On This Day In History: World War II – Attack on Pearl Harbor – Dec 7, 1941

AncientPages.com - On December 7, 1941 at 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu.

A large group of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The Japanese used bombers, torpedo bombers and midget submarines.

On December 8, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a speech, also known as the “Infamy Speech” to the American citizens, informing them that this happened while the US was in the midst of talks to keep peace. That same day, America entered into World War II.

The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II.

On the southern end of Oahu, Pearl Harbor held a 22,000 acre naval base. Admiral Husband E. Kimmel of the Navy and Lt. General Walter C. Short of the Army were in command of the fleet and troops on the ground, respectively. The majority of the Pacific area’s military commands were headquartered there because of growing apprehensions regarding an aggressive Japanese presence.

Since Emperor Hirohito’s Japan wanted to expand in territory and power like some European countries, it needed natural resources, like the oil, aluminum, etc. found in The Netherlands East Indies. Standing in opposition to Japanese conquest of what Japan’s leaders termed “the Southern Resource Area” was the United States of America.