I'm not going to bother writing much on this one; we all know the deal. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander in Chief of Combined Fleet, put together a brilliant operational plan, and we were caught sleeping. Result: we got our butts handed to us. The only bright spot in the whole debacle was that the commander of Japan's carrier force Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, failed to launch the follow-up strikes which might have completely wrecked the base's machine shops and fuel depots, thus providing the US Pacific fleet with some logistical breathing room. The other thing I will say is that I've never been particularly indignant about the fact that the Japanese failed to declare war on us before the bombs started falling. Hey, they tried, but it just didn't quite work out. And after all, the world community hadn't evidenced any indignity over their declaring war on the Russians in 1905 after they had already commenced hostilities. Likewise, nobody told the Egyptians that the Israeli Air Force was gonna bushwhack them in '67, either, and we still think the Israeli's are the good guys, right? Welcome to warfare.
Attack on Pearl Harbor | Japan | Allied |
---|---|---|
Starting Forces |
x6 x2 x2 x1 x9 x350 + 6 minisubs |
x8 x2 x6 x29 x5 + Various Auxiliaries |
Losses |
x29 planes shot down 6 minisubs sunk |
x5 sunk (2 permanently)(Arizona, Oklahoma, California, West Virginia, Nevada (beached) ) x3 heavily damaged x3 moderately damaged x3 heavily damaged x188 planes destroyed |
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WW2DB article on Attack on Pearl Harbor
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