When did the United States declare war on Germany?

At 4 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Honolulu, Hawaii time, 250 nautical miles north of Pearl Harbor, the permanent base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the waterline to the east had turned white, and a quiet dawn was about to come.

A huge fleet broke the tranquility and sailed south. Six aircraft carriers lined up in two columns, with two high-speed battleships and two heavy cruisers at their four corners, nine destroyers in the outermost circle, and leading the front of this steel wreath were a light cruiser and two heavy cruisers. submarine. The fleet left a thick and wide snow-white track on the yet-to-dawn sea. The flight deck of every aircraft carrier is lined with war eagles with wings spread out and engines running. Some heavy bombs and some torpedoes were hung under the belly of the aircraft, and the lead-gray torpedo shells shone slightly with cold light.

At 6 o'clock, the fleet slowed down, and the Akagi's bow slowly turned to the north, which is the direction of the wind. There was a Z on the lower side of Vice Admiral Nagumo's flag on the main mast. The flag flapped in the wind. 36 years ago, in the Tsushima Strait, Admiral Togo defeated the Russian Baltic Fleet in one fell swoop while flying this flag.

The Akagi's hull was shaking violently, and all training would have been cancelled. But Lieutenant Colonel Mitsuo Fuchida knew that as long as the deck was still on the water today, he had to take off. Fuchida held the Thousand Needle Belt on the armrest, increased the throttle to the maximum, and his Type 97 attack aircraft took off smoothly. In the next fifteen minutes, 49 level bombers, 40 torpedo planes, 51 dive bombers and 43 Zero fighters, all 183 aircraft took off from the six aircraft carriers. The fleet quickly completed its formation, flew around the fleet, and then headed toward Pearl Harbor like an arrow from the bow.

2. Tightened bowstring

At the same time, in the Japanese Embassy in Washington, Ambassador Nomura was receiving a ***XIV part message from Tokyo, and was ordered to convey this message to Washington It was handed over to the US government before 13:00 (7:30 Honolulu time, half an hour before the expected attack time). After a lot of diplomatic rhetoric, the last part of the cable stated that "the Japanese government expresses regret that it cannot reach an agreement through further negotiations." The last bit of contact between the United States and Japan was interrupted.

In the 1940s, both the United States and Japan found that the small Pacific Ocean could no longer accommodate two large ships. While diplomatic mediation continues, tensions are already rising in the Pacific. The United States first moved the Pacific Fleet to Pearl Harbor, and then the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, soon formulated a plan to attack Pearl Harbor. To this end, the Imperial Japanese Navy developed mini-submarines, modified shallow-water torpedoes and armor-piercing bombs, accurately configured the attack fleet, conducted rigorous training in Kagoshima, which is close to Pearl Harbor, adopted blockade-style confidentiality measures, and chose The most sheltered sortie route. In the end, the Japanese finally forgot why they launched this war, who their opponent was, and whether diplomatic failure led to the war or vice versa. They only knew that the bow was fully drawn and the arrow must be sent out.

3. "Tiger, tiger, tiger"

Jazz music played by Honolulu radio station came from Fuchida's phone. The music ended with weather preparation, "The clouds are low and high at 3,500 feet, visibility is good, and the wind is northerly at 10 knots. "After listening, a faint smile appeared on Fuchida's face.

At 7:02, the radar controller at the northernmost point of Oahu discovered a large group of aircraft flying from the north. After questioning Lieutenant Taylor on duty, the answer he received was that they must be flying from the west coast. B-17 fleet. In this way, Pearl Harbor missed its last opportunity.

When Fuchida's plane was the first to arrive at Pearl Harbor at 7:35, the harbor was still filled with the calm of Sunday morning. Over the vast harbor, the clouds were sparse, and several civil aircraft were circling lazily in the sky. The fleet group looked quiet and peaceful in the slanting sunlight. Military aircraft at the airport were arranged neatly, wing-to-wing, to prevent damage.

Fuchida fired a signal flare and ordered the fleet to start deploying in a surprise attack formation. At the same time, he sent out a "Tiger, Tiger, Tiger" signal to inform the mothership that the surprise attack was successful. Five thousand miles away on the battleship Nagato, a cheerful clerk handed the telegram to Yamamoto. Yamamoto continued to play chess with the chief of staff indifferently.

According to the surprise attack plan, torpedo planes, level bombers and dive bombers will enter the attack in order, and the ships will be attacked first. Due to cloud cover, some aircraft did not see the signal, so Fuchida fired another flare. The dive bomber saw the attack and fired two flares, thinking it was a storm order. This was a storm tactic when the enemy was on guard. Enter by air superiority team, dive bomber, level bomber and torpedo plane.

At 7:55, dive bombers first attacked the three airports on Oahu. Two minutes later, torpedo planes began to attack. This small mistake did not affect the effectiveness of the offense. The first torpedo plane first used its cannon to shred the flag of the USS Nevada at the end of the fleet, and then dropped its torpedo.

