The Hawaiian Islands are located in the North Pacific Ocean, about 3,800 kilometers away from the west coast of the United States in the east, about 6,000 kilometers away from Japan in the west, and about 7,000 kilometers away from the Philippines. The main island of the Hawaiian archipelago is Oahu, and Pearl Harbor is located at the lowest point between the Kolau and Whitenay Mountains in the southern part of Oahu, named for the oysters that are rich in pearls. With an area of about 25 square kilometers and an average depth of 12 meters, the Waipio Peninsula, Pearl City Peninsula and Ford Island in the harbor divide Pearl Harbor into four small bays that can accommodate 500 ships of various types at the same time. The United States began the construction of bases in 1909, and successively built well-equipped large shipyards, dry docks, docks, oil depots and other facilities, and successively established submarine bases and aviation bases in 1919 and 1922. From 1933 onwards, in order to curb Japan's expansion, the United States further intensified its construction, making it a major U.S. naval base and an important logistics base in the Pacific. Since May 1940, the U.S. Pacific Fleet has been stationed at Pearl Harbor, and Pearl Harbor has become a thorn in the side of the Japanese army's southward advance.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet, stationed at Pearl Harbor, began to strengthen the defenses of the Hawaiian region. The U.S. Army established the Hawaii Garrison Command in February 1941, under the auspices of Walt. Lieutenant General Short served as commander and commanded the 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions, coastal artillery, and army aviation in the Hawaii area, totaling about 43,000 troops.

The commander of the Pacific Fleet is Admiral Kimmel. The ships with Pearl Harbor as their home port include more than 100 ships, including 3 aircraft carriers, 9 battleships, 20 cruisers, 69 destroyers, and 27 submarines.

In the early hours of 12 December, there were 8 battleships, 8 cruisers, 29 destroyers, and 5 submarines anchored at Pearl Harbor, plus 94 other ships and auxiliary vessels.

At that time, there were about 30 US warships operating at sea. Divided into four formations: Vice Admiral Halsey, commanding the aircraft carrier "Enterprise", three cruisers, and nine destroyers, set out from Pearl Harbor on 28 November to deliver fighter planes to Wake Island, and was on its way back to Pearl Harbor, which was originally planned to return to Pearl Harbor on the evening of 6 December, and for various reasons, was still about 370 kilometers west of Oahu when the Japanese attacked. Escaped: The USS Lexington, three cruisers and three destroyers, set off from Pearl Harbor on December 5 to deliver fighter jets to Midway. At this time, about 1,300 kilometers west of Oahu: the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis and five minesweepers were conducting exercises near Johnston Island: the heavy cruiser USS Minneapolis and four minesweepers had finished their exercises and were on their way back, only 46 kilometers from Oahu. In addition, the USS Saratoga and the USS Colorado battleships of the Pacific Fleet were refurbished on the US mainland.

The U.S. military's aviation force in Hawaii consists of three parts, totaling about 350 aircraft. Among them are the army aviation units. This is commonly known as the Hawaiian Air Force. by Fried. Under the command of Major General Martin, the 18th Bomber Wing and the 14th Destroyer Wing are under the command of the 18th Bomber Wing, with Hickam Airport and Wheeler Airport as their main bases, with a total of 32 B-18 bombers, 12 B-17 bombers, 12 A-20 bombers, 99 P-40 fighters, 39 P-36 fighters, and 14 P-26 fighters.

Naval aviation is mainly based at the airports of Kanu Hei and Ford Island, with a total of 71 PBY "Catalina" anti-submarine patrol aircraft and 14 OS2U "Fish Dog" carrier-based observation aircraft.

Based at Iva Airfield, Marine Corps Aviation has a total of 11 F4F Wildcat fighters, 24 SBD Dreadnought torpedo aircraft and 8 SB2U torpedo aircraft.

In April 1941, the U.S. Army and Navy in Hawaii negotiated an air defense agreement. Long-range air vigilance is undertaken by the navy, and close air defense is the responsibility of the army.

