By the end of November Roosevelt and his military advisers knew that a military attack was likely. They expected it to be against the East Indies or the Philippines. To their astonishment, on December 7 Japan directed its first blow against naval and air
installations in Hawaii. In a bold surprise attack, Japanese aircraft destroyed or damaged the bulk of the US battleship force, and 347 planes at Pearl Harbor, which was at that time accommodating 70 US fighting ships, 24 auxiliaries, and some 300 planes. Total US casualties amounted to 2,403 dead and 1,178 wounded. Japanese losses were comparatively small.
In accordance with Yamamoto's plan, the aircraft carrier strike force sailed westward undetected by any U.S. reconnaissance. On Sunday, December 7, 1941, a total of about 360 Japanese aircraft, composed of dive-bombers, torpedo bombers, and a few fighters, was launched in the early morning at the giant U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. The Americans were taken completely by surprise.
However, the Japanese attack failed in one crucial respect: the Pacific Fleet's three aircraft carriers were at sea at the time of the attack and escaped harm. They were to become the nucleus of the United States' naval defense in the Pacific. Pearl Harbor's shore installations and oil-storage facilities escaped damage too.
The Pearl Harbor attack, which had not been announced beforehand by the Japanese, unified the American public and swept away any remaining support for American neutrality in the war. On December 8, 1941. Congress declared war against Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States: and Congress answered by a similar declaration. As a result of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the nation entered into the global struggle.
2. The United States at War
Although isolationism died at Pearl Harbor, its legacy of unpreparedness lived on. Anticipating war, Roosevelt and his advisers had been able to develop and execute some plans for military expansion, but public opinion condemned expenditures on armament and defense. Thus, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, the United States had some 2,200,000 men under arms, but most were ill-trained and poorly equipped. The Army Air Corps possessed only 1,100 combat planes, many of which were outdated. The navy was better prepared, but it was too small to fight a two-ocean war. In 1941 the global draft was announced. All men at the age between 18 and 64 were subject to the draft. Eventually over 12,000,000 men and women would serve in the armed forces.
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