When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor - US tragedy during World War II

The defeat of the American Pacific Fleet, based in Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, remains one of the most painful topics in the history of the United States today.

A large-scale attack by Japanese forces led to the destruction of 4 American battleships, three cruisers, three destroyers, about 250 aircraft; over 2,400 US military personnel were killed.

The attack on Pearl Harbor took place without a declaration of war, the American fleet was completely unprepared to repel it, which led to a serious defeat.

President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, the day "which will go down in history as a symbol of shame," and demanded that Congress declare war on Japan. This demand was immediately complied with.

Throughout the war, the idea of ​​"revenge for Pearl Harbor" dominated the Americans. They took revenge on both those who were directly guilty of the attack, and those who were completely innocent of it. Even the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was viewed by some as revenge for the humiliation of December 7, 1941.

Eliminate the admiral

Among those personally hunted by the American Avengers, number one was the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Fleet of the Empire of Japan during World War II. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

In April 1943, during Operation Magic, American intelligence was able to intercept and decipher information about plans for Admiral Yamamoto's travels. This made it possible to prepare a special operation to eliminate the Japanese commander-in-chief.

US President Roosevelt personally gave the go-ahead for this action, asking Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox"Get Yamamoto."

Paradoxically, the man who became the "target number one" for the Americans was one of the most fierce and consistent opponents of the war with the United States.

In 1904, a graduate of the Japanese Naval Academy fell into the heat of the Russo-Japanese War. In the Tsushima battle, victorious for the Japanese, Yamamoto was wounded, having lost two fingers of his left hand. The injury did not affect his desire to continue military service, however, it may have formed a negative attitude towards military conflicts in general.

"White crow" among the militarists

Yamamoto believed that all conflicts must be resolved at the negotiating table. After studying in Japan, he studied at Harvard and then served as a naval attaché at the Japanese Embassy in the United States.

He took part in the second London Maritime Conference in 1930 with the rank of Rear Admiral and already with the rank of Vice Admiral - at the 1934 London Naval Conference.

While militaristic sentiments were gaining momentum in Japan, Yamamoto remained a "black sheep" - he was opposed to the invasion of Manchuria, the war with China, he was extremely negative about the conclusion of an allied pact between Nazi Germany and fascist Japan.

Yamamoto's position caused extreme irritation among the war supporters, who began to openly threaten him.

“To die for the Emperor and for the Motherland is the highest honor for a military man. Flowers rise in a field where a hard, brave battle has been fought. And even under the threat of death, the fighter will be eternally loyal to the Emperor and his land. The life and death of one person means nothing. Empire above all ... They can destroy my body, but they can never subdue my will, "- Yamamoto responded to all threats.

Isoroku Yamamato, 1934 Photo: Public Domain

In 1939 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the United Fleet. This appointment was due to the desire to remove Yamamoto from Tokyo, where the nationalists almost openly threatened him with death.

Commander in chief of the Japanese fleet foresaw the outcome of the war

When in 1941 the decision on the upcoming war with the United States was actually made, many believed that Admiral Yamamoto would lose his post, but this did not happen.

His opponents knew that the admiral was faithful to the oath and, despite his views, would carry out the orders received. In addition, Yamamoto had a very high authority in the navy.

Yamamoto actually followed through on his orders by devising a plan to attack Pearl Harbor. At the same time, the admiral foresaw how further events would develop.

“I will uncontrollably move forward for half or a whole year, but I absolutely cannot vouch for a second or third year,” the admiral said when asked about military prospects.

According to Yamamoto, in order to defeat the United States, the Japanese army "needs to march all the way to Washington and sign America's surrender in the White House." “I doubt that our politicians (who talk about the Japanese-American war with such carelessness) are confident of victory and are ready to make the necessary sacrifices,” the Japanese admiral said.

Yamamoto's prediction came true. After the first months of a successful offensive, Japanese forces lost the initiative, and their position in the war began to rapidly deteriorate. Despite this, the Commander-in-Chief of the United Fleet continued to try to rectify the situation. He did not really believe in success, but he did his duty.

