the strike. On the way back, he found two stray Zeros and escorted them home. After the attack began, Japanese aircraft carriers approached the coast for another 40 miles to help aircraft that were running out of fuel.

Having landed, Fuchida saw refueled and armed aircraft standing on the flight deck, ready for a new flight. While the carrier formation remained in place to allow the damaged aircraft to find it, an exchange of views took place on the captain's bridge of the Akagi. Fuchida wasn't the only one pushing for a third strike. The pilots of the squadrons based on Hiryu and Soryu were also eager to return. The captain of the Kagi personally asked for permission to strike at targets that, according to his pilots, remained intact. On the other hand, the technicians couldn't help but notice how much more damage the Japanese planes received during the last raid. The American anti-aircraft gunners woke up, their guns were ready for battle. They had to meet the next blow fully armed.

In addition, there was a possibility that American aircraft carriers would suddenly attack the strike force. It seems that this consideration alone was enough to make the decision to withdraw, although in reality everything was just the opposite: a powerful connection was a mortal danger to the surviving American ships. The overly cautious Nagumo decided that what had already been done was enough. The carrier formation turned back, maintaining radio silence. Requests from two Japanese stray bombers to signal direction finders went unanswered.

The Japanese pilots failed to act with complete impunity. The 47th Interceptor Squadron of the 5th Fighter Group, which had shown unsatisfactory results in firing practice, was exiled to the Haleiwa airfield on the northwest coast of Oahu for additional training. Two of its pilots managed to lift their P-40B fighters into the air. These pilots were dancing all night, and then went to the barracks, where they played poker until the morning. One beautiful story claimed that they jumped into the cockpits of their planes in tuxedos, but alas, recent research shows that the pilots still managed to get to their beds and were asleep when the Japanese attack began. Not having received permission to take off and not even passing the pre-flight check, two lieutenants took their planes into the air and headed for the Yua airfield, where there was the highest activity of enemy aircraft. Kenneth Taylor and George Welch shot down four Keiths together. Welch then added "Val" and "Zero" to his victories. No one can say for sure which of the two won the first victory of the American Air Force in the war. In Taylor's words: "George and I agreed not to tell anyone who would win the first victory, so that the survivor could take credit for it." Both pilots survived and both received awards, but Welch's Medal of Honor submission was rejected as he took off without orders!

The pilot of one of the "Dauntless" from the "Enterprise", shot down over Pearl Harbor, had the opportunity to see the scene, descending by parachute. He saw that the "Nevada" weighed anchor and began to slowly leave the "battleship row". “All her anti-aircraft guns were firing,” he recalls. Even after another heavy bomb hit the deck, exploding with a "deafening, ear-rending roar", the gunners did not leave their posts. “Several people were killed, many were injured; but only one gun ceased fire.”

The American gunners fought desperately. Senior Lieutenant Zenji Abe, one of the Japanese pilots, recalls:

“When I appeared over Kaneohe Bay, above the clouds the whole sky was full of anti-aircraft shells. I was surprised at how dense the barrage was. American anti-aircraft gunners reacted so quickly. Goosebumps ran down my back. The whole of Pearl Harbor was covered in black smoke, through which flames made their way. I focused, trying to find the target. Finally, I opted for a large ship. As it turned out later, it was Arizona.

The Army's radar station at Opan was turned on again at 9:00 am, and the operators just had time to spot the Japanese aircraft returning to the aircraft carriers. But it never occurred to anyone to ask them what they had found, so when at 1140 hours six B-17 bombers took off in search of the Japanese fleet, they headed south and, of course, found nothing.

Now, with only twenty-five Catalina flying boats and a dozen B-17s remaining unscathed, the command found that aerial reconnaissance still feasible. Soon, flying boats were already combing the sea within a radius of 700 miles - and in all directions. The Flying Fortress bombers were brought to a state of thirty-minute readiness.

Meanwhile, there was a desperate struggle to save the sailors trapped in huge steel hulls. 16-year-old apprentice shipyard worker John Garcia said:

“The next morning I took my instrument and went to West Virginia. The battleship turned upside down. We found survivors inside... For about a month we cut off the superstructure from the West Virginia to flip it back. By the eighteenth day, we managed to free approximately three hundred sailors who survived.