4. This is not a drill!

In the first few minutes, no one in the Pacific Fleet could realize what was happening. After gradually waking up, the USS West Virginia and the USS Oklahoma parked at the outermost part of the fleet had already hit the target. Two torpedoes, the latter was hit by five more bombs and capsized with more than 400 officers and soldiers. The former slowly sank underwater due to the timely opening of the water injection valve. The Arizona was on fire when an armor-piercing bomb exploded in the cabin, and the California was hit by two torpedoes. Flames rose from the ship's heavy fuel tank and it gradually sank. Five minutes later, sporadic anti-aircraft guns began to fire, but it was of no avail.

Subsequently, Fuchida led the horizontal bombers to begin the attack. He pressed the bomb release button and watched in fascination as his four bombs fell vertically like devils in an excellent formation, getting smaller and smaller. He didn't know what it felt like for the people below to watch these things getting bigger and bigger. . Plumes of white smoke appeared around the Maryland parked inboard of the fleet. Subsequently, the Tennessee and the Pennsylvania, which was being repaired in the dock, also suffered several bombs each.

Suddenly, an earth-shaking explosion occurred in the battle fleet on the east side of Ford Island. For a moment, thick smoke billowed, and the column of fire was more than a thousand meters high. This was the unique red and black smoke column caused by incomplete combustion of gunpowder and explosives. It was the Arizona fire that caused the ammunition magazine to explode. Amidst the red and black smoke and sporadic anti-aircraft fire, the bombers were still flying up and down. On the oil-filled seawater, the officers and soldiers who abandoned the ship swam desperately to the shore.

A mini-submarine successfully sneaked into the harbor, fired a torpedo and missed its target, and was then rammed and sunk by the destroyer USS Monaghan.

At 8:10, another clear telegram - "Pearl Harbor was attacked by air, this is not a drill" was forwarded to the U.S. Navy Department. Navy Secretary Knox exclaimed: "This is not true. This must be true." It refers to the Philippines." When Secretary of State Hull received the news, the well-dressed Ambassador Nomura was waiting in the reception room to hand over the fourteen parts of the message to Hull.

At 8:25, the first wave of attacks subsided. Fuchida continued to circle in the air, calculating the results. Twelve B-17 aircraft flying from the West Coast made difficult landings at the destroyed airport.

5. Second attack wave

At 8:40, the second attack wave consisting of 78 dive bombers, 54 level bombers and 35 fighter jets was launched over Oahu. At 8:42, 167 aircraft began the attack despite increasingly fierce artillery fire. Level bombers were responsible for attacking the airfields on Oahu, while dive bombers continued to attack the ships. Only a few Army aircraft were able to take off between the two air strikes, and all of them were shot down by Zero Fighters. Following the first wave of attacks, Zero Fighters continued to maintain air superiority.

At this time, Pearl Harbor was already filled with thick smoke, which seriously hindered the dive bombers from finding the ships below. The Type 99 dive bombers all adopted a barrage bombing method, that is, wherever the anti-aircraft guns were the most powerful, the aircraft dived there. One plane dived down only to find that the target was a land-based turret, and quickly pulled up again. In the harbor, the USS Nevada, which was parked at the end of the battle fleet, left its berth. She was also the only battleship that moved during the entire attack, but it also suffered a lot of bombs. At the end of the second attack, the bombers destroyed the target ship Utah and several other auxiliary ships.

At 9:40, after the second attack wave swaggered away, Fuchida circled over Pearl Harbor again, photographing the results of his victory. Then flew to the assembly area to lead the fleet back. Fuchida's planes were the last to land. He urged a third air strike to bomb oil tank farms and repair facilities. Nan Yun believed that the basic tasks had been overfulfilled and was unwilling to take greater risks, and then the fleet returned.

6. Postscript

The huge black smoke screen over Pearl Harbor symbolized Japan's tactical victory and the tragedy of the United States, but the death and destruction did not end. U.S. officers and soldiers continued to fight the fire; small boats dodged the fire. The sea of ​​​​fire is searching for survivors in the half-water and half-oil port; the Oahu Military Medical Hospital is struggling to rescue hundreds of burned and mutilated sailors; as the capsized Oklahoma sank into the harbor, more than 400 sailors were killed. Only about 30 people were saved.

The best thing about misfortune can only be said to be that the two aircraft carriers Enterprise and Lexington of the Pacific Fleet went to sea on November 28 and December 5 respectively to transport aircraft to Wake Island and Midway Island. . There are also 9 heavy cruisers and ancillary ships conducting exercises outside the port. Another Pacific Fleet carrier, the USS Saratoga, is undergoing repairs on the West Coast.

"But whether we are in Hong Kong or not, each of us will always remember this moment." On December 8, 1941, the President of the United States delivered his historic speech in Congress, and then Congress passed the resolution Japan declares war and Britain declares war on Japan. On the 9th, China, which had been fighting Japan for 10 years, officially declared war on Japan. Then, Free France, Australia, Canada and other countries declared war on Japan. On the 11th, the aloof Germany first declared war on the United States. The United States fully devoted itself to World War II and shifted its powerful national machinery into a wartime track. World War II also entered a new stage.