Hunters and prey

In February 1943, Japan was defeated at the Battle of Guadalcanal, which led to the final loss of strategic initiative in the war.

Admiral Yamamoto, realizing that after this failure, the soldiers and officers are in a difficult psychological state, he decided to personally inspect the troops of the South Pacific. The inspection took place in April 1943, and information about it was intercepted by American intelligence officers.

The Americans learned that on the morning of April 18, Yamamoto will fly from Rabaul to the Ballalay airfield, which is located on Bougainville Island in the Solomon Islands.

The 339th Fighter Squadron of the 347th Fighter Group of the 13th US Air Force was selected for the interception, as their P-38 Lightning vehicles had sufficient flight range. The American pilots were advised that they would be conducting an interception of an "important senior officer" but were not notified of the name of their target.

The Japanese did not know that information about the commander-in-chief's movements was available to the enemy, but they feared for his safety. Admiral Yamamoto was offered to cancel the flight, but he flatly refused. Taking a seat next to the pilot in the Betty bomber, the admiral set off on schedule for a 319-mile flight.

From the island of Guadalcanal, 19 P-38 specially equipped with additional fuel tanks were to take off to intercept the plane with the admiral. In reality, 18 were able to take off, then another one returned to base due to a breakdown, and two more fell into the sea. The rest flew at low altitude and maintained radio silence for almost the entire duration of the flight over a distance of 430 miles, so as not to be detected.

Isoroku Yamamato, 1940 Photo: Public Domain

"Killers" attack

Initially, the detachment of American aircraft was divided into a "killer group" and a "cover group". It was assumed that the first of them will include four aircraft, the pilots of which must destroy Admiral Yamamoto's aircraft at any cost, while the rest will engage in battle with Japanese cover fighters.

The "group of killers" included Lieutenant Thomas Lanfier, Lieutenant Rex Barber, Lieutenant Joe Moore, and Lieutenant Jim McLanagan. However, Moore did not take off due to damage, and McLanagan returned due to problems with the fuel supply system. Lieutenants Besby Holmes and Ray Hine were urgently transferred to the "killers", who, however, were inferior to Moore and McLanagan in skill.

At about 9:30 Tokyo time, American and Japanese aircraft met in the sky over Bougainville Island. The Japanese group consisted of two Betty bombers (one carried by Admiral Yamamoto himself, the other by the officers accompanying him) and six Zero cover fighters. The main group of P-38s tied the Japanese fighters in action, while the "killers" were given the command to attack the bombers. But a technical malfunction was discovered on Holmes's plane, and he, along with Hine, pulled out of the battle. As a result, two bombers attacked - Thomas Lanfier and Rex Barber.

They completed their task - the first "Betty" crashed into the jungle, the second made an emergency landing on the water. The Americans did not have the opportunity to finish off the landed plane, since it was necessary to return to the base due to the extreme lack of fuel.

Immediately during the attack, the Americans did not suffer losses, but when they returned to the base, they were intercepted by Japanese fighters. During this attack, the plane of the failed "killer" was shot down Ray Hine who died.

Reward posthumously

In the bomber "Betty", which landed on the water, three survived. One of them turned out to be Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki who will become the propagandist of the "kamikaze war". In August 1945, the admiral himself became a suicide pilot, dying in an attack on American ships in the Okinawa region.

The plane containing Admiral Yamamoto crashed into the jungle. Rescue squad under the command of the army Engineer Lieutenant Hamasuna got to the crash site the next day. No one survived from those who flew in this bomber. Admiral Yamamoto's body was found strapped to a seat under a tree. The hand of the deceased was gripping the hilt of the katana - the admiral died, as befits a true warrior, with a weapon in his hands. The examination showed that Yamamoto died before falling to the ground, from bullet wounds received during the shelling of the plane.

The admiral's remains were cremated, taken to Japan and buried with honors. Isoroku Yamamoto was posthumously awarded the title of "Admiral of the Fleet", as well as the highest award of Japan - the Order of the Chrysanthemum.

