Chapter 16: The Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor (Part 2)
ument.write(
At 7:35, when Nagumo's aircraft first appeared over Pearl Harbor, the harbor was still quiet, with only a few civilians visible in the distance. The sky above the harbor was clear, with only a few scattered clouds. A handful of civilian planes were lazily circling overhead. The fleet at anchor in the harbor was peaceful and serene under the morning sun. Military aircraft on the airfield were parked wingtip to wingtip to prevent damage from sabotage.
Yamada fired a signal flare, ordering the aircraft to begin deploying in surprise attack formation while sending out the "Tora, Tora, Tora" signal to inform the mother ship of the success of the surprise attack. Five thousand miles away on board the battleship Nagato, an excited clerk handed a telegram to Yamamoto, who remained unperturbed and continued playing Go with his chief of staff.
According to the surprise attack plan, the aircraft would enter in the order of torpedo planes, horizontal bombers and dive bombers, first attacking the warships. Due to cloud cover, some planes did not see the signal, so Yamada fired another flare. The dive bombers saw two flares and thought it was a command to launch a strong attack, which is a tactic used when the enemy has taken defensive measures. The aircraft entered in the order of fighter squadron, dive bomber, horizontal bomber and torpedo plane.
At 7:55, dive bombers first attacked the three airfields on Oahu, and two minutes later, torpedo planes began their attack. This small mistake did not affect the effectiveness of the attack. The first torpedo plane first shredded the flag on Nevada at the rear of the fleet with machine guns, then dropped a torpedo.
But this time, the first shot of the battle was fired by Japan's midget submarine force. When the first Japanese 99 bomber dove into a dive, two Type 93 torpedoes launched from a midget submarine had already exploded on the side of USS Nevada, although that midget submarine was quickly sunk by a destroyer, but this guy directly took the life of Nevada - 30 minutes later, the 29,000-ton battleship that escaped disaster in the original timeline rolled over and sank. Japan deployed five midget submarines, which launched torpedoes at American ships after the air raid began and achieved the result of sinking one battleship. All five boats were sunk later, with only four being found later. As in history, only one of the ten sailors on the five submarines survived, and the unlucky Sakamaki was unable to escape his fate of being captured in either timeline, but he also set a record - he was America's first prisoner of war in World War II.
In the first few minutes, no one in the Pacific Fleet realized what was happening, and some US Navy officers even thought of replacing Yamamoto Isoroku to "discipline these bad guys who violated flight rules". However, they soon discovered that these planes were obviously not their own, as they were frantically dropping bombs and torpedoes on American warships. By the time the Americans gradually came to their senses, the USS West Virginia and Oklahoma, parked on the outermost side of the fleet, had each been hit by two torpedoes, with the latter also being hit by 5 bombs before capsizing with over 400 officers and men on board. The former slowly sank into the water after opening the floodgates in time. The USS Arizona was engulfed in a large fire caused by an armor-piercing shell exploding inside the cabin, while the USS California was hit by two torpedoes, causing the heavy oil tank on the ship to erupt in flames and gradually sink. Five minutes later, sporadic anti-aircraft fire began to sound, but it was also a drop in the bucket.
Then, Horinouchi led the level bombers in their attack. He pressed the bomb release button and watched in a daze as his four bombs fell away in perfect formation, dwindling to small dots, he had no idea what it was like for those below watching them grow larger. Thick clouds of white smoke appeared around Maryland moored inside the fleet. Next, Tennessee and Pennsylvania, which was being repaired in dry dock, each took several bombs.
Suddenly, a massive explosion shook the eastern side of Ford Island's battleship fleet. Thick smoke billowed, with flames soaring over 1,000 meters high, characteristic of the reddish-black smoke column unique to incomplete combustion of gunpowder and explosives. This was due to the massive fire on board Arizona leading to an explosion in its ammunition depot. Amidst the reddish-black smoke and sporadic anti-aircraft gunfire, bombers continued to dive-bomb, while oil-covered waters were filled with desperate sailors swimming towards shore after abandoning ship.
A midget submarine successfully infiltrated the harbor, launched a torpedo and hit its target, but before the crew of the sunken submarine could even celebrate, they were rammed and sunk by the USS Monaghan.
At 8:10, another uncoded telegram - "Pearl Harbor attacked. This is not a drill" went to the US Navy Department, and Secretary of the Navy Knox exclaimed: "Damn it, these little yellow bastards are sneaky!" He had just received a call from the White House three minutes ago saying that Japan had declared war on the United States.
At 8:25, the first wave of attacks subsided. Yamada continued to circle in the air, calculating the results of the battle. Of the 12 B-17s that flew from the west coast and were intercepted by the Zero fighters, only two managed to land on the damaged airstrip with difficulty before being destroyed.
