good morning jacob

  

A T T A C K     S O U T H

Operation Z

Attack Pearl Harbor

1st Air Fleet / Vice Admiral Nagumo

6  AIRCRAFT CARRIERS /  First Line Fleet Carriers

Kido  Butai    -    Mobile Force / Name given Carrier Task Force Op Z

SHIP                                                      TONNAGE                        SPEED                    AIRCRAFT

Akagi     *                          36,500                   31 knots        66

Kaga      *                          38,200                   28                  72

Soryu     *                         15,900                    34                  63

Hiryu      *                         17,300                    34                  57

Shokaku        **                26,675                   34                  72

Zuikaku          ***              26,675                   34                  72

 

 *     Sunk - Battle of Midway / June 1942 - 6 months after Pearl Harbor

 **   Severely Damaged - Coral Sea / May 1942 - missed Midway

***  Lost half of its air group - Coral Sea / May 1942 - missed Midway 

 

 

U.S. Aircraft Carriers / Pearl Harbor

 SHIP                                             TONNAGE                                SPEED                     AIRCRAFT

 Lexington     *              36,000                     32 knots           90 

 Enterprise                    19,576                     33                      90 

 

*  Sunk - Battle of Coral Sea / May 1942 

 

 

 

Early development of the aircraft carrier - 1930s.

 Aircraft capacity was the prime design feature of American carriers.

26 July 1941     

President Roosevelt:

* freezes Japanese assets in U.S.

*  recalls Douglas MacArthur to active service

* U.S. Army Commander in the Far East 

 * major general / two stars

 * tasked to mobilize the Philippine Army    

14 August 1941

"The ability of the Philippine islands to withstand a determined attack 

with present means is doubtful."

U.S. War Plans Division 

U.S. Asiatic Fleet, Philippines

Philippines / military status - 1941 / beginning:

                            troops                status

* U.S. Army            4,000               regulars

*  Philippine          20,000               barely trained

* Aircraft                     227

* Air Commander:  L. Brereton, Major General  

* Asiatic Fleet / commander Admiral Hart

`* cruisers                3

* destroyers            13

* submarines         29

 * Navy leaders reluctant to commit naval forces to the Far East

* U.S. Navy - Philippines indefensible 

* British Admiralty - Far East presence no more than bluff

* Royal Navy and U.S. combine to block Japan's access to oil

    in Dutch East Indies 

Japanese threat to Philippines, Malaysia, East Indies:

* Formosa - warships and bombers

* Indochina

* Cam Ranh Bay - troop transports

* Saigon - troop transports

 

Churchill sends Prince of Wales to Singapore

Malaysia

* half the world's natural rubber

* more than half the world's tin

* Singapore - Royal Navy:  Changi Naval Base

 * guard Britain's Far East Empire 

* "Gibraltar of the Far East"

* vast oil-storage capacity 

* huge dry dock for battleships - yet to be used 

* 15 inch guns point out to sea 

* dense jungle rear of fortress assumed impenetrable 

* this jungle front is left nearly defenseless

* 1937 - British Chiefs of Staff made aware of

  Singapore's vulnerability to attack from jungle

* Britain cannot find the troops to reinforce the Malay peninsula 

* British troops committed to war with Germany  

* U.S. Navy in Philippines prevents Japan from obtaining energy 

self-sufficiency

* Asiatic Fleet a pushover but do you really want to take on

the U.S. Navy 

 

 

 

3 September 1941

Japan Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe wants negotiated settlement with U.S.

* Military wants deadline placed on negotiations

* Navy Chief Admiral Nagumo warns:

 * "Although I feel sure we have a chance to win a war right now, 

   I am afraid that the chance will vanish with the passage

    of time."   

* Konoe was given less that six weeks to reach a settlement

    over China with the U.S.

 * Japan prepared to wage war with U.S. and Britain by early

     October 1941

 

  

6 September 1941

The Japanese military presents its case for war with Emperor Hirohito

"The purposes of war with the United States, Great Britain and the

  Netherlands are to:

1.  expel the influence of the three countries from East Asia

* U.S. in the Philippines

* Britain in Malaysia, Singapore

* Netherlands ruling East Indies 

2.   to establish a sphere for self-defense and the self-preservation

        of our Empire

* South China Sea becomes Japan's protected Caribbean  

 3.   to build a New Order in Greater East Asia."