Tomb of Isoroku Yamamato in Tokyo. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

The "skin" of the killed admiral was divided for more than half a century

The operation to eliminate Admiral Yamamoto made an extremely difficult impression on the Japanese military. It was believed that the admiral, despite all his negative attitude to the war, was almost the only one who could effectively fight the Americans. His death was a heavy blow to Japan and raised morale in the US Army.

Members of Operation Revenge received awards, but a conflict arose between Thomas Lanfier and Rex Barber that stretched out for three decades. Each of their pilots insisted that it was he who finished with Admiral Yamamoto.

Only in 1975, one of the Japanese pilots who were part of the cover group described the exact picture of what was happening, after which it became known for sure that the "Betty", on which the admiral was flying, was shot down by Rex Barber.

However, the dispute continued after that, and only in 2003, after examining the wreckage of the downed bomber for tracing hits, the destruction of Admiral Yamamoto was undoubtedly attributed to Barber. True, the pilot himself did not live to see this - he died in 2001 at the age of 84.

In Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, as a result of a provocation well played out by American politicians, Kazuhiko Togo, a well-known Japanese political scientist, high-ranking diplomat in the third generation, director of the Research Institute of World Issues at the Institute of Industry in Kyoto, said in an interview with RIA Novosti, Kazuhiko Togo, the author of more than a dozen books on the history of diplomacy and international relations.

His grandfather, Shigenori Togo, headed the Japanese Foreign Ministry at its most critical moments. military history countries - from October 1941 to September 1942 and from April to August 1945. During Shigenori Togo's tenure in this post, two major events took place in recent Japanese history - the attack on Pearl Harbor, which became a triumphant entry into a large-scale war, and a crushing defeat in it.

Kazuhiko Togo carefully studied the historical evidence and documents of that era. From the stories of his mother, he knows that his grandfather was against the war and did everything in his power to avoid it. Later, in the spring of 1945, he tried to withdraw Japan from the war and probed the ground for a peace with the mediation of Stalin. However, this was never destined to come true. Togo was convicted as a war criminal at the Tokyo trial, although he received, largely due to the position of the Soviet Union, one of the mildest sentences - not death or life imprisonment, but 20 years in prison.

Brilliant provocation

“There is a theory according to which America wanted to arrange everything so that Japan would start the war. Roosevelt understood that Hitler was dangerous for the world and for America. And he understood that there was no other way to destroy him except the military. Stalin and strike Hitler together, "Kazuhiko Togo believes.

However, according to the political scientist, a completely different position dominated in American society. “For two years there has been a war in Europe, Hitler attacked the USSR, and all the same, the United States cannot enter the war, because public opinion is against it. So, it is necessary to change it. And the best remedy this could be a Japanese attack on the United States. Then American public opinion will have no other choice, "explains Togo.

The clash of interests between the two new players with imperial ambitions began long before December 7, 1941. But the spark that ignited the fuse-word cord of the war in the Pacific was the so-called "Hull's note" delivered to Japan by the US Secretary of State on November 26. Until now, historians from the United States and Japan have no consensus on this document. Japanese scientists regard the note as an ultimatum, while the American ones are on exactly opposite positions. In the opinion of Japanese scholars, the "Hull note" demanded from Japan the deliberately impossible: withdrawal of troops from China, withdrawal from the Triple Pact concluded by Japan, Germany and Italy in September 1940. The Japanese side took the note as a demonstration of the US unwillingness to continue negotiations.

“The calculation worked here: Hell’s note was supposed to force Japan to start a war, which happened. It was, in fact, a provocation. The most annoying thing is that Japanese politicians, including my grandfather, let themselves be carried away by the situation. And here they cannot be justified, although they had no other choice. As a result of the attack on Pearl Harbor, American public opinion changed overnight, "said Kazuhiko Togo.

