On December 7, 1941, the Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Since early 1941 the U.S. had been supplying Great Britain in its fight against the Nazis. It had also been pressuring Japan to halt its military expansion in Asia and the Pacific. With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. could no longer avoid an active fight. On December 8, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Congress for and received a declaration of war against Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy, allied with Japan, declared war on the U.S. The United States had entered World War II.

Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto conceived the Pearl Harbor attack and Captain Minoru Genda planned it. Two things inspired Yamamoto’s Pearl Harbor idea: a prophetic book and a historic attack. The book was The Great Pacific War, written in 1925 by Hector Bywater, a British naval authority. It was a realistic account of a clash between the United States and Japan that begins with the Japanese destruction of the U.S. fleet and proceeds to a Japanese attack on Guam and the Philippines. When Britain’s Royal Air Force successfully attacked the Italian fleet at Taranto on November 11, 1940, Yamamoto was convinced that Bywater’s fiction could become reality.

On December 6, 1941, the U.S. intercepted a Japanese message that inquired about ship movements and berthing positions at Pearl Harbor. The cryptologist gave the message to her superior who said he would get back to her on Monday, December 8. On Sunday, December 7, a radar operator on Oahu saw a large group of airplanes on his screen heading toward the island. He called his superior who told him it was probably a group of U.S. B-17 bombers and not to worry about it.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:55 that morning. The entire attack took only one hour and 15 minutes. Captain Mitsuo Fuchida sent the code message, “Tora, Tora, Tora,” to the Japanese fleet after flying over Oahu to indicate the Americans had been caught by surprise. The Japanese planned to give the U.S. a declaration of war before the attack began so they would not violate the first article of the Hague Convention of 1907, but the message was delayed and not relayed to U.S. officials in Washington until the attack was already in progress.

The Japanese strike force consisted of 353 aircraft launched from four heavy carriers. These included 40 torpedo planes, 103 level bombers, 131 dive-bombers, and 79 fighters. The attack also consisted of two heavy cruisers, 35 submarines, two light cruisers, nine oilers, two battleships, and 11 destroyers.

The attack killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including 68 civilians, and destroyed or damaged 19 U.S. Navy ships, including 8 battleships. The three aircraft carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were out to sea on maneuvers. The Japanese were unable to locate them and were forced to return home with the U.S. carrier fleet intact.

The battleship USS Arizona remains sunken in Pearl Harbor with its crew onboard. Half of the dead at Pearl Harbor were on the Arizona. A United States flag flies above the sunken battleship, which serves as a memorial to all Americans who died in the attack.

Dorie Miller, a steward on the USS West Virginia, distinguished himself by courageous conduct and devotion to duty during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He first assisted his mortally wounded captain and then manned a machine gun, which he was not accustomed to operating, successfully destroying two Japanese aircraft. He was the first African American awarded the Navy Cross, the service’s highest award, for his actions during the attack.

The Japanese lost 29 aircraft and 5 midget submarines in the attack. One Japanese soldier was taken prisoner and 129 Japanese soldiers were killed. Out of all the Japanese ships that participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor only one, the Ushio, survived until the end of the war. It was surrendered to the U.S. at Yokosuka Naval Base. When Admiral Yamamoto learned that his forces had not destroyed the U.S. aircraft carriers or completely destroyed the U.S. fleet, he feared that the United States, with its enormous industrial potential, would soon recover and fight back.

The United States did recover—and quicker than Yamamoto could have imagined. After only six months, the U.S. carrier fleet dealt a decisive blow to Yamamoto’s navy in June 1942 at the Battle of Midway, sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers. After this U.S. victory came the start of the U.S. island-hopping campaign and the eventual defeat of the Japanese Empire in August 1945.

https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/pearl-harbor-fact-sheet-1.pdf

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NOW SOMETHING TELLS US THAT GERMANY WAS INTERESTED IN KNOWING ALL ABOUT “PEAR HARBOR” BEFORE THE JAPANESE ATTACK ON 7 December 1941…

IN HIS BOOK, THE DOUBLE-CROSS SYSTEM, J C MASTERMAN TELLS US ABOUT TRICYCLE, ONE OF HIS DOUBLE AGENTS, GETTING VERY SPECIFIC REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION FROM GERMANY ABOUT “HAWAII”… TRICYCLE DID NOT HAVE MUCH CHOICE BUT TO PROVIDE SOME REAL INFORMATION TO THE GERMANS, OTHERWISE HIS “COVER” WOULD HAVE BEEN BLOWN. THE BRITISH OF COURSE ALERTED THE AMERICANS ABOUT GERMANY’S REQUEST, FOR WHICH THE ANSWERS PROVIDED BY TRICYCLE MOST LIKELY WOULD HAVE BEEN TRANSMITTED TO JAPAN…

J C MASTERMAN TELLS US:

… instructions for TRICYCLE (Dusan Popov — Yugoslav) who was being sent over by the Germans to America with a view to establishing an important information organisation there--important particularly because the greater part of their previous organisation had been discovered and broken up.