 * Whites no longer rule Asians

 Army General Sugiyama briefed the Emperor on the previous day.  

The quick takeover of the South Pacific was a military gamble.

* Japan would gain control of much needed oil

   and natural resources

* A defensive perimeter of Pacific islands could make

  Japan invincible

* expect a war of endurance with the United States

  before obtaining a negotiated settlement leading

  to peace 

Emperor Hirohito pleas for patience with continued diplomacy

* chastises his military leaders for their preference for war 

* Prime Minister Konoe has until 15 October to reach deal

    with U.S. or all remedies point to military action

Prime Minister Konoe arranges clandestine meeting with

 U.S. Ambassador Grew requesting immediate summit with

  Roosevelt

 * Roosevelt cool to idea of being cast as another

    Neville Chamberlain in a "Far East Munich"  

* Roosevelt insists Japan's troops leave China

 * Japan has suffered over a million casualties in China

* Japan's military will never accept this loss of face 

 * No one believes Konoe can deliver on this demand

 

 

16 October 1941

Prime Minister Konoe resigns from office after having been ignored

one last time by Roosevelt. 

War Minister General Hideki Tojo is appointed Japan's new leader.

* Tojo the only candidate supported by all military leaders

* U.S. radios war alert to all U.S. Pacific bases in response

to Tojo's rise to power 

 

 

20 October 1941

Churchill orders a battle fleet sail for Singapore as a show of force to Japan

* Prince of Wales - battleship / largest, new / King George class 

* Indomitable - brand new aircraft carrier

* Carrier runs aground on Bermuda reef:  2 November 1941

* Battle group deprived of protective aircover  

* Churchill remains committed to providing sea power for

   Singapore

* Repulse - old battlecruiser

* Admiral Sir Tom Phillips / 'Tom Thumb' - commander

* "Bombers are no match for battleships."    

  

"The presence of the U.S. Fleet in Hawaii is a dagger pointed at our throats."

Combined Fleet, October 1941 

 

3 November 1941

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's plan for attacking Pearl Harbor is

approved by Emperor Hirohito and the military's

Imperial General Command. 

 

 

15 November 1941

George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff

* Reinforcement of Philippines to be complete by April 1942

* Discovery of reinforcement might prompt Japan's attack

 

* Flight of B-17 bombers due to arrive in Manila first part of

    December

* U.S. aircraft carriers to ship fighter planes to Wake and Midway 

* Provide fighter protection for B-17s from Japanese Zeros 

based in the Marshal Islands 

26 November 1941

Pearl Harbor strike force of 6 aircraft carriers puts to sea from Japan

* Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, commander

U.S. intelligence reports Japanese troop convoys sighted

   south of Formosa

* Indochina believed to be the destination 

27 November 1941 

 

U.S. radios warning to all its Pacific commands:

 

"NEGOTIATIONS WITH JAPAN APPEAR TERMINATED ...

JAPANESE FUTURE ACTION UNPREDICTABLE BUT

HOSTILE ACTION POSSIBLE AT ANY MOMENT.

IF HOSTILITIES CANNOT <REPEAT> CANNOT BE AVOIDED

THE UNITED STATES DESIRES JAPAN COMMIT THE

FIRST ACT."

 

28 November 1941 

 

U.S.S Enterprise - one of two Pacific Fleet carriers - sails for Wake Island

* ferries squadron of Marine fighters to protect flights to Philippines

4 December 1941 

 

Operation Z - Japan's carrier strike force - refuels 1,000 miles north

  of Midway

* Fleet turns southeast for final stretch run on Hawaii 

 

 

5 December 1941 

U.S.S. Lexington - the second of two Pacific Fleet carriers - sails from

 Pearl Harbor 

* carries Marine aircraft to reinforce Midway Island

 

6 December 1941 

 

 Pearl Harbor strike force 600 miles northwest of Hawaii

 Japan's Hawaiian intelligence sources report Pacific Fleet in harbor

* 8 battleships

* 3 cruisers 

* 16 destroyers

* no aircraft carriers - both carriers still at sea

27 Japanese troop transports set sail from Formosa headed for the Philippines

 

Pilots of 400 aircraft plan strike to wipe out Philippine-based American B-17s

 

 

 

_________

love

   dad

©  Tom Taylor

coldValentine

happy birthday justin !