Pearl Harbor Mysteries

Seven decades have passed since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and yet many mysteries remain in the events of those years. Scientists have been arguing for several years about how it could have happened that the attack came as a surprise to American politicians, although a year before that, from the end of 1940, they knew the diplomatic codes of Japan, and all diplomatic correspondence was not a secret.

Many scientists note that strange and extremely favorable coincidence of circumstances when, despite the terrible losses suffered by the American fleet, the main target of the Japanese - aircraft carriers - happily escaped destruction: on December 7 they simply were not at the base.

“There is an opinion that the United States knew about the attack in advance, concealed it and allowed itself to be attacked. But I do not have sufficient information on this matter. We do not know to what extent the Americans knew about the Japanese plans. For example, shortly before the Japanese attack, all three American aircraft carriers were withdrawn from Pearl Harbor, "Kazuhiko Togo shared his doubts.

It looks no less mysterious that the British leadership, having access to the classified information of the Japanese naval forces, did not share it with the United States. Subsequently, these facts became the reason for the accusation of Roosevelt and Churchill that, having allowed the attack on Pearl Harbor, each in his own way tried to push America to enter the war.

Gift to Roosevelt

The attack on Pearl Harbor turned American public opinion and hastened its entry into the war. But another gift to Roosevelt came from Japan's bureaucratic machine.

"Tokyo was supposed to announce the attack half an hour before the attack. However, due to bureaucratic delays in printing the document at the Japanese embassy in Washington, the attack was announced only half an hour after it began," Togo said. This changed the very nature of the attack: an insidious and unexpected atrocity untied Roosevelt's hands.

"It was God's gift for Roosevelt. And Japan's critically stupid mistake," the political scientist clarifies.

War is a defeat for diplomacy

Shigenori Togo hoped that negotiations would help avoid war. Japan understood that the forces were too unequal. The country's Foreign Ministry has prepared two plans for the settlement of relations with the United States. One of them - short-term - in the opinion of Japanese diplomats, could be accepted by America. But in response to Japan's proposals, the United States is issuing a Hull note.

"I have a personal story about this. My mother, the daughter of Shigenori Togo, lived with him at the residence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. She said that until the Hella note, my grandfather literally shone with happiness," Kazuhiko Togo shares his memories. grandfather headed the Foreign Ministry, and for him, as a diplomat, the opportunity to save his country from war at the moment when it might just start was the greatest happiness and the meaning of a career. He worked with all his might. But when he came home at night after receiving the "note Hella, "he was desperate. He understood that this was a war," the historian explains.

During two attacks by Japanese carrier-based aircraft on the US Navy base Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, four American battleships, one cruiser, two destroyers and 188 aircraft were destroyed. Four battleships, three light cruisers, one destroyer, two auxiliary ships and over 100 aircraft were damaged. From the American side, 2.4 thousand people died. Japan's losses amounted to 29 aircraft, 5 submarines, 55 people died. The raid on the base lasted 2 hours 5 minutes.

There are some hard-to-explain facts.

Mysteries of World War II

The incomprehensible actions of politicians include a completely inexplicable and atypical for Hitler humanism, shown in relation to the British troops surrounded in Dunkirk, which he allowed to evacuate without hindrance. The attack on the USSR also seems illogical to many historians, because it took place at a time when German forces were dispersed over vast areas from North Africa to Yugoslavia, and the ships were conducting military operations even near South America. Half of France, Hitler never occupied, although he could: there was no one to resist him especially. Cote d'Azur, Nice, Marseille, wines, cognacs, French women, again, are all at hand. Warm, comfortable, good roads. And the demoniac suddenly absolutely needed Vapnyarka and Vasilyevka to conquer.

It is not clear why and why

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor also seems completely illogical and even delusional. In Europe, the situation is critical, Hitler got bogged down in the frosty steppes of the Moscow region. He should get at least some help from his allies. It's hard for Hitler. But Stalin knows Japan will not attack, we have a treaty with them. True, he was with the Germans too ... But Iosif Vissarionovich is not afraid. For some reason, he is confident in the Japanese, and boldly withdraws the Siberian divisions to Moscow, practically exposing the Far East. Maybe the samurai are not strong enough, and Richard Sorge warned about this? May be. There is even a version that it was this Soviet intelligence officer who incited the Japanese leadership to attack Pearl Harbor. History does not yet have documentary evidence of such a hypothesis, but if we proceed from the ancient Roman principle "Who benefits from?", Then it seems plausible.