When asked about how these people managed to stay alive, Garcia replied: “I don’t know. We were so busy that we didn't have time to ask."

A magnificent demonstration of engineering was the restoration of sunken battleships. Even before the end of the war, all of them, with the exception of three, were completely repaired and put into operation. But the United States government, when acetylene torches were already biting into the steel of crippled battleships, continued to believe that the American public was not yet ready to know the whole truth about what happened at Pearl Harbor.

Secretary of the Navy Colonel Frank Knox returned to New York from Hawaii with encouraging news. At a press conference, he told reporters that one battleship, the Arizona, was lost, and the other, the Oklahoma, lay on its side, but must be restored. Knox assured them that the balance of power in the Pacific had not changed significantly and "the entire United States Pacific Fleet - its aircraft carriers, heavy cruisers, light cruisers, destroyers and submarines - unharmed in the raid, is at sea and is looking for a meeting with the enemy."

Noticing the absence of battleships in the list of ships "looking for meetings with the enemy," one journalist asked if the battleships had gone to sea. Knox replied that they were out. The London Times, reprinting Knox's statement, noted that: Americans are no more afraid of the truth than the English… Only dictators have to keep their people in the dark.”

During this attack, unprecedented luck accompanied the Japanese in all respects. Prior to this, only a very few realized that aircraft carriers are the decisive offensive weapon of the fleets. But fate played a cruel joke with the Japanese. The attack on Pearl Harbor proved the value of aircraft carriers, but the operation as a whole ended in complete failure. American carriers were not destroyed at the outset of this war, in which carrier fleets were destined to play a stellar role. The ancient battleships that sank at shallow depths in the harbor were of no value. Moreover, their loss forced American admirals to recognize the dominant role of high-speed aircraft-carrying formations.

And fortunately for the Allies, the American carriers were excellent ships; the last of those who entered service surpassed all available at that time in the world. Two of the same type of ship, "Yorktown" and "Enterprise", were built from selected materials, taking into account the smallest details. According to one expert, these were Cadillacs among aircraft carriers ... Fast, reaching speeds of up to 33 knots, maneuverable, stable, capable of carrying large aviation units on board, Yorktown-class aircraft carriers were equipped with reliable watertight bulkheads, and also had good flight armor. deck and engine room.

At Pearl Harbor, 4.5 million tons of fuel remained in oil storage facilities that were not affected by the attack. Also intact were dry docks, warehouses with all kinds of spare parts and workshops with precision equipment. And it was not luck: all these objects were not on the Japanese list of targets. Also, the submarine base at Querry Point was not hit.

Submarines

In 1930, the strategists of the imperial general staff recorded their opinion that the Americans were too soft-bodied to endure the physical hardships and moral stress of a long underwater campaign. As a result, the Japanese fleet completely neglected the preparation for anti-submarine warfare - and this mistake proved fatal. Constantly short of a merchant fleet, Japan was strangled by the American submarine fleet - like Great Britain, overcome by German submarines in the Atlantic, which almost suffered the same fate. Toward the end of the war, one of America's most famous submariners, Medal of Honor recipient "Red" Ramage, said:

“... we found out that we took part in the first“ wolf pack ”in the Pacific Ocean. We adopted the successful experience of the German “wolf packs” operating in the Atlantic ... More and more attacks were carried out at night from the surface.

The boundless expanses of the Pacific Ocean and the fanatical stamina of the Japanese became the reason for a ruthless attitude towards drowning people. Ramage adds:

Although the Japanese underestimated the threat from the American submarine fleet, they valued their own submarines very highly. Enormous funds and forces were spent on the creation of such underwater monsters as STO boats - a class with a displacement of 6500 tons. Aircraft-equipped submarines became widespread. Many Japanese admirals were sure that it was the submarines, and not the aircraft carriers, that would have the final say in the attack on Pearl Harbor. In total, 28 Japanese submarines and five dwarf boats took part in the operation, which did not achieve any success.

Japanese submarines constantly fought against enemy warships. They all the time had to confront the most powerful ships of the American fleet. But the contribution of submarines to the war was determined by their use against the weak: they were supposed to torpedo tankers and transport ships.