 

love

   dad

coldValentine 

 

good morning jack

  

FDR

"What is clearer than that the framers meant the President

to be the chief executive in peace and in war the 

commander in chief?"

Franklin Roosevelt     (3 - p. ix)

Lend-Lease Bill Extends Wide

Powers of President

16 February, 1941  

NY TIMES

The difficult passage of Roosevelt's Lend-Lease Bill through Congress 

prevents him from meeting with Prime Minister Churchill before the 

summer of 1941.

Lend-Lease:

* provides munitions, aircraft and weapons to Britain on credit 

* General Arnold, U.S. Army Air Corps commander protested sale of planes

* Arnold argued the planes are needed for America's own security

* Roosevelt would have none of it.  Looking at Arnold he said:

  " There are places to which officers who do not 'play ball' might

     be sent - such as Guam."      (3 - p. 14)

Threat:

Tripartite Pact - coalition of three military empires:

Hitler - Third Reich / Blitzkrieg 

Mussolini - Italian Empire / inept leadership 

Tojo - Empire of Japan / amphibious invasions 

Roosevelt believes:

* war inevitable and pushes Congress to expand Armed Forces

* Churchill is the political leader of a fading colonial power

* Roosevelt feels it imperative to protect Britain but 

  not Britain's Empire 

Roosevelt assessment of his military chiefs of staff:

* little to no faith in their military or political judgment 

* Respect them as service chiefs but subordinate to his judgment 

* Generals and Admirals may lack necessary initiative and drive

* Roosevelt willing to set aggressive goals - take risks

* Roosevelt's national strategy reflected political realities 

  (1 - p. 2) 

* War Department assessments counter to Roosevelt opinion:

* Germany would conquer Russia in a few weeks

* Roosevelt:  Russia shows stiff resistance - added to

                      Lend-Lease

* Britain should abandon their position in North Africa

* Roosevelt:  Mediterranean good starting point for

     confronting Nazis / Suez and oil worth

     protecting 

* U.S. Atlantic Fleet should have precedence over Pacific concerns

* Roosevelt:  Pacific Fleet must provide counter to Japan 

* U.S. forces should assault Nazi-held Europe in 1942 

* Roosevelt:  Suicide - North Africa is more appropriate

   objective for green American troops facing the

    Wehrmacht for first time     (3 - p. 8)

Wehrmacht - German armed forces

U-Boats Roam Sea 

with a New Fury

7 October 1941

NY TIMES

Battle of Britain

* Hitler convinced England too strong to invade

* Britain's Royal Navy would prevent amphibious Channel assault

* Royal Air Force maintains tenuous control of the air

* Britain has world's most powerful navy to protect its sea lanes

* Island nation almost entirely dependent on seaborne commerce 

* British vulnerable to sea blockade 

* Germany turns to submarines, its U-boats

* submarines sink enough commerce and Britain loses the war 

* Britain's survival key to Germany's defeat     (5 - p. 205)

 

Battle of the Atlantic

 * Allies' first priority was victory in the Battle of the Atlantic

* U-boat:  unterseeboot - under-sea-boat

* able to approach surface target undetected 

* high-explosive torpedo blows open ship's side 

* slow, limited underwater endurance 

* limited battery endurance submarine's biggest weakness

* run diesel engines on surface to recharge batteries

  after only several hours underwater 

* speed underwater 7 knots versus 17 knots on surface 

* cramped, uncomfortable  

* crew of 50 

 

ASW - Anti-submarine Warfare 

* Convoy merchant ships - grouping ships for mutual protection 

* defended by escorting destroyers armed with depth charges

* convoy system improves chance of survival 

* Conforming to group movement wastes time, increases effort 

* ships sit in harbor waiting for convoy to assemble

* arriving all together creates congestion at destination port

* vigilance required to prevent merchant ships from colliding   

* Submarines vulnerable to aircraft

* speed and range of aircraft cover larger areas of patrol

  than ships 

* most of Atlantic out of range of land-based aircraft 

Roosevelt's Undeclared War

 * Roosevelt provides U.S. Navy escorts to protect British convoys

* U.S. policy violates international rules on neutrality

* Roosevelt takes advantage of Hitler's fear of war with the U.S.

