![]() ![]() surveillance of the ships for much of the way. Bad weather favored the Japanese task force, with storms hindering U.S. The first phase of the Pearl Harbor attack, the clandestine movement of a massive 67-ship armada, to within striking range of Hawaii, was perhaps the most difficult phase of “ Secret Operation Z”. Japan remains the only country in history to have been subjected to an operational strategic nuclear strike, two in fact, at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A staggering 2,600,000-3,100,000 Japanese would die in WWII between late 1941 and Japan’s capitulation on September 2, 1945. ![]() History shows that attacking Pearl Harbor was a costly decision for Japan. The First Air Fleet was Japan’s “plan B” to assert dominance against the Americans in the Pacific. It is noteworthy that the Japanese First Air Fleet was, at the onset, a contingency force, not already tasked with the certainty of an operational strike against Pearl Harbor. 26, 1941, when Admiral Chuichi Nagumo lead the Japanese First Air Fleet, the largest aircraft carrier strike force in history at the time, toward Hawaii as a contingency against the failure of negotiations with the U.S. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began on Nov. 7, 1941, the outcome for the Americans could have prolonged the war in the Pacific and further threatened the mainland United States. Navy’s seven aircraft carriers been at Pearl Harbor on Dec. A corollary of Japan’s daring initiative at Pearl Harbor was a significant measure of bad luck for the Americans. The short answer is that the Japanese were well prepared, enjoyed optimal tactical circumstances (if not favorable geography) and were extraordinarily lucky at Pearl Harbor. “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War. How did the Japanese manage such a successful force majeure against the Americans? ![]() by a small island nation that had, only seven decades earlier, still been ruled under an ancient feudal hierarchy that began in the year 1185 and ended with the Meiji Restoration in 1868. This remarkable military blow was dealt to the U.S. ![]()
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