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Attack on Pearl Harbor(Pearl Bay) or, according to Japanese sources, the Hawaiian operation - a sudden combined attack by the Japanese carrier-based aircraft of the aircraft 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 the American naval and air bases , located in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, which occurred on Sunday morning December 7, 1941. As a result of the attack on the naval base of Pearl Harbor, the United States was forced to declare war on Japan and enter World War II. The attack was a preventive measure against the United States, aimed at eliminating the American navy, gaining air supremacy in the Pacific region and subsequent military operations against Burma, Thailand, and the US western possessions in the Pacific Ocean. The attack consisted of two air raids, in which 353 aircraft took off from 6 Japanese aircraft carriers. The attack on Pearl Harbor was the main reason for the US entry into World War II. Because of the attack, and especially because of its nature, public opinion in America changed dramatically from an isolationist stance in the mid-1930s to direct participation in the war effort. On December 8, 1941, US President Franklin Roosevelt addressed a joint session of both houses of Congress. The President demanded from December 7, from "the day that will go down in history as a symbol of shame", to declare war on Japan. The Congress adopted a corresponding resolution.

Model of the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor, built in Japan in 1941 when planning an operation to attack this base. The location of the ship models extremely accurately reproduces their real place in the "line of battleships".

background
After the First World War, the Pacific Ocean became the scene of contradictions between two strong maritime states - the United States and Japan. The United States, rapidly advancing to the position of a leading world power, sought to establish control over this strategically important region. Japan was striving for the same goal, experiencing serious difficulties in providing strategic materials and considering itself deprived of colonies in Southeast Asia. The contradictions were bound to turn into a military clash, but this was hampered by the isolationist and anti-war sentiments that dominated American public opinion. Only a strong psychological shock could destroy these moods, which did not take long to wait. The introduction by the United States of economic sanctions against Japan, which included an embargo on the supply of petroleum products, made war inevitable. Japan was faced with a choice - to suffocate in the ring of economic blockade or to die with honor, trying to get the resources it needed in battle. The top Japanese generals understood that for an unconditional victory over the United States, it was necessary to defeat the American Pacific Fleet, land troops on the US west coast and reach Washington with battles, which, given the ratio of the economic and military potentials of the two countries, was completely unrealistic. Forced under pressure from the political elite to enter the war, they relied on the only chance they had - to inflict unacceptable damage on the United States with one powerful blow and force them to sign peace on terms favorable to Japan.

Pearl Harbor before the attack
The main events of December 7, 1941 unfolded around Fr. Ford Island, a small island in the center of the East Loch of Pearl Harbor. On the island there was an airfield for the Navy, and around there were parking lots of ships. On the southeast coast of Ford is located the so-called "Row of battleships" (Battleship Row) - 6 pairs of massive concrete piles designed for mooring heavy ships. The battleship is moored simultaneously to two piles. Side by side, a second ship can moor to it.

View of Pearl Harbor harbor and a number of battleships during the Japanese attack

By December 7, there were 93 ships and support vessels at Pearl Harbor. Among them are 8 battleships, 8 cruisers, 29 destroyers, 5 submarines, 9 minelayers and 10 US Navy minesweepers. The air force consisted of 394 aircraft, air defense was provided by 294 anti-aircraft guns. The garrison of the base consisted of 42,959 people. The ships in the harbor and the planes at the airfield were crowded, they were a convenient target for attack. The air defense of the base was not ready to repel attacks. Most of the anti-aircraft guns were not manned, the ammunition was under lock and key.

Japanese aircraft carriers heading for Pearl Harbor. The photo shows the flight deck of the Zuikaku aircraft carrier in its bow, twin installations of universal 127-mm type 89 guns. The Kaga aircraft carrier (closer) and the Akagi aircraft carrier (farther) are visible ahead. The differences between the aircraft carriers of the 1st division are clearly visible; at the Akagi, the superstructure is located on the port side.

Story

To attack Pearl Harbor, the Japanese command allocated an aircraft carrier formation under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, consisting of 23 ships and 8 tankers. The formation consisted of a strike group, which consisted of six aircraft carriers: Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga, Shokaku, Soryu and Zuikaku (1st, 2nd and 5th divisions of aircraft carriers), Groups cover (2nd detachment of the 3rd battleship division), two heavy cruisers (8th cruiser division), one light cruiser and nine destroyers (1st destroyer squadron), a forward detachment of three submarines and a supply detachment from eight tankers. (Futida M., Okumiya M. Battle at Midway Atoll. Lane from English. M., 1958. S. 52.) The aviation group of the compound consisted of a total of 353 aircraft.

