Sunday, February 8, 2009

Attacks on America





Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (1941) by cynthiabuelna;*
I chose this theme because i love it, since I saw the movie I find this theme very interesting and impacting.
This attack took place in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941. This attack was conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States naval base in Pearl Harbor.
The casualty list includes 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians killed, with 1,178 wounded. Included are 1,104 men aboard the Battleship USS Arizona killed after a 1,760-pound air bomb penetrated into the forward magazine causing catastrophic explosions. The Japanese also damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, and one minelayer, destroyed 188 aircraft, and caused personnel losses of 2,402 killed and 1,282 wounded.
The Americans are taken completely by surprise. The first attack wave targets airfields and battleships. The second wave targets other ships and shipyard facilities. The Japanese lose 27 planes and five midget submarines which attempted to penetrate the inner harbor and launch torpedoes.That day, Pearl Harbor was as every day, people were taking care of their normal occupations, the navals were on their break when the attack started. Islands of Hawaii, near Oahu - The Japanese attack force under the command of Admiral Nagumo, consisting of six carriers with 423 planes, is about to attack. At 6 a.m., the first attack wave of 183 Japanese planes takes off from the carriers located 230 miles north of Oahu and heads for the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor - At 7:02 a.m., two Army operators at Oahu's northern shore radar station detect the Japanese air attack approaching and contact a junior officer who disregards their reports, thinking they are American B-17 planes which are expected in from the U.S. west coast.
Near Oahu - At 7:15 a.m., a second attack wave of 167 planes takes off from the Japanese carriers and heads for Pearl Harbor.

The reason for the attack was because the strike was intended to neutralize the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and hence protect Japan's advance into Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, where Japan sought access to natural resources such as oil and rubber. Both the U.S. and Japan held long-standing contingency plans for war in the Pacific which was continuously updated as tensions between the two countries steadily increased during the 1930s.
Technology was the strength for the Japanese, because of it they were able to released their attack. The Japanese used 6 aircraft carriers,2 battleships,2 heavy cruisers,1 light cruiser,9 destroyers,8 tankers,23 fleet submarines,5 midget submarines,414 aircraft.
With this we can realize that the Japanese made a bad use of it, why? because their war was held on all these mobile units.


2 comments:

  1. This topic is also very interesting and dissapointing. Just by watching the pictures I feel sad and amazed of how things like this can happen. Japanese acted in a very bad way, they were like playing against the rules because they didn't let the US have enough time to organize themselves. Here also a lot of innocent people were harmed. Japan took advantage of technology because, but as you say I think they abuse of it. We can see how technology can make us go so far. The US was the target because they wanted their resources, I think they are jealous if the US because they have been the most powerful since long time ago.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i think that anything that has to do with war is bad, i dont care if its for good or for bad, for our country or for another country i just think this kind of stuff should not happen. I dont get why people are so selfish and dont think that when they are doing that they are actually killing alot of people that dont even know about it, innocent people that dont have a clue of what is happening in the world. I think that problems should be fixed in another way not the way that they think.

    miroslava pavlovich :*

    ReplyDelete