In 1941, one of the largest American military defeats occurred. An entire naval fleet was destroyed, hundreds were killed, all before 09.00 on a Sunday. The US did not have any knowledge of this attack, partially because of ignorance, partially because of the military strategies of their Japanese opponents. The Japanese attack on the US naval base of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was a classic case of “It will not happen to me!” Although the US suspected Japanese actions, they did not take a defensive stance as they believed an attack would never touch their soil.
Through an examination of military history, tactics and eye witness descriptions, it will be proven that the US had no knowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In the years before 1941, the war saw little American military action. After the collapse of France, American President Roosevelt promised his county that no American troops would be sent to Europe to aid in the battle against Hitler and his powerful army. These promises caused Roosevelt to be criticized by his closest advisors for his indecisiveness about declaring war . The President’s defense to these accusations was he did not want to out step public opinion. As well, he believed American intervention would cause a ‘mortal blow’ to the Allies cause.
In reality, the advisors, as well as Roosevelt, knew that Britain could not win the war without American armed intervention. Two oceans to the East, Japan was deep into a war or her own. Japanese forces were concentrated on the Chinese front to conquer and obtain. As a result of her unpopular declaration of war on China, Japan’s fuel supply from the US was eliminated. Consequently, the Japanese turned to Indonesia to continue the supply of fuel for her war efforts. Fuel talks broke down as the Dutch, who were in control of the Indonesian fuel supply and, under heavy influence from the US, would not supply Japan with fuel.
Desperately needing fuel to continue the war, Japan first thought of attacking Indonesia, but feared US intervention. After some thought, Japanese leaders decided that an attack directly on the US would be more appropriate to bring the US to the fuel supplies negotiating table . The first acknowledgment that Japan was a war threat came on November 27, 1941 when Washington ordered a ‘War Warning’. The US feared a Japanese attack, not on America, but on the Philippines. American military leaders took little or no precautions upon the issue of warning. Admiral Husband E.
Kimmel and Lt. General Walter C. Short of Pearl Harbor had done nothing to make the fleet or its defenses ready for Japanese attack . The commanding officers believed the warning to be no more than a possible threat of sabotage from the Japanese living on the island of Oahu. As a result, the officers ordered that all aircraft in the base be lined up at wing tip to be easily guarded. Defenses were on limited alert, with no long distance reconnaissance and no improvements on the limited anti-aircraft defenses.
On board ships, only half of the anti-aircraft positions were stood at with the ammunition locked away . “In every reference I’ve seen and every Pearl Harbor survivor I’ve ever talked to, each referred to the attack as a surprise,” said PH1 Goodwin of Pearl Harbor in an Electronic-mail letter dated December 15, 1997. Mr. Goodwin’s comment is embarrassing at best, subsequently the American defense stance has been referred to as a ‘shameful blunder’ . The lack of preparation for an attack demonstrated by the officers at Pearl Harbor portrayed the general attitude of ignorance in the American government. The United States of America is the strongest, most powerful country in the world.
A country such as Japan, which does not even have the resources to survive a lengthy war, could not possibly attack them . The result of the attack would have been much less serious had the American officers exercised more vigilance. The ignorance was so great that, on the day of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, several major and peculiar instances were noted and ignored by officers on duty. At 03.50 an unidentified periscope.
