What if Japan had followed up Pearl Harbor with an amphibious assault?
They would have gotten their @sses handed to them. Not even the worst insane racists of Japan considered an invasion.
Not likely, as those Japanese resources were already planned for the Philippines the day after Pearl Harbor. The Japanese purpose in hitting Pearl was to blunt any quick U.S. air or Naval response to aid MacArthur in the Philippines beginning the day after Pearl Harbor was hit.
What if Japs had done a second raid and concentrated on the oil storage facilities at Pearl?
They certainly COULD have. Think of it.
When I read Gen. Stilwell’s bio and the excellent “ Stilwell and the American Experience in China” I was surprised. He said that after the attack at Pearl Harbor, he was sent to Cal. to assess the security and set up defense on the coast there. He was APALLED. There was NO defense at all.
American ports, harbors, manufacturing, etc. were all totally exposed and defenseless! Fully 80% of the US aircraft manufacturing was completely without security and ALL of it was sitting within gunboat range, on the coast, as were the harbors, air fields and ports!
Of course, lots of people expected the coast to be attacked, as well.... and rightly. It makes me ill when people complain that Japanese Americans were removed from the coast.
Seriously? What were we supposed to do with all those important areas exposed and with so many Japanese at large... no matter WHAT their sympathies?
What would any other nation have done? I think the US was well within its rights to be cautious and all they did was get the Japanese citizens out of the way.