Re-examination of the "Mist" of Pearl Harbor Incident
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Navy's carrier-based aircraft successfully attacked the US Pacific Fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor, opening the prelude to the Pacific War and profoundly changing the course of World War II.
A full 80 years have passed, and there are still multiple "fogs" that need to be re-examined in order to recognize the truth of the Pearl Harbor incident and truly learn from history.
One of the "Mist"——
Was the Japanese military's decision to attack Pearl Harbor a strategic mistake or a helpless move?
As many historians of later generations said, the Pearl Harbor incident opened the "road to destruction" of the Japanese Empire. Japan won once but lost all.
However, what needs to be asked is: Was there any other, better, "good" option in Japan at that time?
Before the Pearl Harbor incident in June 1941, the Soviet-German War broke out.
At this point, all world powers except the United States have been involved in World War II, and the possibility of the Soviet Union and the Axis Group of Germany, Italy and Japan jointly attacking Britain and the United States has also vanished.
This drastic change in the current situation has caused Japan's strategic flexibility to plummet.
U.S. President Roosevelt took the opportunity to strike a heavy blow against Japan, first joined forces with Britain and the Netherlands to freeze its overseas assets, and then imposed an embargo on strategic materials such as steel and oil.
Japan quickly fell into the predicament of "chronic death" and must make a choice before the resources supporting its war machine run out. There are only three roads ahead:
The first is to cooperate closely with Germany to attack and control the resource-rich Soviet Siberia.
But this is not feasible: the Japanese army has been deeply involved in the Chinese battlefield, and the Battle of Suzhnomenkan in 1939 also proved that the Japanese army is far from the opponent of the Soviet army in the Far East.
The second is to compromise with the United States and give up the ambition to dominate the Asia-Pacific.
This choice is not only difficult for the Japanese military and political leaders to accept, but the United States will continue to press it afterwards.
The third is to loosely cooperate with Germany and go south to compete for the Nanyang resource zone.
This means that Japan almost has to collide with countries such as the United States, Britain and the Netherlands alone, with a weak chance of winning.
But Japan, which has "no other way", finally chose this dangerous route.
Previously, historians often attributed it to Japan's arrogance, attempting to win quickly, and underestimating the US's war potential and will.
However, historical data released after the war show that the Japanese senior leaders have a very clear understanding of the huge gap in Japan's American power and mobilization capabilities.
However, the Japanese Army and Navy thought they had found a "survival in danger" trick: taking advantage of Germany's containment of the Soviet Union and Britain, they severely damaged the US Navy through raids so that they could not prevent the Japanese army from seizing important resources in Southeast Asia, and then built a strong Defensive system, invincible, using war of attrition to "drag" the United States to the negotiating table.
The attack on Pearl Harbor is the first part of the above-mentioned overall idea.
However, Japan's "prosperity and demise" in the Pacific battlefield are due to underestimation of the national power of the United States.
The key to turning the tide of the U.S. military lies not only in weapons production, but also in tactical innovation: through the cooperation of the Marine Corps and engineering teams, high-speed aircraft carrier task forces, submarines, and B-29 strategic bombers, the U.S. military has greatly improved its amphibious capabilities. Combat and long-range transportation capabilities effectively destroyed the Japanese anti-landing system and overseas lines of communication, completely frustrating Japan's wishful thinking.
"Mist" Part Two——
Why did the US military ignore the relevant intelligence early warning of the Japanese attack?
Many American films and writings about Pearl Harbor have hyped up how the United States "loves" peace and lacks precautions; how Japan is deliberately preparing for war.
A closer look at history will reveal that the United States and Japan have been fighting openly and secretly for decades to fight for hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region.
As early as the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, the U.S. and Japanese navies were racing to formulate multiple plans for naval battles in the Pacific with each other as their first imaginary enemy.
Prior to the Pearl Harbor incident, the United States had even deciphered the code of Japan's diplomatic system, noticed the various changes in Japan around Pearl Harbor, and entered a state of preparation for war.
Why did the US Navy, which had been on alert, still be bombed so tragically at its own naval port?