Lieutenant General Short believed that the destruction of the aircraft by the Japanese and Japanese-Americans in Hawaii would make it most likely to be lost. Therefore, it was ordered that the planes should be densely lined up on the taxiway between the runway and the tarmac to facilitate safety precautions, but in the event of an air attack, a single bomb explosion would quickly spread to all aircraft!

At 4 a.m. on December 12, 1942, the assault formation successfully arrived at the predetermined sea area about 420 kilometers north of Pearl Harbor after a 12-day voyage of about 6,600 kilometers. The pilots were awakened, each tied a thousand needle belts, a symbol of good luck, left a suicide note with hair or nails, and then had breakfast, listened to the briefing of the most refuge in the war room, and waited for the order to attack.

At 5:30 a.m., the cruisers "Tone" and "Tsukuma" each ejected and took off one Zero seaplane to conduct pre-war reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor.

At six o'clock, the planes of the first attack wave began to take off. At this time, the weather in the take-off area was turning bad, the wind and waves were very strong, and the aircraft carrier was swinging sideways by more than 10 degrees. All the officers and men on the aircraft carrier who were not on duty crowded on the flight deck, waving hats and turbans, cheering for the assault group! A total of 183 aircraft took off from 6 aircraft carriers, including 40 Type 97 torpedo aircraft, 51 Type 99 dive bombers, 49 Type 97 horizontal bombers, and 43 Type Zero fighters. Torpedo planes each carried one 800-kilogram torpedo, dive bombers each carried one 250-kilogram blasting bomb, and horizontal bombers each carried one 800-kilogram delayed fuse armor-piercing shell. Fifteen minutes later, the group assembled over the fleet, formed a predetermined formation, and flew towards Pearl Harbor at an altitude of 3,000 meters. The chief air commander and horizontal bomber leader of the "Akagi" "Akagi" flight captain Mizuta Yuza Nakasa, the torpedo plane leader was Shigeji Murata Shosa, the dive bomber leader was Takahashi Shosa of the "Shozuru", and the fighter leader was Itaya Shigeru Shosa. During the flight, Fuchida listens to the radio in Honolulu for navigation. He was pleasantly surprised to receive the Pearl Harbor weather forecast, which he desperately needed.

At 6:30 a.m., three US seaplanes were conducting a routine patrol flight over the waters south of Oahu. A suspicious submarine was spotted, and the pilot reported it to the base using a code, which delayed the time.

At 6:37 a.m., the US escort destroyer USS Ward spotted William, an officer on duty, who was following the "Great Mars" towing ship in an attempt to pass through the anti-submarine net. Lieutenant Gopna immediately reported to Captain William. Captain Outbridge, Captain Outbridge gave the order to open fire at 6:40 a.m., and at 6:45 p.m. Ward's No. 3 gun opened fire. The first shot missed, and the second shot hit the command platform of the pocket submarine, and this gun became the "first shot" in the Pacific War!

The Ward then went at full speed to the submarine's dive and dropped a string of depth charges. Sink it. - This is the Il-20 pocket submarine piloted by Second Lieutenant Akira Hiroo and Sergeant Yoshio Katayama of the Japanese Army. After sinking the pocket submarine, the "Ward" reported to the divisional command. At 6:53 a.m., the "Ward" made a second report. Lieutenant Colonel Kaminsky, the duty officer of the divisional command, was careless and demanded verification. Until 7:40, the divisional commander Claude. Major General Bullock was only then reported. He felt that the situation was serious. Orders were given to send additional destroyers "Monahan" to support. It was only ten minutes before the start of the air raids, and it was too late.

At 7:02 a.m., a mobile radar station on Cape Kaheku, at the northern tip of Oahu, detected a large number of aircraft heading towards Pearl Harbor, at a distance of about 160 kilometres. Radar soldier Joseph. Locke and George. Ellitt immediately reported to the intelligence center, but the officer on duty, Kermit. Lieutenant Taylor thought that the plane was flying from California, and he comforted the radar crew not to be nervous, so the two radar men watched as the Japanese plane flew closer and closer, until the Japanese plane was in the air at 7:39 a.m.