At 8:40, the second wave of 108 dive bombers, 84 level bombers and 55 fighters had begun to unfold over Oahu. At 8:42, 247 aircraft began their attack, braving increasingly heavy anti-aircraft fire. The level bomber formations targeted airfields on Oahu, while the dive bombers continued to target ships. Only a few Army Air Corps planes managed to take off and were promptly shot down by Zero fighters, which maintained air superiority after the first wave attack.
At this time, Pearl Harbor was already thick with smoke, seriously interfering with the dive bombers' search for ships below. The 99 Kansen all adopted a method of bombing based on anti-aircraft fire, that is, where the anti-aircraft fire was most intense, the planes dived there. One plane dived down and found that the target was an inland gun tower, and quickly pulled up. In the harbor, the Nevada, which was moored at the end of the battleship fleet, left its berth, and it was also the only battleship to move during the entire raid, but as a result, it took many more bombs.
At 9:40, after the second wave of attacks withdrew, Nagumo again circled over Pearl Harbor, taking pictures of his victory. He then flew to the assembly point and led the fleet back. Nagumo's plane was the last to land. He strongly demanded a third air raid, and at this time, Nagumo also caught Yamamoto's gambler mentality, thinking that since they had come so far, they might as well go all out! Soon, the third wave of attacks took off, heavily bombing the island's oil depot and repair facilities. The Lexington, Saratoga, Yorktown, and Enterprise were at this time conducting formation training exercises in the outer sea - this was the result of the butterfly effect caused by the arrival of the time traveler. After hearing the news that Pearl Harbor had been attacked, they hastily ordered their carrier-based aircraft to prepare for takeoff with bombs loaded, but just as they were busy loading the bombs onto the planes, a 97-type attack bomber flew above them, and soon hundreds of various fighter planes arrived above them. At this time, the American carrier-based reconnaissance plane also sent out a signal, discovering the Japanese aircraft carrier battle group, but when they received this message, the Japanese had already dropped their bombs onto the deck of the aircraft carriers - this was the fourth wave of attacks that Nagumo had prepared for them. After one round of air raids, only the Enterprise remained, barely afloat and on fire, while the other three aircraft carriers became reefs in the deep sea, sinking to the bottom with fires burning all over their bodies. Comparing the original plan with the time traveler's information, Nagumo was delighted to discover that his mission had been over-fulfilled - he would be able to receive a bonus when he returned! However, as the saying goes, "greed can lead to loss," and Nagumo, who had become dizzy from victory, threw caution to the wind. He ordered the four battleships Kongō, Hiei, Kirishima, and Haruna, which were escorting the aircraft carriers, to shell the island of Oahu, but he did not expect that although the American naval and air forces on the island had suffered a devastating blow, the shore-based artillery batteries had not been severely damaged. The 406mm and 380mm cannons in the batteries were not to be underestimated! Soon, both sides engaged in an intense artillery battle, but this time the Japanese suffered heavy losses. Less than 30 minutes after the start of the battle, a 406mm shell hit the bow of the Hiei, and the two turrets at the bow became scrap metal. The fire that broke out immediately turned more than a dozen damage control personnel into human torches. If the captain had not ordered water to be poured into the ammunition magazines of the two turrets in a state of emergency, disregarding the lives of the personnel below, the Hiei might have become a submarine! At this time, the Kirishima was also hit by two 380mm shells, and the two large holes at its stern seemed to be telling the Japanese: it's painful to try to force things, don't think that just because you've changed the name of your battlecruiser to battleship, it's really become one! It wasn't until then that Nagumo realized he had made a serious mistake. Just as it happened, a heavy rain started, and the observation equipment on the artillery batteries was severely affected. The commander of the Kongō's division took advantage of the situation and immediately sent out a signal saying "Wind is strong, withdraw!" The remaining two ships hastily towed away the heavily damaged Hiei and Kirishima, which had been badly battered, and retreated in disarray. The four battleships, with their actual actions, proved Nelson's famous saying: "Only fools would engage in a battle of artillery without infantry support."
Anyway, the Japanese Navy won a great victory this time, although it was almost stranded in the middle of the road due to fuel exhaustion. The results of this raid included all battleships in Pearl Harbor, and almost all aircraft on land were destroyed, although some aircraft took off from underground air-raid shelters and counterattacked, but in front of Japan's Zero fighter jets with numerical superiority and quality advantages, those American pilots who played dogfighting with P36 and P40 against the Zero were like ripe apples falling down. 12 battleships and other ships were sunk or damaged. 188 aircraft were destroyed, 155 were damaged, and 3,996 Americans died. The sinking of the USS Arizona and USS Nevada alone resulted in thousands of deaths.