The operation, which was carefully planned and prepared, was led by the commander of the combined Japanese fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Particular importance was attached to achieving surprise attacks. On November 22, 1941, the task force gathered in the strictest secrecy in Hitokappu Bay (Kuril Islands) and from here, observing radio silence, on November 26 headed for Pearl Harbor. The transition took place along the longest (6300 km) route, which was distinguished by frequent stormy weather, but the least visited by ships. In order to disguise, a false radio exchange was made, which simulated the presence of all large Japanese ships in the Inland Sea of ​​Japan. (Soviet military encyclopedia. V.6. S. 295.)

Briefing on the deck of the aircraft carrier "Kaga" before the raid on Pearl Harbor

However, for the American government, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was not so unexpected. The Americans deciphered the Japanese codes and read all Japanese messages for several months. The warning about the inevitability of war was sent on time - November 27, 1941. The Americans received a clear warning about Pearl Harbor at the last moment, on the morning of December 7, but the order to increase vigilance, sent through a commercial line, reached Pearl Harbor only 22 minutes before the start of the Japanese attack, and was transferred to the liaison only at 10 hours 45 minutes when it was all over. (See: History of the Pacific War. T.Z. M., 1958. S. 264; World War II: Two Views. S. 465.)

In the pre-dawn darkness of December 7, Vice Admiral Nagumo's aircraft carriers reached the lift point and were 200 miles from Pearl Harbor. On the night of December 7, 2 Japanese destroyers fired on about. Midway, and at Pearl Harbor, launched 5 Japanese midget submarines began to operate. Two of them were destroyed by American patrol forces.

At 0600 on December 7, 183 aircraft of the first wave took off from the aircraft carriers and headed for the target. There were 49 attack aircraft - bombers of the "97" type, each of which carried an 800-kilogram armor-piercing bomb, 40 attack aircraft-torpedo bombers with a torpedo suspended under the fuselage, 51 dive bombers of the "99" type, each with a 250-kilogram bomb. The covering force consisted of three groups of fighters, numbering a total of 43 vehicles. (Futida M., Okumiya M., op. cit. p. 54.)

First plane ready to take off from USS Shokaku at Pearl Harbor

The sky over Pearl Harbor was clear. At 7:55 a.m., Japanese aircraft attacked all large ships and aircraft at the airfield. There was not a single American fighter in the air, and not a single gun flare on the ground. As a result of the Japanese attack, which lasted about an hour, 3 battleships were sunk and a large number of aircraft were destroyed. Having finished bombing, the bombers headed for their aircraft carriers. The Japanese lost 9 aircraft.

The destroyed Naval Air Station at Pearl Harbor

Aircraft of the second wave (167 aircraft) took off from aircraft carriers at 07:15. In the second wave, there were 54 attack aircraft-bombers of the "97" type, 78 dive bombers "99" and 35 destroyers, which covered the actions of the bombers. The second attack by Japanese aircraft met stronger resistance from the Americans. By 0800, the planes returned to the aircraft carriers. Of all the aircraft involved in the air raid, the Japanese lost 29 (9 fighters, 15 dive bombers and 5 torpedo bombers). Losses in manpower amounted to a total of 55 officers and enlisted men. In addition, the Americans sank one submarine and 5 midget submarines, which proved to be ineffective.

The throw of the battleship "Nevada" inside the harbor during the attack on Pearl Harbor. On this day, she became the only American battleship that managed to move and tried to get out of the bay. However, due to the threat of sinking by the Japanese in the fairway, the Nevada was ordered to throw itself ashore. In total, during the attack on Pearl Harbor, the battleship Nevada was hit by 1 air torpedo and 2-3 air bombs, after which it ran aground.

Japanese aviation
In total, three types of aircraft were based on the Japanese aircraft carriers participating in the attack on Pearl Harbor, widely known by the code names given to them in the US Navy: Zero fighters, Kate torpedo bombers and Val dive bombers. Brief characteristics of these aircraft are given in the table:

Japanese A6M Zero fighters before taking off to attack the American base at Pearl Harbor on the deck of the Akagi aircraft carrier. The photo was taken a few minutes before departure.

