At 7:49, the Japanese army issued an assault signal, and the flying commandos immediately launched attack formations, with the dive bombers taking the lead. At 7:55, batches of bombs rained down on Hickam Airport near the U.S. Pacific Fleet base, benefiting the Japanese.
At Lier Airport and Ford Island Airport, hundreds of U.S. aircraft lined up on the airport were blown into piles of scrap metal, and the hangars were destroyed.
In just a few minutes, the Japanese completely destroyed Pearl Harbor's air defense facilities and sent a signal to Nagumo on the "Akagi" aircraft carrier that the attack was successful: "Tora! Tiger! Tiger!"
At 7:57, Japanese torpedo planes broke in from several directions and fired torpedoes at the US warships on the east and west sides of Ford Island at a height of only 12 meters over the water.
Subsequently, Japanese horizontal bombers entered from the due west and once again bombed the battleships parked on the east side of Ford Island. At the same time, they bombed the Ewa Airport where anti-aircraft artillery fire was concentrated. Many US warships sank to the bottom of the sea before they could prepare for battle. A large number of
The U.S. anti-aircraft artillery position was quickly destroyed.
When the first wave of Japanese attacks suddenly began, the U.S. military was in chaos, panic, and almost defenseless. The anti-aircraft guns on the island did not fire sporadically until 6 minutes later. There were only 4 companies out of 33 anti-aircraft guns.
It opened fire and shot down very few Japanese aircraft.
In the first few minutes of the warships in the US port, almost no captains realized what was happening. The captains of the ships who lacked combat experience were still in chaos and disbelief.
Until 8:40, when the first attack wave ended and the Japanese planes successfully completed their first air strike and returned safely, the U.S. military failed to turn over.
On the other hand, in this wave of attacks, the biggest purpose of the Japanese aviation is not to destroy how many American warships or destroy how many facilities on the island.
His biggest goal is simply to destroy a large number of US military fighter aircraft and gain air supremacy. Then, destroy the US military's anti-aircraft artillery positions and reduce the intensity of the US military's anti-aircraft firepower.
On the surface, this seems to be in great conflict with the tactical purpose originally formulated by the Japanese base camp to focus on attacking the main warships of the US fleet at Pearl Harbor.
Even the attacks on US warships were only to weaken the anti-aircraft firepower that destroyed the warships, not to sink the warships in this wave of attacks.
But in fact, this approach must not conflict with the essential tactical purpose of the Japanese army, but is more conducive to achieving this purpose!
In fact, the first wave of attacking fighters had only one purpose, which was to clear the way for the second wave of attacks and eliminate the threat.
The real trump card of the "Mobile Force" is this second wave of attacks!
The 168 Japanese aircraft responsible for the second wave of attacks took off at 7:15, launched the attack formation at 8:46, entered from the east of Oahu, and began the attack at 8:55.
This wave of attacks is very different from the historical Pearl Harbor surprise attack. The main target of the Japanese bombers' attack is no longer American ships. Instead, under the air cover of fighter jets, they target oil on the mountains 5 miles away from Pearl Harbor.
Launch a decisive bombing to ignite the fire.
Under the circumstances at that time, even if a Japanese fighter plane flew to the right position and dropped a bomb, it could blow them up to pieces. In this way, all the US ships and aircraft in Pearl Harbor would become a pile of
Scrap iron.
Fires and violent explosions will solve everything for the Japanese army.
The U.S. Navy has 4.5 million tons of heavy oil stored in Pearl Harbor. The Japanese Navy, which moved its attack targets from ships to here, can easily take advantage of this disaster and kill four birds with one stone, destroying U.S. warships in the harbor, parking fighter jets at the airport, and destroying machinery factories.
repair facilities, causing huge casualties and subsequent fire losses.
The burning fire of 4.5 million tons of heavy oil cannot be extinguished by any firefighting means. Without anything else, this fire can completely destroy Pearl Harbor and destroy the possibility of its continued existence as a military port!
To rebuild this important military port, even if the United States is operating at full power, it will not be possible within a few years.
As a result, the U.S. Navy, which has no forward base, can only retreat 3,500 kilometers back to San Diego, California.
When the U.S. military sets out to fight wars from there in the future, it will never enjoy the same advantage that the U.S. Navy enjoyed during the Pacific War in history.
It can be said that the tactics provided by the Germans made Yamamoto Isoroku's idea of creating a strategic advantage for the next year completely feasible! In fact, this advantage may last longer than one year.
Not everyone could not see the danger of leaving such a time bomb at Pearl Harbor, but the heavy oil accumulated over a long period of time was irreplaceable. Without this fuel, the U.S. fleet would not be able to survive in a few months.
Pearl Harbor began to launch any combat operations. As a result, the U.S. fleet parked in Pearl Harbor would also be unable to move.
Therefore, such dangerous strategic materials were placed at the core by the US military itself.
Originally, there was nothing wrong with the US military's behavior.
After all, the area where heavy oil is stored is strictly confidential. It is hard to imagine that the Japanese could obtain relevant information.
Such an important piece of information was sent to the Japanese base camp by the German intelligence agency, which is unimaginable for the US military.
When Yamamoto Isoroku received the tactical advice from the Germans, he immediately clapped his legs and nodded.
Even a fool can see that if the deduction is carried out according to the German tactical proposal, as long as the US Navy's oil depot in Hawaii is set on fire, the main force of the US Navy in Hawaii will be completely finished!
Fires will burn, oil depots will explode, and the entire Hawaii will turn into a sea of flames, and it will be impossible to restore its original functions within a year.
Of course, Yamamoto Isoroku was not a vegetarian. He made detailed and specific arrangements based on the tactical guidance given by the Germans.
For example, he handed over the bombing of heavy oil areas to the second wave of attack aircraft instead of the first wave.
The reason why the oil depot is attacked last is because once the oil depot is ignited, the thick smoke from the fire will obscure the ground targets, which will affect the effect of subsequent air strikes. If the oil depot is bombed in the first wave, the effect of the second wave of attacks will be greatly reduced.
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On the contrary, the targets of the first wave of attacks are all to lay the foundation for the second wave of attacks and clear obstacles. After reducing the air-to-air and ground-to-air firepower of the US military, the second wave of oil depot bombing will also be more successful!
At the same time, the Japanese mini-submarine that sneaked into Pearl Harbor quickly deployed mines and launched torpedoes, blocking the exit of the dead port and not letting a single warship go.
In this battle, Yamamoto Isoroku really achieved a more terrifying record than the original one in history, eating all the US warships in Pearl Harbor in one go, leaving no one behind!
