Was Pearly Harbor Simply A Stepping Stone To Victory?

Sometimes history reveals to us what we could never have known in the thick of the moment as the sagas of human hardship and struggle left the pages of bloody archives for future generations to observe. Without a perspective of history to lead us to conclusions we might never be able to comprehend the value of those lives lost and how they contributed to a greater cause reveals itself. The Pearl Harbor attack may be just one of such cases seemingly pointing to a terrible defeat initially, but perhaps being essential in order that a greater victory emerge in the end.

The onslaught begins

December 6, 1941 and in the early morning hour waves of Japanese Zeros, Torpedo bombers, and as high level bombers destroyed or damaged 18 US Naval Pacific battle ships, destroyers, and others while wrecking several airfields such as Hickam Field, Wheeler Field, Bellows Field, Ewa Field, Schoefield Barracks, and Kaneohe Naval Air Station. As desperate American aviators attempted to man their fighter planes and get airborne they were mercilessly strafed and slaughtered by Japanese aircraft. Only six US fighters got off the ground, reportedly P-36's, but not until close to the end of the attack.

The unthinkable

When the USS Arizona was hit by a precisely delivered armor piercing aerial bomb that immediately ignited the magazines (powder storage) the battleship exploded so violently that 900 Navy personnel were incinerated in a spit second by a fiery blast that sank the pride of shipyard. In all, 1,177 shipmates perished within the Arizona alone among the other casualties of the attack. Although the sailors and officers were caught completely by surprise without warning it is reported that within 5 minutes an umbrella of anti-aircraft fire was deployed mostly by 50 caliber machine guns and rifle fire. Some anti-aircraft batteries would soon become operational by ships whose boilers had yet not been knocked out by torpedoes slamming into their hulls. Many hapless ships were so badly damaged their electrical power systems could not activate their guns.

The carnage

Frustrated servicemen had to break open storage lockers in order to retrieve ammunition for the machine guns as Japanese aircraft rained down destruction upon the harbor. In the face of the devastation many men, women, and even civilians distinguished themselves in the midst of terror. Perhaps the greatest defeat of a foe by surprise attack in military history happened at Pearl Harbor. Yet, in this seeming heart wrenching loss of life some unperceived hope and determination would arise from the ashes of despair in months and years to come. At that somber moment victory would have seemed elusive, but without the great sacrifice of the tragedy at Pearl a chain of events that defeated Japan happened relatively quickly.

Consequences

Had America not been attacked in a manner that was considered a sneak attack which enraged millions of young men into enlistment, World War II may well have taken on a completely different complexion and the world may well have succumb to fascism on a global scale. In months to come the Doolittle Raid upon the Japanese coast would elicit a morale boost for the American public though it was a small triumph by military standards. Then came the battles of the Coral Sea in which American losses and Japanese losses were about the same. The significance was that for the first time American forces had held off their opponents to a stalemate for the time being.

Laying in wait

The true prize for the Japanese Imperial Fleet were the American aircraft carriers (3) the Yorktown, the Enterprise, and the Hornet. They wanted an epic battle that would destroy what was left of the US Pacific Fleet's capability to remain a major deterrent to the ambitions of the Japanese forces. A battle plan that was successfully decrypted by US Naval code breakers Admiral Nimitz now knew precisely where the enemy would strike. Just north of Midway Island the scene was set for a decisive engagement that would reverse the fortunes of the Japanese and put them on the defensive if the Americans could overcome being outnumbered by the four Japanese carriers and their massive aerial armada.

The outcome

As fate would have it after losing 42 US torpedo bombers in initial failed attacks the Japanese were caught by surprise by ensuing waves of American Dauntless Dive Bombers that set 3 of the Japanese aircraft carriers afire and sinking within minutes. That left one Japanese ship that Admiral Nimitz vowed to destroy regardless of the risk and he got it, but the US Pacific Fleet lost a carrier too that had been badly damaged and finally sunk by a Japanese submarine a day later. Yet, this unanticipated defeat of a superior enemy task force turned the tide of battle from a desperate US Navy in a defensive posture to a reversal of fortune never allowing the Japanese to seek the offensive again though it would be 3 more years of war before they surrendered.

Further implications

However, the legacy of Pearl Harbor does not simply end with the defeat of the Japanese Imperial Forces in the Pacific. On the other side of the world in Europe not only had Nazi Germany captured the nations of France, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, and the Eastern Bloc nations, but German physicists were busy working on their first nuclear device. Germany had already developed the V-1 Buzz Bomb and the V-2 rocket, platforms that could have delivered atomic destruction all over the world and led to a victory for the Axis Forces. The Nazis had already created combat fighter jets too such as the Me 262, but luckily not in numbers sufficient to turn the tide of the war.

The race

In America in Los Alamos, New Mexico American scientists finally perfected the first atomic bomb ahead of the heavy water experiments that would have allowed Hitler to have a thermonuclear device first. The rush to not only beat the Germans to the A-Bomb before they could begin delivering them on their V-2 rockets and later the plan to shorten the war in the Pacific Theater to minimize huge projected casualties for the Allies should they be forced to invade the Japanese mainland necessitated the arrival of America's nuclear capability. The demand to defeat our enemies in order to avert loss of life and the war had been instrumental in not only developing the first A-Bomb but ending the war much sooner.

Fortunate conclusion

In unleashing the Atomic Bomb on Japan the 509^th Bomb Group accelerated the end of World War II and actually saved as many as a million Allied casualties in the process. As well, the terrible defeat at Pearl Harbor 4 years earlier was avenged. A tragedy had been transformed into the driving force that would motivate America to enter a distant foreign entanglement and end not only a global conflict but had Germany had the time to finish their nuclear experiments the delay of America's involvement might have meant the terrible prospect of a German victory that would have plunged the world into the darkness of fascism for Lord only knows how many generations to come. Sometimes disaster leads to a greater awakening, a liberation from even worse consequences. So it was at Pearl Harbor, the beginning of the end, to quote Winston Churchill.