The whole questionnaire covers approximately three quarto sheets typed, and of this one-third deals with Hawaii and in particular with Pearl Harbour. It is noticeable that, whereas all the other questions are more or less general or statistical (e.g., "Reports regarding U.S.A. strong points of all descriptions, especially in Florida"; "How much is the monthly production of bombers, fighting planes, training planes, civilian aeroplanes?"), those connected with Hawaii are specialised and detailed (e.g., details of named aerodromes, if possible with sketches, and the situations of the hangars, workshops, bomb depots, and petrol depots are demanded). Another characteristic question is: "Pearl Harbour- exact details and sketch of the situation of the State Wharf and the power installations, workshops, petrol installations, situation of Dry Dock No. 1 and the new drydock which is being built."

TRICYCLE was to operate in the United States generally and would presumably be for some length of time in the eastern states. It is therefore surely a fair deduction that the questionnaire indicated very clearly that in the event of the United States being at war, Pearl Harbour would be the first point to be attacked [Gus bold], and that plans for this attack had reached an advanced state by August 1941. Obviously it was for the Americans to make their appreciation and to draw their deductions from the questionnaire rather than for us to do so. Nonetheless, with our fuller knowledge of the case and of the man, we ought to have stressed its importance more than we did. With the greater experience of a few more years' work, we should certainly have risked a snub and pointed out to our friends in the United States what the significance of the document might be: but in 1941 we were still a little char of expressing opinions and a little mistrustful of our own judgment. The lesson is, no doubt, that once an agent is firmly established, any questionnaire given to him has a much greater and more immediate intelligence value than that usually attributed to it. (Some of TRICYCLE’s questionnaire for America follows….)

(SOME OF) TRICYCLE'S AMERICAN QUESTIONNAIRE

Naval Information.

-_Reports on enemy shipments (material food-stuffs- combination of convoys, if possible with names of ships and speeds). Assembly of troops for oversea transport in U.S.A. and Canada.

Strength- number of ships ports of assembly-reports on ship building (naval and merchant ships)-wharves (dockyards)—state and private owned wharves— new works--list of ships being built or resp. having been ordered--times of building.

Reports regarding U.S.A. strong points of all descriptions especially in Florida- organisation of strong points for fast boats (E-boats) and their depot ships- coastal defence-organisation districts.

Hawaii._

Ammunition dumps and mine depots.

1. Details about naval ammunition and mine depot on the Isle of Kushua (Pearl Harbour). If possible sketch.

2. Naval ammunition depot Lualuelei. Exact position? Is there a railway line (junction)?

3. The total ammunition reserve of the army is supposed to be in the rock of the Crater Aliamanu. Position?

4. Is the Crater Punchbowl (Honolulu) being used as ammunition dump? If not, are there other military works?

Aerodromes.

1. Aerodrome Lukefeld.- Details (sketch if possible) regarding the situation of the hangars (number?), workshops, bomb depots, and petrol depots. Are there underground petrol installations?-_Exact position of the seaplane station? Occupation?

2. Naval air arm strong point Kaneche.-_Exact report regarding position, number of hangars, depots, and workshops (sketch). Occupation?

3. Army aerodromes Wicham Field and Wheeler Field._Exact position? Reports regarding number of hangars, depots and workshops. Underground installations? (Sketch.)

4. Rodger's Airport.-In case of war, will this place be taken over by the army or the navy? What preparations have been made? Number of hangars? Are there landing possibilities for seaplanes?

5. Airport of the Panamerican Airways.-Exact position? (If possible sketch.) Is this airport possibly identical with Rodger's Airport or a part thereof? (A wireless station of the Panamerican Airways is on the Peninsula Mohapuu.) Naval Strong Point Pearl Harbour.

1. Exact details and sketch about the situation of the state wharf, of the pier installations, workshops, petrol installations, situations of dry dock No. 1 and of the new dry dock which is being built.

2. Details about the submarine station (plan of situation). What land installations are in existence?

3. Where is the station for mine search formations [Minensuchverbaende]? How far has the dredger work progressed at the entrance and in the east and and southeast lock? Depths of water?

4. Number of anchorages [Liegeplaetze]?

5. Is there a floating dock in Pearl Harbour or is the transfer of such a dock to this place intended?

Special tasks.- Reports about torpedo protection nets newly introduced in the British and U.S.A. navy. How far are they already inexistence in the merchant and naval fleet? Use during voyage? Average speed reduction when in use. Details of construction and others.

1. Urgently required are exact details about the armoured strengths of American armoured cars, especially of the types which have lately been delivered from the U.S.A. to the Middle East. Also all other reports on armoured cars and the composition of armoured (tank) formations are of greatest interest.

2. Required are the Tables of Organisation (TO) of the American infantry divisions and their individual units (infantry regiments, artillery "Abteilung," and so forth) as well as of the American armoured divisions and their individual units (armoured tank regiments, reconnaissance section, and so forth). These TO are lists showing strength, which are published by the American War Department and are of a confidential nature

3. How is the new light armoured car (tank)? Which type is going to be finally introduced? Weight? Armament? Armour?

PRESENTLY, RUSSIA RELIES ON VARIOUS SOURCES OF INFORMATION FOR ITS UKRAINE INTERVENTION, INCLUDING SATELLITE UP TO MOMENT IMAGING. BUT IT IS ALSO LIKELY TO GET INFO FROM THE "UNDERGROUND" — UKRAINIANS OPPOSED TO THE NAZI KIEV REGIME.... 

GUS LEONISKY

POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951

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