The Americans have made multiple explanations: there is too much information about Pearl Harbor, and it is difficult to distinguish between true and false; they think that Japan will not risk a war against the United States, and fall into the fallacy of thinking of "saving others by oneself"...the Americans themselves "confessed" None of these "lessons" touched on the key points.
There are three routes from the mainland to Pearl Harbor for the Japanese army, which are thousands of nautical miles away. Even large warships such as aircraft carriers and battleships cannot complete the round-trip voyage on their own fuel under the ideal conditions of low-speed navigation.
Located on the Middle and South Roads in the Central Pacific, although there are bases along the way to provide oil and the sea conditions are good, they cannot bypass the rigorous reconnaissance forces deployed by the US military in the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway Island, Johnston Island and other places. The whereabouts will be exposed.
Located on the North Road in the North Pacific, there was no Japanese transit and supply base and the weather was bad. According to common sense at the time, this road would definitely be unworkable. However, contrary to the expectations of the US military, the Japanese army broke through a key technology-maritime refueling based on urgent need.
It's ironic: At this time the US military's maritime refueling technology is about to be used in actual combat, but the US military has deep-rooted prejudice and discrimination against the Japanese, and it does not believe that Japan can also master such "high-tech means" to "counterattack." .
The U.S. forces all focused on the Central and South Roads, but the Japanese task force relied on maritime refueling technology and 7 oil tankers. It took 13 days to quietly sail from the North Road to a position only about 200 nautical miles away from Pearl Harbor and set off. Carrier fleet.
After the Japanese army completed the sneak attack and exited the battlefield, the U.S. military still did not expect to search for the enemy force north.
Arrogance has become the greatest tragedy in the history of the U.S. Navy.
The third "Mist"——
The US aircraft carrier was not in the port at that time. What was the reason?
Although the Japanese army achieved great results with minor losses in Pearl Harbor, the three US aircraft carriers stationed in the Pacific survived that day because they were not in the harbor. It is a great fortune in misfortune.
In addition, the aircraft carrier became the absolute main force in the subsequent series of naval battles and ultimately defeated the Japanese Navy. Many "conspiracy theorists" who looked at the problem from the "God's perspective" in later generations suspected that Roosevelt deliberately transferred the aircraft carrier and sacrificed the battleship to make the United States get the best participation in the war. Excuse.
The truth is just the opposite: the US aircraft carrier survived a catastrophe because it "benefited" from not being taken seriously!
The full name of the US military aircraft carrier is carrier vessel, which originally means an air cruiser.
The cruiser is known as the "Eye of the Fleet". Its main business is reconnaissance, search, alert, communication, attacking enemy lines of communication and defending one's own lines of communication, so positioning is an auxiliary battleship, and forwarding and decentralized deployment are the norm.
The battleship is completely different from it. It is named after the "Battleline Tactics". Its task is to sink the opponent's battleship and win the decisive battle at sea. Therefore, it is considered to be a proper first-class battleship and must be used in the rear.
At the time of the Pearl Harbor Incident, due to the rapid advancement of aviation technology, the aircraft carrier already possessed the strength to become the main battleship.
The commander of the Japanese Joint Fleet Fifty-Six Yamamoto knew this well, and he organized, trained, and used the powerful strike force of up to 6 aircraft carriers and nearly 400 carrier-based aircrafts without precedent in history, which severely damaged the US Pacific Fleet.
On the other hand, the U.S. Navy, the mainstream thinking is complacent, and still looks at aircraft carriers with a "cruiser" mindset.
Therefore, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, in addition to the "Saratoga" aircraft carrier that was repaired at home, the "Enterprise" and "Lexington" were first busy transporting aircraft to forward positions, and then with cruisers. They patrolled outside the port, and once they found an incoming Japanese fleet, they would engage in "outpost delay" operations to buy time for the battleships to dispatch.
This is why, with the exception of aircraft carriers, most of the US cruisers in the Pacific escaped the disaster, and the battleships were "destroyed."
The bombs and torpedoes that dropped from the sky on Pearl Harbor also made the US military suddenly sober, realized the decisive power of new quality equipment, and saw clearly who had become the "King of the Sea" at that time.
The U.S. Navy quickly and drastically reorganized, and the battle between the Japanese and American aircraft carrier formations appeared on the vast Pacific Ocean...