Pearl Harbor

On December 7th, at 7:55 a.m., 353 Japanese aircraft from six aircraft carriers fell from the skies over Pearl Harbor. In the blink of an eye, bombs and torpedoes were exploding all around the anchored U.S Pacific fleet, while the dreaded Zero fighters strafed both Wheeler and Hickam airfields. In little more than an hour and forty-five minutes, all eight of the Pacific fleet’s battleships had either been sunk or severely damaged, in addition …

…wild for six months…. but should the war last two or three years I can not promise an outcome of victory.” It was his opinion that the small, resource-poor Japanese homeland could not beat the highly industrialized American colossus. However, if war was inevitable then he was going to do every thing in his power to win, which meant striking first and striking hard. Thus the operation to attack Pearl Harbor was set in motion.