Japanese gift to Stalin and Churchill

And now the weak Japanese are attacking, but not on the USSR, but on the base of the American fleet, Pearl Harbor. That is, in the United States, until December 7, 1941, a neutral country, although it supports Britain and the USSR in their struggle against Germany. The best gift It would have been extremely difficult for Stalin and Churchill to come up with it. Now America is simply forced to enter the Second World War, and, as they say, "in full." And the question is, what was the Japanese General Staff counting on? Even if it were possible to destroy the entire American Pacific fleet, then even then there was no hope that the United States would not react to such a strike. And the industrial capacity and economic potential of this country were already at that time. By teasing this giant, the Japanese leadership made a terrible mistake. Admiral Yamamoto, who commanded the Imperial Navy, was against this attack, but as a samurai he was forced to obey the order.

Yamomoto's successes

Much of the military success is due to the complete surprise of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor for the Americans. They really didn't expect him. The result was impressive: four ships of the line were sunk, two of which were subsequently restored, another ten relatively small ships were irretrievably lost. Significant damage was caused to American aviation: three and a half hundred Air Force aircraft were burned, mainly at airfields. More than 3,600 Americans were killed, most of them military sailors. In the explosion of the battleship "Arizona" 1,177 members of its crew went to the bottom, in memory of them in 1962 a memorial was erected in Pearl Harbor.

Defeat the winners

However, it cannot be said that the Japanese aircraft carrier group dealt a fatal blow to the US military power. The huge fuel storage facilities survived. The main striking force - four aircraft carriers - left the Pearl Harbor base at the time of the attack. The attack, like the victory won, were completely senseless, moreover, harmful and aggravating the position of imperial Japan. Public opinion in the United States, which until December 7 was rather pacifist (they say, let the Europeans fight, but we don't need it), immediately became militant. There were calls to "teach these cross-eyed Japs a lesson." Once Machiavelli said that the blow should be either fatal, or it should not be delivered at all. He understood in these matters ...

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 on December 7, 1941, Japan unleashed a war in the Pacific. The fighting in the Pearl Harbor area was an integral part of the Hawaiian operation of the Japanese naval forces (Operation Pearl Harbor - Aleutian Islands).

The idea of ​​this operation was to covertly approach and deliver a sudden massive strike by the aviation of the aviation association on American ships, coastal facilities and aircraft in Pearl Harbor. Simultaneously with the actions of aviation, it was planned to use three ultra-small submarines, delivered to the area of ​​hostilities on submarines - mothers. They received the task to penetrate into Pearl Harbor on the night before the air strike and attack battleships with torpedoes. (Soviet military encyclopedia. Vol.6. M., 1978. S. 295-296.) For a diversionary strike, two destroyers from the aircraft carrier formation were tasked with shelling the air base on the island. Midway.

By December 7, there were 93 ships and support vessels in Pearl Harbor. Among them are 8 battleships, 8 cruisers, 29 destroyers, 5 submarines, 9 minesweepers and 10 minesweepers of the US Navy. The air force consisted of 394 aircraft, air defense was provided with 294 anti-aircraft guns. The garrison of the base numbered 42,959 people (ibid.).

The ships in the harbor and the aircraft at the airfield were crowded and 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 kept under lock and key. (The second World War... Two views. M., 1995.S. 466.)

