The seventh of December in 1941 was a day filled with surprise, anger and fear for the United States. It was the day when Japan decided to surprisingly attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The attack only lasted only a couple hours; from around 7 to 10 in the morning. The United States were trying their best to stay out of the Second World War, but this attack led to their involvement in it.
The United States was in the way of Japan’s chance to conquer new, larger areas of Asia and this attack was their attempt to get their chance to do what they had planned with Asia (Harris 5). The two countries were discussing peace while Japan planned the attack (3). The Japanese had spies in the US acting as employees. They reported back everything they learned about Pearl Harbor. Information that Japan knew
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The Japanese had planes and mini-submarines attacking Pearl Harbor. The planes that attacked were the Nakajima, which carried torpedoes made to run through shallow waters, and the Aichi D3Al which was a dive bomber (8). The Aichi D3Al played a huge part in the attack.
There were eight battleships that were targeted at Pearl Harbor that day. All of the battleships, except for the Vestal, are named after states in the US. The Vestal is not an actual battleship either. It’s a repair ship. There was also the Pennsylvania, which wasn't near the other battleships. It was being worked on. On Battleship Row there was the California, the Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and the West Virginia. There also laid the Arizona, the Nevada, and the Vestal (22).
Including sixty-eight civilians, there were 2,403 casualties discovered after the attack. A lot of them weren’t meant to be killed or injured but were just victims of anti-aircraft shells that were improperly fused. Japan expected more damage to come towards them but their losses were very small compared to the losses of Pearl Harbor. Only twenty-nine Japanese planes were unsuccessful in returning