* By September 1941 U.S. destroyers and German submarines 

   are in open conflict

* U.S.S. Reuben James sunk by German torpedo     (5 - p. 214)

Kiev Mopped Up

Nazis Announce 

21 September 1941

NY TIMES

Barbarossa - invasion of Russia:  22 June 1940

* Shifting objectives due to dispute between Hitler and his generals

* Everyone believed the Soviet Army would quickly collapse

* making strategic goals unnecessary 

* Wehrmacht Generals wanted an armored drive to Moscow 

* Germany must have the war won by winter

* Germany wins using its advantages of armor:

* mobility

* tactics

* Germany loses when drawn into war of attrition 

* Third Reich loses in a war of resources with Russia 

* Hitler identified three strategic objectives to achieve before winter:

* Leningrad - uncertain as to reason

* Moscow - the heart of Soviet Union

* Kiev - Ukraine:  vast natural resources including access to oil

* 60% of Russia's coal

* 30% of Russia's iron

* 70% of Russia's oil - Caspian Sea

 * concentration of nation's industry - Donets River

* comparable to Ruhr industrial area of Germany 

* Hitler's goals resulted in an unwinnable dispersion of forces

* Only Hitler's army headed toward Moscow had the armor

   needed to achieve its goals

* Hitler diverted even this armor to aid his forces

  in battles around Kiev and Leningrad

* Moscow and Leningrad would never be taken

* Hitler never took control of Ukrainian resources 

(5 - p. 116) 

 

 Roosevelt thought Hitler's preoccupation with Russia provided

the Allies with opportunities to win contests against Nazi forces

in both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea / North Africa.

 

MacArthur Made Chief in Far East

27 July 1941

NY TIMES

American interests in Asia were based upon trade and its protection.

United States obtains Navy bases throughout the Pacific to defend sea lanes

* used as coaling stations and anchorages  

* Midway, Alaska       - 1867

* Hawaii, Philippines - 1898 

* Samoa                    - 1900 

With the outbreak of war in 1914 Japan captures German islands in Pacific:

* Marianas

* Saipan 

* Carolines

* Truk 

* Marshals 

* Tarawa 

* Japan fortified these islands as relations with the U.S. deteriorated

* this chain of militarized islands crossing all sea lanes to the 

   Far East made U.S. defense of its Philippines possession

   extremely difficult if not impossible

* better having the American fleet sunk at Pearl Harbor

   where ships were salvageable as opposed to being lost

   to the depths of the Pacific thousands of miles away

 

24 July 1941 Japan militarily occupies French Indochina

* Germany's defeat of France makes the region a colonial orphan

* Japan's control of Hanoi cuts major supply line to hostile

   China

* Roosevelt responds with an executive order:

* freezing Japanese assets in the United States

* restricting oil exports to Japan

* Japan has 18 months of oil reserve 

* placing an economic blockade on Japan

* Japan faces financial paralysis  

* U.S. insists Japan's aggression in China must end 

* No Japanese government would survive accepting

   these U.S. demands 

 

October 1941 General Hideki Tojo takes command of Tokyo government 

* Japan plans for:

* destruction of American fleet at Pearl Harbor

* expelling all white colonialist from the Far East     (4 - p. 7)

Republicans Nominate Wendell Willkie

for the Presidency

28 June 1940

NY TIMES

Wendell Willkie, 48 years / Republican / winning personality / former Democrat

* Never held elective office

* supports Roosevelt's aid to Britain 

* Willkie's general domestic and foreign policies remain unclear  

Franklin Roosevelt, 58 years / Democrat / running for unprecedented 3rd term

 * health issues / high blood pressure / heavy smoker

* dumps his conservative vice president, John Garner, for

    Henry Wallace

* Roosevelt focus during campaign was on passing 2 defense measures: 

* providing Britain with World War I destroyers

* passing a draft law to expand the U.S. Army

 * bill limited service to 1 year

* draftees could not leave Western Hemisphere 

* Willkie endorsed bill as important for national security 

August 1940 - Gallup Poll:  66% Americans favor drafting men 20 to 31 years.

