PEARL HARBOR
THE DAY OF INFAMY
December 7, 1941
The rise and fall of Imperial
Japan.
(by KA)
The background.

Western countries merely wished to exploit Asia and showed much
prejudice against her peoples.

The 19thcentury Western carving up of China had been a warning to Japan.

Japan realised that to retain her independence and national character she
had to adopt some Western ideas, and quickly.

In particular Japan copied Western military ideas, for example her navy
started building a ‘dreadnaught’ battleship in 1905 - a year before HMS
Dreadnaught was started in Britain.

Japan’s modern military then set about finding ways to promote Japanese
interests abroad.

China was defeated in battle in 1894-5 and Japan got influence on the
mainland and Taiwan. This was the First Sino-Japanese War.
(Sino=Chinese)
The Japanese Empire.
 Japan had a severe lack of natural
resources.
 Nearby Manchuria had plenty of coal, plus
industries and ports.
 China had already been carved up by the
Western powers. Why shouldn’t Japan do
the same?
 1910 Japan moved into Korea.
The Manchurian Incident 1931
 The Great Depression in the USA was devastating to
Japan.
 Many people were in poverty, and half the factories had
closed.
 The Japanese army saw conquest as a way out of this.
 The army was also afraid of Chiang Kaishek’s moves to
unify China. They thought he would take Manchuria from
them.
 Claiming Chinese sabotage of a railway, the Japanese
army occupied Manchuria. They renamed it Manchukuo
and put the deposed Chinese Emperor Pu Yi up as a figure
head.
 This was the run-up to the Sino-Japanese war 1937-45
Japanese tanks of the Kwantung
Army in Manchuria
Causes…
 The U.S. demanded that Japan withdraw
from China and Indochina
 Japan thought that attacking the U.S. would
provide them an easy win, and a territory
with abundant land and resources to rule
once they were victorious.
 The U.S. oil embargo against Japan was
hurting Japan’s economy
General Hideki Tojo
 Prime Minister of Japan and
primary military leader.
 Rose to power in the
Manchukuo ‘Kwantung’ army
 Nicknamed the ‘razor’
 Keen on ultra nationalistic
secret societies.
 Responsible for 8m civilian
deaths, countless deaths and
experiments on prisoners of
war.
 Commemorated at the
Yasukuni Shrine.
 Apologized for military
atrocities on his death.
 Executed for war crimes 1948
Gradual Japanese advances.
 The Japanese army gradually crept
Southward, through China, fighting all
the way.
Japanese soldiers ‘conquer’ the
Great Wall 1933
Japanese occupation of China.




By 1938 There were 1 million Japanese troops in China.
By 1941 2 million troops- but this was still not enough.
Japan could occupy only key areas and cities.
Out of fear they adopted The ‘Three All Campaign’ (‘Kill
all, burn all, destroy all’)
 She simply didn’t have enough soldiers however.
 By 1945 4 million Chinese people had died and 60 million
had been displaced.
 Many Chinese cities lay in ruins.
The Japanese army rapidly
advanced through China, IndoChina, Malaya, and Indonesia.
- Some Asian people
welcome them as
liberators from western
Imperialists
- Soon they were generally
feared as new
imperialists, not as Asian
liberators
 They treated nonJapanese peoples with
ruthlessness, cruelty and
severity.
Great cruelty.
Imperial Japanese
expansion up to 1941
.
 The British government- alarmed at the
rapid Japanese advance-decided to send
some big warships to show strength.
 They ignored the advice of the navy that
already knew that aeroplanes could now
sink ships easily.
 Both ships were sunk by over 100
Japanese planes.
 It was a major blow to Britain. Another
pointer to the new nature of naval
warfare.
The Prince of Wales ,and the
Repulse- both sunk Dec 1941.
USS Arizona
Major Combatants
Japan
- Fleet of 6 Aircraft Carriers under the command of
Admiral Nagumo and Admiral Yamamoto
- Aerial Assault Force under the command of Mitsuo
Fuchida
United States
- Pearl Harbor Naval/Army Base under the
command of Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and Lt.
General Walter C. Short
Battle Sequence
 5 PHASE ATTACK BY JAPANESE…
(as noted by the U.S. Navy)
 PHASE 1: Combined torpedo plane and dive bomber
attacks lasting from 7:55 a.m. to 8:25 a.m.
 PHASE 2: Lull in attacks lasting from 8:25 - 8:40 a.m.
 PHASE 3: Horizontal bomber attacks from 8:40 – 9:15
a.m.
 PHASE 4: Dive bomber attacks between 9:15-9:45 a.m.
 PHASE 5: Warning of attacks and completion of raid after
9:45 a.m.
Pearl Harbour
Warfare Used During Attack
 Japan
-
81 Fighter Planes
135 Dive Bombers
104 Horizontal Bombers
40 Torpedo Planes
At least 5 Midget Submarines
Warfare (continued)