Aircraft of the first wave

Group numbers are conditional, for designation on the diagrams.

Aircraft of the second wave

Group numbers are conditional, for designation on the diagrams.

Results
As a result of the Japanese airborne strike on Pearl Harbor, the strategic goal of preventing the US Pacific Fleet from interfering in Japanese operations in the south was largely achieved. 4 American battleships were sunk, 4 more heavily damaged. 10 other warships were sunk or disabled; 349 American aircraft destroyed or damaged; among the killed or wounded Americans - 3581 military, 103 civilians. (World War II: Two Views. S. 466.)

The Japanese victory could have been even more significant. They failed to cause the slightest harm to enemy aircraft carriers. All 4 American aircraft carriers were absent at Pearl Harbor: 3 of them went to sea, one was being repaired in California. The Japanese made no attempt to destroy the huge American oil reserves in Hawaii, which in fact were almost equal to all of the Japanese reserves. The Japanese formation, with the exception of the ships included in a specially organized formation, which consisted of the 2nd division of aircraft carriers, the 8th division of cruisers and 2 destroyers, headed for the inland Sea of ​​Japan. December 23, it arrived at the anchorage at about. Hasira.

Thus, by 10 a.m. on December 7, the American fleet in the Pacific had virtually ceased to exist. If by the beginning of the war the ratio of the combat power of the American and Japanese fleets was 10: 7.5 (History of the Pacific War. T.Z. S. 266), now the ratio in large ships has changed in favor of the Japanese naval forces. On the very first day of hostilities, the Japanese won dominance at sea and were able to carry out extensive offensive operations in the Philippines, Malaya and the Dutch Indies.

The battleship "California" and the tanker "Neosho" during the raid on Pearl Harbor. The battleship California sank after being hit by two torpedoes and two bombs. The crew could have saved the ship, and even set sail, but abandoned it because of the threat of fire from a flaming oil slick that leaked from other ships of the line. The ship landed on the ground. Has been restored.In the background is the Neosho squadron tanker, subsequently sunk by Japanese carrier-based aircraft in the battle in the Coral Sea in May 1942. By a fortunate circumstance for the Americans, as a result of the fact that during the attack on Pearl Harbor, the pilots of Japanese aircraft had warships as a clear target, there were no hits on the tanker. The Neosho tanks were filled to capacity with high-octane aviation gasoline...

Grigory Gelfenstein, senior sergeant, former senior operator of the "REDUT-3" radar station

December 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor is a US naval base in the central Pacific Ocean on about. Oahu, where the main forces of the American Pacific Fleet were located. With the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan entered World War II as an ally of Nazi Germany.

The idea of ​​this operation was to covertly approach and deliver a sudden massive air strike on American ships, coastal installations and aircraft at the airfield at Pearl Harbor.

By December 7, there were 93 ships and support vessels at Pearl Harbor. Among them - 8 battleships, 8 cruisers, 29 destroyers, 5 submarines, 9 minelayers and 10 minesweepers of the US Pacific Fleet. The air force consisted of 394 aircraft, the air defense of Pearl Harbor was provided by 294 anti-aircraft guns.

The ships in the harbor and the planes at the airfield were crowded, they were a convenient target for attack. The air defense of the base was not ready to repel attacks. Most of the anti-aircraft guns were not manned, the ammunition was under lock and key. In short, the Japanese were not expected here.

“At the end of November 1941, the SCR-270 early warning radar was delivered to the US Pacific Fleet naval base in the Hawaiian Islands in Pearl Harbor. It was installed on the northern tip of the island of Oahu, on Mount Opana and put into operation.

On December 7, 1941, the shift on duty at the station at 07:02 saw a large target at a distance of 136 miles (220 km). After a long 7 minutes, when its coordinates were determined, the duty officers tried to report this to the information center located in Fort Shefter. No one answered the phone for a long time. Finally, the liaison officer for the pursuit aviation answered, who was supposed to inform the command about the approach of unknown aircraft.

After listening to the report of the radar officers, he decided that these were his planes and instructed the duty shift of the radar station "to ignore these planes."

