1/2 The attack on Pearl Harbour
Before and after Pearl Harbor 
World War II had begun in 1939. The countries involved were fiercely fighting with each other on several fronts… On September 27, 1940, Germany, Italy, and Japan had entered into the Tripartite Pact, which provided that each would declare war on any third party that went to war against one of the three. From this date, then, war with Japan meant war with Germany and Italy. In the summer of 1941, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands began an oil embargo against Japan, threatening its ability to fight a major war at sea or in the air. However, Japanese forces continued to advance into China. Japan planned an attack on Pearl Harbor to cripple the U.S Pacific fleet, then seize oil fields in the Dutch East Indies. At 7:49 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, 183 Japanese dive- and torpedo-bombers, launched the first of two attacks against the American base at Pearl Harbor causing death and destruction. However,although the Japanese achieved local surprise, their success was less than complete. The Pacific Fleet's three aircraft carriers were not in port. Nine heavy cruisers and virtually all of the destroyers remained afloat. None of the fleet's submarines was lost. And the commander of the Japanese task force, Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, refused to authorize a third strike that could have led to the destruction of Pearl Harbor's naval dockyards and oil storage tanks, the loss of which would have neutralized Hawaii as a forward base for counter-offensives against Japanese moves toward the Philippines, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. Audio: |