7. Analysis

There are different evaluations of the Pearl Harbor incident. Some say it was a huge victory for Japan, while others say that the attack on Pearl Harbor only got rid of some obsolete ships for the United States and stimulated its fighting spirit.

From Japan's perspective, the Pearl Harbor operation was just a support operation to ensure that Japan's southward movement to obtain oil from the South Pacific would not be hindered by the United States. Japan exchanged 29 aircraft for 19 U.S. main ships and more than 200 aircraft, and made it difficult for the U.S. Pacific Fleet to enter the South Pacific for a period of time. This was an undisputed tactical victory and was fully realized. Japan's strategic intentions.

But looking a little further, we can see Japan's strategic problem - it has misjudged its opponent, thinking that the United States is weak and can be bullied like China, or that it will run away after defeat like Russia. If Japan had realized this, it should not have started the war in the first place, it should not have attacked Pearl Harbor as a support mission, and it should not have fought so conservatively at Pearl Harbor. What Fuchida said was just cutting off the eagle's tail feathers. Before the U.S. military could respond, Nagumo could have dropped all the bombs carried by the fleet into Pearl Harbor, at least destroying the oil storage and repair equipment in the harbor, and could use his absolute strength advantage to capture the U.S. fleet near Pearl Harbor. aircraft carrier. In this way, the United States will never be able to launch a counterattack within half a year. In addition, to be more exaggerated, if Japan could gather a fleet of the same size as the invasion of Midway at Pearl Harbor, and use battleships to prepare artillery fire on Pearl Harbor after the air attack, it would be possible to capture Pearl Harbor at the beginning of the war. In this way, we don’t know how long the Pacific War will last.

Although Britain and the United States have been strengthening their defense forces in the Pacific, leaders at the highest levels have always believed that even the most bellicose militarists dare not attack Britain and the United States at the same time. This is due to the national psychology and fear of Japan. Economic difficulties and serious misunderstandings about the balance of military power. Due to the existence of paralyzed thinking, the US military's combat readiness is quite lax. This is one reason why the attacks caused huge losses. But Pearl Harbor forced the United States to establish a strategic thinking centered on aircraft carriers, which had an immeasurable effect on future operations. From this point of view, the United States has gained much more than Japan.

One of the biggest questions in the United States about Pearl Harbor is who is responsible for the Pearl Harbor incident. Because in less than two hours, 2,400 US troops almost lost their lives unconsciously. Although Kimmel, the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, was dismissed, there are still many questions focused on President Roosevelt, who believed that Roosevelt was trying to persuade domestic isolation. communists, inducing Japan to fire the first shot without notifying Pearl Harbor of the impending attack. Although somewhat appalling, this spirit of pursuing the truth is indeed worthy of admiration. After an in-depth investigation at that time, no conclusive evidence was found to pin the blame on one person's deliberate actions. (After Action Report - John Costello).

This is the most difficult question to answer as to whether Pearl Harbor could have been avoided and the ultimate cause of the war. Historians believe that what happened was inevitable, because since the Japanese tank gradually deviated from the track, it was only a matter of time before it collided with Sam. Japan has been emphasizing its reasons and wants to ask, "What on earth did the United States do to allow Japan to attack Pearl Harbor? (Mizuo Fuchida - Attack on Pearl Harbor)." But this is simply untenable. All the United States has done is to stop supplying Japan with strategic materials necessary for the war. And let’s ask what China did to Japan to cause Japan to fight.

Another typical debate is the debate between "sneak attack" and "surprise attack". Japan sent the ultimatum 40 minutes later than the attack time. In the end, Japan was defeated again. The name of the sneak attack can never be cleared up. But "sneak attack" and "surprise attack" are actually just derogatory words and complimentary words with the same meaning.

Japan drew the United States into the war through Pearl Harbor. But that night after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the person who slept the most soundly was none other than British Prime Minister Churchill. From now on, the United States will fight side by side entirely as an ally. To this end, he said, "We finally won," and then slept peacefully.

8. Statistics

Composition of the offensive fleet: About 60 Japanese ships participated in the Pearl Harbor operation. Mission fleet composition

Attack force 6 aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku;

5 pocket submarines

Security force 2 battleships Hiei and Kirishima;

2 heavy cruisers Tone and Chikuma;

11 destroyers including Tanikaze and Urakaze;

30 submarines of the patrol force Yizi;

8 oil ships including the supply force Jidong;

Japanese losses: 29 aircraft (first wave: zero battle 3, 97 ships attack 5, 99 ships explode 1; second wave: zero battle 6, 99 ships explode 14), 5 pocket submarines.

Loss of the U.S. Pacific Fleet: The battleships California, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Arizona were sunk

The battleships Maryland, Tennessee, and Nevada were seriously damaged. , Pennsylvania was slightly damaged

Other ships, the target ship Utah sank, and 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers and 3 other ships were damaged

232 aircraft were lost< /p>

Personnel losses: About 2,400 US officers and soldiers died, of which about 1,000 died on the USS Arizona, and nearly 2,000 were injured

Source: Military Forum

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