Posted on 12/04/2016 11:38:19 AM PST by EveningStar
Pearl Harbor: The Truth Preview
TV-PG
Watch a preview for “Pearl Harbor: The Truth,” premiering Sunday, December 4, at 10/9c. HISTORY Honors Pearl Harbor.
Duration: 0m 30s
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
German markings? Could be my goof, but...
“German markings? Could be my goof, but...”
Photo editing, basic version.
You can see the trim line around the Stuka in the front rather clearly.
Doesn't seem possible - I mean, the krauts had only one carrier, right? But photos don't lie...
When someone starts talking “truth”, my radar goes into hyper-drive.
Unless it’s iron clad, I consider it an attempt at a history rewrite, and not the good kind. Makes me angry.
Damned Hitler, what was he doing bombing Pearl Harbor, anyway???
It would have been real logistics feat too.
“Torpedo-Angriff zu starten!!”
I’ve done a little more research on this. “Tora” is a contraction of the Japanese words meaning “lightning attack” (and as a stand-alone word means “tiger”). So you could speculate that the German version would almost literally be “Blitzkrieg!”
Makes the Stukas not so out of place.
I think I’ll stick with my own sources. Here are the two letters I plan to send out on this anniversary.
Pearl Harbor Attack Unexpected
Revisionists offer arguments that Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Cordell Hull, and George Marshall foreknew the Pearl Harbor attack. These authors review historical events for those few data points that indicate an overwhelming attack. However, living history forward means accumulating and discerning patterns from 10,000’s of data points coming from humint, radio traffic analysis, code breaking, etc.
The Pearl Harbor attack astonished the administration and military professionals. Never before had even two carriers for any country planned and/or coordinated an attack on a naval or land target. No inkling existed in any allied Naval operational and intelligence community of a capability beyond the 21 bi-plane torpedo bombers from a single British carrier that attacked the Italian Navy at Taranto.
Yet, for Pearl Harbor the Japanese had forged a strategic weapon of six carriers with escorts and auxiliaries for a coordinated attack by 360 planes. The attack was not only unprecedented, but unexpected, because all preparations were conducted without recourse to the diplomatic Purple Code that U.S. codebreakers were reading in substantial portions. The U.S. had no agents in Japan and the Imperial Japanese Navy excluded the diplomatic corps from their plans.
To solve problems regarding bombing, torpedoes, and underway refueling the attack plan relied on oral doctrines and technical innovations developed during the last ninety days prior to deployment. Therefore, even reading the naval JN25 code vital for Midway would placed the ships at Pearl Harbor.
The attack was a truly unexpected and improbable use of the Japanese air fleet.
The Tragedy of Pearl Harbor
For Pearl Harbor the Japanese forged a strategic weapon of six heavy carriers for a coordinated attack by 360 planes on Sunday December 7. Never before had any country executed and/or planned a raid by more than two carriers on any naval or land target. No inkling existed within any allied operational or intelligence community of a capability beyond the 21 torpedo bombers a British carrier used to attack the Italian Navy at Taranto.
On Christmas Day 1941 Admiral Chester Nimitz arrived to take command. When he arrived he saw a sunken battle fleet and was assailed by a poisonous atmosphere from black oil, charred wood, burned paint, and rotting flesh. However, he found the public’s perception was wrong. The carriers, their escorts, and the submarines stood ready to take the offensive.
The unexpected tragedy of Pearl Harbor for Japan required them to contend with the U.S. Navy from their forward base in Hawaii rather than forcing their enemy to begin operations from the West coast. The dry-dock, repair shops, and tank farm were intact. Nimitz immediately sent submarines into Japanese waters, and conducted carrier operations thwarting Japanese initiatives. Admiral Raymond Spruance said of Nimitz, “The one big thing about him was that he was always ready to fight….And he wanted officers who would push the fight to the Japanese”.
Partial Bibliography:
Nimitz by E.B. Potter
And I Was There by Rear Admiral Edwin T. Layton
At Dawn We Slept by Gordon W. Prange
Admiral Harry Ervin Yarnell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_E._Yarnell
Lexington-class aircraft carrier (78 aircraft)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexington_class_aircraft_carrier
USS Saratoga (CV-3) (78 aircraft)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Saratoga_(CV-3)
Yarnell used 152 airplanes for his simulated attack leaving nothing to defend the task forces.
“Reflections on Pearl Harbor “ by Admiral Chester Nimitz
http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/388783-christopher-menkin/242946-reflections-on-pearl-harbor-by-admiral-chester-nimitz
Naval History: Pearl Harbor’s Overlooked Answer
http://www.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2011-12/pearl-harbors-overlooked-answer
Below is a link to a 3 minute video that commemorates the
U.S.S. ARIZONA and the U.S.S. MISSOURI at Pearl Harbor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulAhmm7R4fA
I’ve seen claims that Roosevelt know clear back almost sixty years ago as a kid. I read the Reader’s Digest as a kid, and I wasn’t much over ten when I read an article stating that Roosevelt and others knew in advance.
I tucked the claim away. It has never held water.
I agree with your take on it, and appreciate your post.
The Stukas stupidly left those big white thingys in the background alone, thus the US Army was able to fuel its armored divisions for Patton’s drive across the Pacific. Brian Williams drove the lead tank with Barack Obama’s uncle manning the gun.
And that’s the truth.
A somewhat tedious read, but amazing detail.
Thank you. I just read The Broken Seal by Ladislas Farago that focuses on the claim that FDR knew. In reading it I found out one person who could have figured it out in the last few days was a Lt. Commander Kramer who was in charge on the Navy desk for Magic.
1st read Robert Stinnett’s Day of Deception. Then reflect on what happened so many years ago.
Thank you for the mention.
I take it the focus was not that Roosevelt knew?
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