For the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese command allocated an aircraft carrier formation under the command of Vice Admiral Tuichi Nagumo, consisting of 23 ships and 8 tankers. The formation consisted of a Strike Group, numbering six aircraft carriers (1st, 2nd and 5th aircraft carrier divisions), a Covering Group (2nd squad of the 3rd battleship division), two heavy cruisers (8th cruiser division) , one light cruiser and nine destroyers (1st Destroyer Squadron), an Advance Detachment of three submarines, and a Supply Detachment of eight tankers. (Fuchida M., Okumiya M. Battle of Midway Atoll. Transl. 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 in the attack. On November 22, 1941, the task force in the strictest secrecy gathered in Hitokappu Bay (Kuril Islands) and from here, observing radio silence, on November 26 headed for Pearl Harbor. The passage took place along the longest (6300 km) route, characterized by frequent stormy weather, but the least visited by ships. For camouflage purposes, a false radio exchange was made, which simulated the presence of all large Japanese ships in the Inland Sea of ​​Japan. (Soviet military encyclopedia. T.6. P. 295.)

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. A 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 an indication of the need for increased vigilance, sent through the commercial line, reached Pearl Harbor only 22 minutes before the Japanese attack, and was transmitted to the liaison only at 10 hours 45 minutes when it was over. (See: History of the Pacific War. T.Z.M., 1958. p. 264; World War II: Two Views. P. 465.)

In the predawn 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 at Fr. Midway, and at Pearl Harbor, 5 Japanese midget submarines launched. Two of them were destroyed by US patrol forces.

At 6:00 on December 7, 183 aircraft of the first wave took off from aircraft carriers and headed towards 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 bomber of the "99" type, each carrying a 250-kilogram bomb. The covering force consisted of three groups of fighters with a total of 43 aircraft. (Fuchida M., Okumiya M., op.cit. P. 54.)

The sky over Pearl Harbor was clear. At 0755 hours, 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 flash on the ground. As a result of the Japanese attack, which lasted about an hour, 3 ships of the line were sunk and a large number of aircraft were destroyed. After finishing bombing, the bombers headed for their aircraft carriers. The Japanese lost 9 aircraft.

The planes of the second wave (170 aircraft) took off from the aircraft carriers at 07.15. In the second wave, there were 54 attack aircraft-bombers of the "97" type, 80 dive bombers "99" and 36 fighter planes, which covered the actions of the bombers. The second strike by Japanese aircraft met with stronger American resistance. By 8.00 the planes returned to the aircraft carriers. Of all the aircraft that participated in the air raid, the Japanese lost 29 (9 fighters, 15 dive bombers and 5 torpedo bombers). Losses in manpower totaled 55 officers and privates. In addition, the Americans sank one submarine and 5 midget submarines, which proved to be ineffective.

As a result of the strike by Japanese airborne forces 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 were badly damaged. 10 other warships were sunk or disabled; 349 American aircraft destroyed or damaged; among the killed or wounded Americans - 3,581 soldiers, 103 civilians. (The Second World War: Two Views. P. 466.)

The Japanese victory could have been even more significant. They did not manage to inflict the slightest harm on enemy aircraft carriers. All 4 American aircraft carriers were absent from 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 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, 8th division of cruisers and 2 destroyers, headed to the inland Sea of ​​Japan. On December 23, it arrived at the anchorage at about. Hasira.

Thus, by 10 o'clock in the morning on December 7, the American fleet in the Pacific Ocean practically 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 supremacy at sea and were able to conduct extensive offensive operations in the Philippines, Malaya and Dutch India.

Used materials of the book: "One hundred great battles", M. "Veche", 2002

Literature

1. History of the war in the Pacific: In the 5th volume / Under total. ed. Usami Seijiro. - T.Z. - M., 1958.

2. History of the Second World War. 1939-1945: In the 12th volume / Ed. count A.A. Grechko (chief ed.) - Vol. 4. - M., 1975.

3. Campaigns of the war in the Pacific: Materials for the study of strategic bombing by United States aircraft. - M., 1956.

4. Soviet military encyclopedia: In the 8th volume / Ch. ed. commission. N.V. Ogarkov (previous) and others - M., 1978. - T.6. - S. 294-295.

5. What happened at Pearl Harbor. Documents on Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. -M., 1961.

Read on:

The outbreak of World War II(chronological table)

The name "Pearl Harbor" has become a household name for something sudden and crushing, this "day of shame" still keeps its secrets.