The duty shift continued to observe the target. At a distance of 20 miles, the target entered the "dead zone" and disappeared from the indicator screen. It turned out that these were Japanese planes flying to strike at ships stationed in Pearl Harbor. .62)

The Japanese naval command, knowing the deployment of ships in Pearl Harbor, developed a plan for a surprise attack and destruction of the American fleet.

On November 26, 1941, a Japanese carrier-based formation, consisting of two battleships, six aircraft carriers with 353 aircraft, nine destroyers and three submarines, under the command of Admiral Amamoto, in the strictest secrecy, left the Gulf of Khata-kapu on the Kuril Islands and headed south.

On the night of December 7, the Japanese squadron arrived in an area 350-500 kilometers north of Oahu. By this time, 27 Japanese submarines had already taken up positions off the Hawaiian Islands.

In the early morning of December 7, torpedo-carrying and bomber aircraft launched from Japanese aircraft carriers delivered two powerful successive strikes against American ships, airfields, and coastal batteries. The entire operation took less than two hours.

December 7 at 0600 183 aircraft of the first wave took off from aircraft carriers and headed for the target. There were 49 attack aircraft - bombers of the "97" type, each of which carried an 800-kilogram armor-piercing bomb, 40 attack aircraft-torpedo bombers with a torpedo suspended under the fuselage, 51 dive bombers of the "99" type, each with a 250-kilogram bomb. The covering force consisted of three groups of fighters, numbering a total of 43 vehicles.

The sky over Pearl Harbor was clear. At 7:55 a.m., Japanese aircraft attacked all large ships and aircraft at the airfield. There was not a single American fighter in the air, and not a single gun flare on the ground. As a result of a sudden Japanese attack, which lasted about an hour, 3 battleships were sunk and a large number of aircraft were destroyed. Having finished bombing, the bombers headed for their aircraft carriers. The Japanese lost 9 aircraft.

Aircraft of the second wave (170 aircraft) took off from aircraft carriers at 07:15. In the second wave there were 54 attack-bombers of the "97" type, 80 dive bombers "99" and 36 fighters, which covered the actions of the bombers.

The second attack by Japanese aircraft met stronger resistance from the Americans. By 0800, the planes returned to the aircraft carriers. Of all the aircraft involved in the air raid, the Japanese lost 29 (9 fighters, 15 dive bombers and 5 torpedo bombers). Losses in manpower amounted to a total of 55 officers and enlisted men. In addition, the Americans sank one submarine and 5 midget submarines, which proved to be ineffective.

As a result of the Japanese air strike on Pearl Harbor, the strategic goal of preventing the US Pacific Fleet from interfering in Japanese operations in Southeast Asia was largely achieved.

4 American battleships were sunk, 4 more heavily damaged. 10 other warships were sunk or disabled; about 310 American aircraft destroyed or damaged; among the killed or wounded Americans - 3581 military, 103 civilians.

For information: one of our fighter aviation regiments of the times of the Patriotic War - 52 aircraft. Consequently, as a result of the Japanese operation in Pearl Harbor, approximately 6 American air regiments were destroyed and damaged!

The Japanese victory could have been even more significant. They failed to cause the slightest harm to enemy aircraft carriers. All 4 American aircraft carriers were absent from Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack: 3 of them went to sea, one was being repaired in California.

The Japanese made no attempt to destroy the huge American oil reserves in Hawaii, which were almost equal to all of the Japanese reserves.

At the end of the operation, almost all the ships of the Japanese formation, which consisted of the 2nd division of aircraft carriers, the 8th division of cruisers and 2 destroyers, headed for the inland Sea of ​​Japan and on December 23 arrived at the anchorage near about. Hasira.

As a result of the raids, four battleships, two destroyers, a cruiser, a minelayer were sunk, four battleships, three cruisers, a destroyer were damaged, 188 aircraft were destroyed, and about 4,000 servicemen were killed.

Japanese losses amounted to 29 aircraft and five submarines.

So the dismissive attitude of naval officers to radar data turned out to be the greatest tragedy for the United States.

During the attack on Pearl Harbor, the surprise factor was implemented by Japan with maximum efficiency!