7:35 a.m. The Japanese aircraft flew over Oahu, and the panoramic view of Pearl Harbor was in full view. The distinctive cage and three-legged masts of the American battleships are clearly visible.

At 7:40 a.m., the Japanese planes formed an attack formation. In order to achieve the greatest results, the Japanese army formulated two sets of attack plans: one was a surprise attack plan, which was adopted when the US forces were not on alert, first by torpedo planes and then by bombers. The second is the forcible attack plan, which is adopted when the US military is already prepared, with bombers attacking first to suppress and attract anti-aircraft fire, and then torpedo planes to attack. Fighter planes, on the other hand, must seize the advantageous altitude in order to seize air supremacy. It is up to the air commander to decide on the basis of the plane. It is stipulated that one flare is a surprise attack, and the second flare is a strong attack. Seeing that the US troops were unguarded, Fuchida decided to adopt a surprise attack plan and fired a signal bomb, but because the fighter was covered by clouds and did not see the signal, Fuchida fired another signal flare at the fighter, and this time the fighter saw it and immediately climbed high to seize the advantageous height, but let the long plane of the dive bomber mistake it for a second signal bomb, and adopted a strong attack plan, so it accelerated and flew towards the airfield.

At 7:49, Fuchida ordered all to attack! The backseat communicator immediately gave the attack order: Burst! Suddenly! Suddenly!

At 7:53, Fuchida saw that the American troops were defenseless and knew that the attack on the road would be successful, so without waiting for the battle to start, he impatiently ordered the victory code to be struck: Torah! Torah! Torah! It means "Tiger!" Tiger! Tiger! What was amazing was that the radio waves emitted by the on-board radio station of the Type 97 plane, which was not very powerful, actually crossed the Pacific Ocean and were picked up by the battleship "Yamato," which was thousands of miles away.

At 7:55 a.m., the dive bombers first launched a large-angle dive bomb from an altitude of 4,000 meters toward the Hickem airfield, Wheeler airfield, and Fort Island airfield. As soon as the torpedo plane flew to the shipyard at this time, he saw the thick smoke rising from the airfield, and the leader of the plane, Murata Shaoza, couldn't help but be surprised, he thought that the surprise attack plan should be attacked by the torpedo plane first, why did the bomber fire first? In order not to obscure the target by the thick smoke, he immediately led the torpedo fleet to speed up the approach and attack along the western valley at 7:57. The 40 torpedo planes were divided into two groups, one group of 16 to attack the warships anchored on the west side of Ford Island, and the other group of 24 to carry out a focused attack on the battleships on the east side of Ford Island.

At 7:58 a.m., William, commander of the U.S. mine-laying fleet. At first, he thought it was an accident in which the pilot accidentally touched the button to drop the bomb, but when he looked closely, he saw that the bright red emblem of the Rising Sun on the plane was impressive, so he realized that it was a Japanese air raid and immediately ordered the warships in the harbor to leave the port to avoid it. Almost at the same time, Rogan. Lieutenant Colonel Remsey rushed into the Ford Island command headquarters, ordered the control tower to sound the air raid siren, and announced in spoken word radio: "Pearl Harbor is under air attack!" This is not a drill! Subsequently, the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Kimmel, ordered that all forces of the Pacific Fleet be notified of this astonishing news by radio.

At the same time, sporadic counterattacks by the US forces began, and anti-aircraft guns on some US ships opened fire. Only four of the 33 anti-aircraft artillery batteries of the army on the island opened fire, and most of the anti-aircraft artillery batteries still had shells in the ammunition depot, so they simply did not have time to go into battle. There was little organized resistance from the U.S. forces throughout Pearl Harbor.

At 8:05 p.m., Fuchida led horizontal bombers through the west side of Oahu and entered the bombing route from the south. A group of five planes, formed into a column formation with a distance of 200 meters between individual planes, and at an altitude of 3,000 meters, bombed the battleships on the east side of Ford Island and the Iva airfield, where antiaircraft artillery fire was relatively concentrated.

Seeing that no US planes had taken to the air, the fighters acting as cover were divided into six formations and strafed six airfields. (To be continued......)