Chasing two hares

The question of when and against whom Japan would enter the war was of fundamental importance. The attack on the USSR was a losing strategy. The capture of the Far East could not give Japan anything and certainly did not bring it closer to its main goal - oil. Sakhalin concessions gave only 100 thousand tons, and millions were required. Japan decided to play the southern card. In addition, Japan has always considered the Anglo-Saxons its main enemy, which is why the wars in China and Singapore were of a liberating nature for it.

Halla note

Much has been said today that the attack on Pearl Harbor was, in fact, provoked by the United States. On November 26, 1941, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States was provided with the so-called "Hull Note" (named after US Secretary of State Cordell Hull). It contained demands for the complete withdrawal of Japanese troops from Indochina and China (except for Manchukuo). In fact, they were impracticable. The Halla Nota was an ultimatum urging Japan to start hostilities. On this account, however, there is an alternative view. Thus, it is argued that the carrier squadron was already en route to Pearl Harbor when Nota was introduced.

They knew

On November 25, 1941, Roosevelt invited The White house political and military leaders of the country. In his notes, the US Secretary of War recalled: “The President indicated that we are likely to be attacked. The problem boils down to how we can maneuver so that Japan fires the first shot, and at the same time, avoid a great danger to ourselves. This is a difficult task. " There were ambiguous signals about the Japanese attack before, but all of them seemed to be ignored by the US leadership. Moreover, almost a day before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt was handed a Japanese note declaring war. The President did not react and did not begin to warn the Pacific base: according to the "necessary" legend, the attack should have been treacherous.

And we knew

Stalin knew that Japan would not attack the USSR. He received information that at the "imperial conference" it was decided to postpone the implementation of the Japanese plan of attack on the USSR "Kantokuen" until the spring of 1942. In addition, in early October, two months before the "surprise" attack, Richard Sorge informed Moscow that Pearl Harbor would be attacked within 60 days; this information, according to American sources, was brought to Washington by the Kremlin.

Aircraft carriers

The story of Pearl Harbor still bears little resemblance to a treacherous attack. Kazuhiko Togo, a well-known Japanese political scientist, grandson of Shigenori Togo, the foreign minister in the early 1940s, said: “There is an opinion that the United States knew about the attack in advance, concealed it and allowed itself to be attacked. But I do not have sufficient information on this matter. We do not know to what extent the Americans were aware of the Japanese plans. At the same time, there are incomprehensible things. For example, shortly before the Japanese attack, all three American aircraft carriers were withdrawn from Pearl Harbor. " Such "coincidences" provide rich food for conspiracy theories.

Radars

What do the Battle of Moscow and the attack on Pearl Harbor have in common? It would seem that apart from the date of these epoch-making events - nothing, but there is something in common. We are talking about the British GL Mk.II radars, which were delivered to the USSR in October 1941 to protect Moscow from German air raids, and at about the same time to the Hawaiian island of Oahu, where the Pearl Bay is located. The GL Mk.II gun laying radars (Gun Laying Radar, model II, and in Russian "SON") were the latest radio equipment for those times, which made it possible to direct anti-aircraft artillery guns to enemy aircraft at night and in adverse weather conditions. These radars operated at frequencies around 90 MHz, allowing them to determine the distance to the target, although not very accurately by today's standards. However, the aiming of the anti-aircraft guns had to be done manually. Nevertheless, anti-aircraft gunners and such radars brought tangible benefits. In the case of Pearl Harbor, the approach of the first planes was noticed by radars, but the Americans mistook them for "theirs."

So what?

Pearl Harbor is one of the "eternal themes" of world history. It contains a lot of details that will somehow play with new colors under different lighting. Like the fact that Isoroku Yamamoto, the Japanese admiral and main mastermind behind the attack, studied at Harvard. Or the fact that the United States, in fact, dragged financial corporations into the war, which received super-profits in the war ... There will continue to be talks about Stalin's role in this event ... films will be made ...