I consider the main reasons for the tragedy to be the general unpreparedness of the Pearl Harbor naval base to repel a possible surprise attack by an air enemy, the poor organization of the air defense system and the lack of reliable communication between the hardware radar directly from the air defense command post of the naval base.

The tragedy at Pearl Harbor might not have happened if, at that time in the United States, naval officers had treated radar information with due attention and understanding.

There were more than enough forces to successfully repel the massive Japanese air raids at Pearl Harbor.

The attack of the Japanese army under the command of Marshal Isoruku Yamamoto on the Pacific naval base of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 is the most famous, major and shameful defeat in the entire military history of the United States. We must pay tribute to the Americans - they quickly came to their senses, turning a nightmarish fiasco into an absolute triumph in the Pacific Ocean, adding to it the successful opening of a second front in Europe. However, the time for decisive changes, worthy counterarguments and confident victories over an uncompromising enemy will come later, and at the end of the day on December 7, 41, the situation looked like a real catastrophe and a national tragedy.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, Pearl Harbor, became the target of a combined attack by the best forces of the Japanese army - aircraft carriers, submarines, fighters. The secret of a successful raid is the resort mood of the defenders and the smart military strategy of the attackers, multiplied by the fanatical patriotism of the pilots and sailors of the imperial army, who are ready to die for the sake of victory. As a result, a sudden simultaneous strike from three directions took by surprise a relaxed, completely unprepared for a real war army grouping, which was far from the horrors of the world war.

The Japanese command chose an exceptionally good moment for a striking attack - early Sunday morning, when part of the personnel was absent from the coastal air defense due to leave, which seriously weakened the combat potential of artillery. Only eight of the thirty-two batteries opened fire on enemy aircraft. In a matter of minutes, half of the coastline of defense was suppressed by well-aimed actions of the enemy, who broke into the territory of the base with fighters, torpedo bombers and bombers, inflicting a crushing blow on the airfields of the Hawaiian island of Oahu and ships moored in the Pearl Harbor.

Results of the attack on Pearl Harbor

The US Navy lost four battleships, three cruisers, two destroyers, one minelayer, and several light craft, all of which belonged to an obsolete World War I flotilla. The most modern and powerful American ships were located elsewhere in the Pacific and were not damaged in the attack on Pearl Harbor. In addition to the ships, the States lost 188 completely destroyed aircraft, 159 seriously damaged aircraft. Human losses: 2403 killed, 1178 wounded.
Losses of the Japanese army: 29 aircraft, 5 midget submarines, 64 killed and one captured - Lieutenant Samagaki, who crashed in his small submarine on a reef and washed ashore by ocean waves. Samagaki went down in history as the first Japanese captured by the Americans.

The main purpose of the raid was to intimidate the Americans with the power of the Japanese Imperial Army and establish dominance in the sky and on the water of the Pacific region. Further Japanese plans included the seizure of other western island territories controlled by America, as well as the occupation of Thailand and Burma. But the super-successful attack had the opposite effect, because after a painful defeat in the States, patriotism began to grow, and the political elite consolidated, without unnecessary debate, debate, disagreement, supported the proposal of President Roosevelt to enter into open hostilities. Although a few months before the December events, Roosevelt admitted in a letter to his British colleague Winston Churchill that, despite the growing aggression of the alleged enemy, he could not declare war, because the resolution would simply get bogged down in Parliament. A large-scale enemy attack deprived the opposition of power, removed all questions, forced America to abandon its professed policy of military isolationism and enter World War II on the side of the allies.

On December 8, Franklin Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, addressed both houses of Congress demanding an immediate, brutal response to a day that has become a disgrace to the American air force. Congress passed a presidential resolution - the United States fully entered the war. In the coming months, the Japanese will feel the wrath of the American war machine and realize that the attack on Pearl Harbor was the beginning of the end for them.

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Photos of the attack on Pearl Harbor

The historical photographs below were taken on December 7-8, 1941 when the attack took place. The photos show a picture of the tremendous destruction at the US base, but in reality, America's military potential suffered little. Only the old battleship Arizona was blown up and completely destroyed, on which most of the dead sailors were located. The battleship Oklahoma sank and was subsequently sent for scrapping, while two other bombed-out battleships, the Maryland and Pennsylvania, were quickly restored and recommissioned before the end of the year.

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