-
United States
108 Fighter Planes (59 not available for flight)
35 Army Bombers (27 not available for flight)
993 Army/Navy Antiaircraft Guns
USS Arizona
Casualties
Japan
- Less then 100 men
- 29 planes
- 5 midget submarines
United States
- 2,335 servicemen killed, 68 civilians killed, 1,178 wounded
- 188 planes
- 18 ships (8 battleships, 3 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, 4
other vessels)
USS Arizona Burning: 1,100+
servicemen died on the ship
Effects/Outcome
 Japan dealt a seemingly crippling blow to the U.S.
Pacific fleet (U.S. Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers:
Lexington, Enterprise, & Saratoga were not in
port)
 Japan began their quest for a Pacific empire
 The U.S. finally was forced to join World War II
(“The Sleeping Giant was awakened”)
 The U.S. & Great Britain declare war on Japan
(Dec. 8, 1941)
 Germany & Italy declare war on the U.S. (Dec. 11,
1941)
The US fleet lies destroyed.
Unfortunately the Japanese destroyed
battleships, but no US aircraft carriers.
They also failed to either destroy or
capture the harbour.
Roosevelt Day of Infamy speech.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgt
hakFtZQY
The USS Enterprise
 Only luck kept
this ship out of
Pearl Harbour
on the 7th. She
arrived the
following day.
 She was to lead
the US Navy
back into the
fight in the
Pacific.
Fantastic industrial output allows the
US to pour new ships into the
Pacific.
http://www.phschool.com
nep-1006
Doolittle Raid-April 1942
Pay Back!!
Chinese mountain “air raid shelter”; Doolittle and men hide
out for 10 days from Japanese bombing attacks.
Chinese rescuers
Chinese rescuers
“Blood Chit”-carried by raiders, it said, “This foreign person
has come to China to help in the war effort. Soldiers and
civilian, one and all, should rescue, protect, and provide him
medical care.”
http://www.historyanimated.com/
Doolittle.html
Midway Island. May 1942
A Japanese carrier
on fire and sinking.
US aircraft carriers outclass the Japanese carriers and catch them off
guard.
The Japanese navy loses 4 of it precious aircraft carriers in this one
battle.
Japan cannot replace the loss quickly- unlike the US. It is the turning
point of the war.
The
Japanese
Shinano.
-to make up for losses, the Japanese built the world’s largest
aircraft carrier. Due to bombing it had to put to sea whilst still
unfinished, and with workers onboard still building it!
-it was sunk by a US submarine shortly afterwards, still
incomplete.
Mighty Japanese battleships are
pounded to pieces by US carrier planes.
They are obsolete.
The USS IOWA.
Battleships found a new role in
bombarding
Japanese held island
defences.
A US carrier sinks.
 Carrier battles were fierce.
 Japanese islands acted as permanent aircraft carriers
 If you crashed in the Pacific you were unlikely to be found /
rescued.
The US carrier St.Lo, attacked and sunk by Kamikaze.
1941
1942
The Battle Of Midway
June 4-7 1942
6 months after
Pearl Harbour
Yamamoto
seeks to capture
Midway atoll
and thus
confront and
destroy the US
Navy’s carrier
forces.
Midway Order of Battle
US forces:
Japanese forces:
3 carriers
4 carriers
~50 support ships
7 battleships
233 carrier aircraft
~150 support ships
127 land-based aircraft
248 carrier aircraft
16 floatplanes