Pacific War Series - Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

The first novel, Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8, covers the background up through the attack on the United States Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ("December 8th" is the date in Japan, on the west side of the International Date Line; the local time was December 7.)

The novel begins in Japan in 1934 where Lt-Commander James Watson of the US Navy and his equally-ranked friend Cecil Stanford of the British Royal Navy are guests of the Etajima Naval Academy, witnessing the harsh, aggressive training of recruits. They meet friendly young Lieutenant Mitsuo Fuchida of the Imperial Navy and the three discuss the growing military strength of Japan and the increasing political tensions across the Pacific.

In 1936, Stanford makes his report of his impressions of Japanese culture and their military & political ambitions to Winston Churchill. Back in Japan, Fuchida and Commander Genda Minoru formulate the new naval doctrines in which air-power will supersede the Battleship as the prime weapon of the Imperial Fleet.

In December 1937, Watson is on board the US Navy gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze River near Shanghai when it is strafed and sunk by Japanese aircraft despite the vessel clearly displaying the American flag. A few days later, Stanford, now a journalist, has the misfortune to witness, and narrowly escape (with the assistance of German businessman John Rabe), the brutal atrocities committed on the Chinese civilian population of Nanking by the Imperial Japanese Army. Fuchida and Stanford meet in China but the latter’s anger & disgust over recent events causes a falling-out between the two friends.

In September 1940, Genda, now a naval attaché in London, watches the Battle of Britain being fought over the English capital and he later gives his critical appraisal of the Campaign to USAAC Colonel Carl Spaatz.

January 1941. Watson, having lost one of his hands when the Panay sank and now living in Hawaii as a civilian, is recalled to duty as an Intelligence officer in the US Navy. He and his new friend and colleague Captain Tom Collingwood are assigned the task of deciphering Japanese coded communications. It proves to be a frustrating and laborious task.

February 1941. Admiral Yamamoto is advised by Genda on the crucial importance of naval airpower in the coming war with the West that seems inevitable.

June-September 1941. Fuchida strives to develop new techniques in attacking vessels in shallow-water harbours whilst Japanese Prime-Minister Konoye, with little authority over his country’s armed forces, reluctantly submits plans for military expansion to the Emperor for approval. Stanford is in Hanoi when he hears the news of the Japanese decision to occupy French Indochina, signalling that the Japanese are prepared to openly provoke the West. The US begins an embargo on oil supplies to Japan and Emperor Hirohito secretly approves plans for military action.

October-November 1941. Genda manages to convince Yamamoto to personally command the naval task-force assigned to mount a surprise attack on the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. Genda and Fuchida both feel that the original choice of commander, Admiral Nagumo, a ‘Battleship Admiral’ of the old school, lacks both conviction and a proper understanding of the new carrier tactics. Stanford is re-assigned to Singapore by the now Prime-Minister Winston Churchill to report on the growing threat in the East. The Japanese carrier fleet sets sail from Japan on November 26 (Tokyo time), bound for Hawaii. On November 28, the US carrier USS Enterprise, Admiral William Halsey commanding, departs Pearl Harbor, bound for Wake Island with a cargo of fighter aircraft.

December 7, 1941 (December 8, Tokyo Time). The first and second waves of Japanese aircraft launched from the six fleet carriers of Yamamoto’s Imperial Task Force located north of Hawaii attack Pearl Harbor and US Naval & Army airfields on Oahu. Watson witnesses at close hand the destruction of Battleship Row on Ford Island including the terrible losses of the Battle-wagons Arizona and Oklahoma. Fuchida, personally leading the attack, notes, as the second wave departs, that many of the harbour facilities including the main dry dock and the oil storage tanks along with all of the US submarines are still intact. Upon return to the flagship Akagi, Fuchida advises Yamamoto to launch a third strike, as does Genda. The Admiral agrees but decides to send only half the available bombers, retaining the rest as a reserve in case the so far un-located US carriers should appear.

Shortly before 3pm local time, the third wave arrives over Pearl Harbor. This time, the defences are on alert, putting up a dense anti-aircraft barrage which inflicts severe losses, the strike force losing a third of its aircraft. But the attackers cause heavy damage nonetheless, destroying No 1 dry-dock, the oil tank farms and the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet, killing the Commander-in-Chief Admiral Kimmel. In addition, a number of ships left intact after the earlier attacks are sunk or damaged, including all of the submarines still moored in the harbour. Fuchida, his aircraft badly damaged, barely makes it back to his carrier. The novel ends with Admiral Yamamoto grimly resolved to remain in Hawaiian waters until the battle is brought to a decisive conclusion and Admiral Halsey on board the USS Enterprise, less than a day’s sail from Pearl, mounting a search for the enemy fleet that he has vowed vengeance upon.