Pearl+Harbor

=**PEARL HARBOR** =  Pearl Harbor was originally an extensive, shallow embayment called //Wai Momi// (meaning "harbor of pearl") or //Pu'uloa// by the Hawaiins. Pu'uloa was regarded as the home of the shark goddess Ka'ahupahau and her brother (or son) Kahi'uka in Hawaiian legends. Keaunui, the head of the powerful and celebrated Ewa chiefs, is attributed the honour of having cut a navigable channel near the present Puuloa saltworks, by which the great estuary, now known as "Pearl River," was in all subsequent ages rendered accessible to navigation. Making due allowance for legendary amplification of a known fact, the estuary doubtless had an outlet for its waters where the present gap is; but the legend is probably correct in giving Keaunui the credit of having widened it and deepened it, so as to admit the passage of canoes, and even larger vessels, in and out of the Pearl River estuary. The harbor was teeming with pearl-producing oysters until the late 1800s.


 The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941  (Hawaiian time, December 8 by Japan Standard Time), later resulting in the United States becoming militarily involved in World War II. It was intended as a preventive action to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from influencing the war the Empire of Japan was planning to wage in Southeast Asia against Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States. The attack consisted of two aerial attack waves totaling 353 aircraft, launched from six Japanese aircraft carriers. 

The attack sank four U.S. Navy battleships (two of which were raised and returned to service late in the war) and damaged four more. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, and one minelayer, destroyed 188 aircraft, and caused personnel losses of 2,402 killed[8] and 1,282 wounded. The power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section ) were not hit. Japanese losses were minimal, at 29 aircraft and five midget submarines, with 65 servicemen killed or wounded. The attack was a major engagement of World War II. It occurred before a formal declaration of war and before the last part of a 14-part message was delivered to the State Department in Washington, D.C. The Japanese Embassy in Washington had been instructed to deliver it immediately prior to the scheduled time of the attack in Hawaii. The attack, and especially the surprise nature of it, were both factors in changing U.S. public opinion from an isolationist position to support for direct participation in the war. Germany's prompt declaration of war, unforced by any treaty commitment to Japan, quickly brought the United States into the European Theater as well. Despite numerous historical precedents of unannounced military action, the lack of any formal declaration prior to the attack led to proclaim President Franklin D. Roosevelt "December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy" .

 Video of the attack on Pearl Harbor: media type="youtube" key="HAnOtWm5OrM" height="344" width="425"



Attack on the Philippines
On the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 8, 1941, in Manila), MacArthur was Allied commander in the Philippines. He had over eight hours warning of a possible Japanese attack on the Philippines, and express orders from Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall to commence operations. MacArthur's failure to take defensive or offensive action resulted in Japanese air superiority over the Philippines—MacArthur's inaction during the critical hours has been given as the reason for "an enormity of loss no less than that in Hawaii". A misplaced reliance by MacArthur on his air commander of only two months, General Lewis H. Brereton, has been offered as an explanation for his inaction by his defenders. Despite clear warnings of Japanese aggression, Brereton had not transitioned his air defenses to a war footing, and like the air commanders at Hickam Field at Pearl Harbor, failed to disperse aircraft properly in camouflaged revetments to limit damage from incoming air raids. Brereton's difficulties were magnified by the fact that the Far East Air Force (FEAF) was mostly a motley collection of obsolescent U.S. and Philippine Air Force planes. The FEAF was, however, in possession of 72 operational front line P-40 Warhawk fighters. MacArthur's lack of aggressiveness led to most U.S. aircraft being caught on the ground and destroyed. Later, MacArthur would publicly defend his air commander while privately concluding he was incompetent; he transferred Brereton out of the Philippines as soon as possible. Brereton claimed he had requested permission to launch 35 B-17 Flying Fortresses (his entire heavy bombing force) to attack Japanese shipping in nearby Taiwan. Some historians have seen this proposed use of B-17s as a departure from their intended use, to scout for incoming attacking forces or to attack Japan proper. Others note that Hoyt Vandenberg's plan for the defense of the Philippines by air, with its beginnings in 1939 and an update in August 1941, included the use of heavy bombers as a "striking force" to counter Japanese forces in Asia. Brereton's subsequent defense of his request for offensive action contained the implication that a Taiwan attack would have preserved the majority of the B-17 force. Though the bombers were scrambled in response to an early alert, they returned to refuel just as Japanese aircraft attacked Clark Field, and 17 were destroyed on the ground. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;"> Audio of General MacArthur's promise to return to the Philippines: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> media type="custom" key="4476994"