September 1940 - Gallup Poll:  52% Americans believe helping Britain win war

                                                   more important that staying out of the fighting

October 1940 - Gallup Poll:  Roosevelt leads Willkie 56% to 44%

When asked their preference were there no war in Europe 

 then voters preferred Willkie over Roosevelt 53% to 47%

The issues of war and peace were a clear advantage for Roosevelt as voters

wanted a president experienced in handling foreign affairs.     (2 - p. 396) 

 

Roosevelt Elected President

6 November 1940

NY TIMES

Election night gave Roosevelt his win but he remained

wary of the nation's isolationist sentiments that persisted

as a potent political force until the morning of 7 December

1941.  Suddenly one Sunday, Americans find they've been

soundly beaten in the Pacific by a force that appeared

from nowhere.  Japanese forces seemed to be attacking

everywhere simultaneously, and winning - Malaysia,

Hong Kong, Java, the Philippines, New Guinea.

In short order, Hitler declares war on the U.S.

Roosevelt wanted this job, commander-in-chief,

despite his fears of what lie ahead. Now

it was left to him to bring together a war-winning

grand alliance of a Bolshevik, an Imperialist and

an elitist who saw himself born to be president.

Wide Acclaim Here

for 'Eight Points'

15 August 1941

NY TIMES

9 August 1941 / Placentia Bay:  historic meeting - Roosevelt and Churchill

* Atlantic Charter

* January 1941 - Harry Hopkins proposes to Churchill a meeting 

with Roosevelt "to talk over the problem of the defeat of 

Germany" - Roosevelt's words.      (3 - p. 3)

* Roosevelt uses opportunity to declare his postwar global vision

 * based on his Four Freedoms:

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Worship

Freedom from Want

Freedom from Fear     (3 - p. 16) 

 * Roosevelt hopes a peace communique will quiet isolationists'

    fears / dealing with domestic political realities

* Roosevelt wanted to project strength to Germany and Japan

   attempting to mask his country's unpreparedness for war

* He needed to buy time to deal with Hitler, Tojo and

   Churchill - all while placating Congress and the public

 * Placentia Bay - protected gulf off Newfoundland coast, Canada

* Naval station at Argentia ceded to United States by British

in a quid pro quo deal of U.S. destroyers in exchange

for British bases.

* one of 8 bases acquired for 50 destroyers (WWI vintage) 

* Majority of American voters oppose being drawn into European war

* Public and Congress suspicious of Roosevelt-Churchill meeting

* In 1940 Presidential campaign Roosevelt assures voters:

   there is no secret agenda "to involve this nation in any war"     

    (3 - p. 5)

* Roosevelt has secretly corresponded with Churchill since Poland

was invaded in 1939

* U.S. Ambassador to London Joseph P. Kennedy left in the dark

* Kennedy was an isolationist and an appeaser / not trusted

 

U.S. military chiefs brought to Placentia Bay:

Marshall, George C. - General, Army Chief of Staff

* stern

complaint:   * Roosevelt makes all major military decisions

                                * Roosevelt does not allow Marshall to contest his decisions  

Roosevelt:   * Political leaders deferring to the military permitted

                        senseless battles of attrition in World War I

  * will not delegate world war to the "professionals"     

     (3 - p. x)

  * asserts his Constitutional authority as commander

     -in-chief 

Arnold, Henry "Hap" - General, Army Air Corps Chief 

Stark, Harold R. "Betty" - Admiral, Chief of Naval Operations

King, Ernest "Ernie" - Admiral, Atlantic Fleet Commander     (3 - p. 6)

Hopkins, Harry - Roosevelt's trusted personal emissary to:

* Churchill in London

* Stalin in Moscow 

 

Churchill, Winston - Prime Minister, Britain

* resolute resister of Nazi tyranny

* 19th Century Imperialist - defender of British Empire

* Roosevelt promotes post-imperial view of global relations

* US supplants United Kingdom as guardian of world's democracies     (3 - xii)

* Churchill wants an alliance with the U.S. because that is how the war is won

* Any foreign entanglement leading to war is politically toxic for Roosevelt 

__________________

love

   dad

©  Tom Taylor

Resources:

1.  Commander in Chief 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and their War

Larrabee, Eric

1987

2.  Franklin D. Roosevelt / A Political Life

Dallek, Robert 

2017

3.  The Mantle of Command / FDR at War 1941 - 1942

Hamilton, Nigel

2014

4.  The Second World War / Asia and the Pacific

Dept. of History, West Point

2002

5.  The Second World War / Europe and the Mediterranean

Dept. of History, West Point

2002

*  *  *  *  *

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