More than 75 years have passed since the day that marked the entry into World War II for the United States. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese armed forces of more than 350 aircraft, supported by submarines, cruisers and destroyers, attacked Pearl Harbor, an American naval base on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. In the course of this attack, 2,403 people died. The Japanese destroyed 19 American ships, including the USS Arizona, which is still under water.
It would seem that almost everything is already known about this black day in American history. However, there are still a number of insufficiently studied facts that disturb the minds of historians.
Could the attack have been prevented?
The author of Pearl Harbor: From Dishonor to Glory, Craig Nelson argues that the attack on the US Navy base could have been prevented if it had not been for the failed negotiations. The fact is that the Americans at that time had a poor idea of the political system of Japan. They believed that it was similar to the one that had developed by that time in Germany: a single tough ideology on which the dictatorial regime was based. In fact, everything was much more complicated and confusing. Among the representatives of the political forces of Japan were people who held diametrically opposed views on various issues. Not surprisingly, the Japanese government has changed 15 times in 14 years. If US officials were able to establish contacts with Fumimaro Konoe, the last civilian prime minister of the Empire of Japan, it is possible that a military clash could have been avoided.
Fumimaro Konoe.
An interesting fact is that Isoroku Yamamoto, who directly planned the attack on Pearl Harbor, had previously studied at Harvard University. He was well aware of the military power of the United States and repeatedly warned his commanders that "the attack would awaken from sleep a giant dragon, which Japan is unable to defeat." Unfortunately, they did not listen to his words, and the top leadership gave the order to attack. And Yamamoto's words later turned out to be prophetic.
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The Japanese liaison officer who changed the course of history
On the eve of World War II, the telegraph was the most effective means of communication. On December 6, 1941, President Roosevelt sent a telegram to the Japanese emperor, which stated his intention to "dispel the clouds that darken bilateral relations between the two powers" and proposed to maintain peaceful intentions. However, a liaison officer named Morio Tomura, who sincerely believed that the coming war was destined to lead Japan to greatness, delayed the delivery of this message to the imperial palace for ten hours.
Japanese Air Force pilots during World War II
A response was prepared to the message, which spoke of the senselessness of further negotiations and was notified of the start of hostilities. The Japanese military honored their ancient traditions, and the Bushido samurai code of honor prescribed to warn the enemy about the beginning of the war. The message was supposed to be delivered 30 minutes before the attack began, but the same officer Tomura delayed sending it. As a result, the notification arrived in the United States only two hours after the attack.
Cryptic New Yorker Magazine Ad - Coincidence Or Omen?
On November 22, 15 days before the Pearl Harbor strike, several strange ads appeared in New Yorker Magazine promoting a board game called "The Deadly Double". The title consisted of the German words "Achtung, Warning, Alerte!" (translated: "Attention, warning, threat!"). Below it was a picture of people in an underground bunker playing a board game. Then the text was quoted as follows: "Of course, we hope that you never have to while away the long winter nights in a bomb shelter … but you need to be prepared for anything." The following were the things that should have come in handy in the bunker: canned food, blankets, cigarettes and, of course, the mentioned game. The pages of the magazine contained several more announcements of similar content. Remarkablythat one of them contained a picture of dice, on which the numbers 12 and 7 were clearly visible.
An advertisement for the board game The Deadly Double.
Of course, these announcements later raised a lot of suspicion. But all the investigations came to a standstill, since it was not possible to establish the identity of the person who personally brought them to the editorial office of the magazine and paid for their publication in cash. Some sources claim that the game itself, like the allegedly producing company, never really existed at all. However, most scientists still tend to see these announcements, albeit a very sinister, but still a simple coincidence.
Legacy of the attack
The deaths of 2,403 people are not the only negative consequence of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Many of those who survived later suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. According to a 1989 study, about 65% of those who survived an attack were affected by this disorder. In addition, about a quarter of them numbed certain external stimuli, such as the sound of an engine.
Sterling Cale.
An example is a retired military man named Sterling Cale. When the attack began, he immediately rushed into the water to save his colleagues. The ship "Arizona" exploded and sank before his eyes. After the raid was over, he was tasked with collecting the remains of those killed from the ships. According to Cale, in many cases, only ashes were left from people.
Six years later, Cale was vacationing with his family on the seashore. Suddenly, a wave dragged his two-year-old son into the sea. Cale rushed to help, but was suddenly dumbfounded and could not budge. Fortunately, the dog, the family's favorite pet, managed to pull the baby out onto dry land. However, since then Sterling Cale has tried to stay close to the water's edge. The old psychological trauma makes itself felt even decades later.
Fuel leak continues from ship "Arizona"
On December 6, 1941, the USS Arizona, which was preparing to leave for the mainland in January, was fully fueled. The total amount of fuel was over 5.5 million liters. However, the next day, Japanese bombs were dropped on the ship, causing the fuel to ignite. The ensuing explosion was so terrible that the 33,000-ton ship was thrown into the air and split in half. The explosion, as well as the subsequent fire, which lasted two and a half days, killed 1,177 people, which amounted to 80% of the crew.
Memorial honoring the US Navy ship Arizona.
From the remains of the ship resting at the bottom, fuel still continues to leak from two to 8.5 liters daily. Researchers estimate that the rusted hull of the ship still contains just under two million liters of fuel. If a large-scale leak occurs, the environmental consequences will be catastrophic. Most experts agree that such a leak
it will happen sooner or later, but the exact date cannot be determined. The remains of the ship themselves have been turned into a war memorial, and no plans have been made to lift the ship from the bottom or eliminate the leak. It remains to be hoped that common sense will prevail, and Pearl Harbor will not suffer further trouble.
