Lesson 16 - WW II: America Enters the War

INTA 4803 TP WAR IN THE 20th CENTURY

WW II - 1941: America Enters the War

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"I can run wild for six months . . .
after that, I have no expectation of success."

Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
To Japanese cabinet members prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor

"Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy --
the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked
by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt
To a joint session of Congress, December 8, 1941
Click here to hear a recording and
view a transcript of the entire message.

"One can search military history in vain for
an operation more fatal to the aggressor."

Samuel Eliot Morison (1878-1976)
(on the Japanese decision to go to war with the United States)
History of United States Naval Operations in World War II,
Vol. III, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931-April 1942
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1948, p. 132.

Lesson Objectives

• Discuss and analyze the Japanese reasons for going to war with the United States in 1941.

• List the major events leading to the Japanese decision to go to war.

• Analyze the Japanese and American strategies for the war in the Pacific and Asia.

• Become familiar with the timeline of events in the Pacific war.

Study Guides

• Why did the Japanese decide to go to war with the United States?

• Compare the industrial strength of the U.S. and Japan prior to WW II.

• What was the Japanese strategy prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor?

• How was the attack on Pearl Harbor to have supported the Japanese strategy?

• What technical and tactical problems did the Japanese have to solve for the attack to succeed? What earlier event helped them to solve some of these problems?

• List and describe the significance of errors in execution of the attack on Pearl Harbor that, in retrospect, severely limited the strategic effect of the attack.

Assignment

Readings:

"Oil Logistics in the Pacific War"
Patrick H. Donovan
Air Force Journal of Logistics, Spring 2004

READ: pp. 1-12 (down to "Oil Logistics After Pearl Harbor")
This is an excellent summary of why Japan went to war with the U.S., how and why the attack on Pearl Harbor was executed, and the consequences of oversights in Japanese planning.

"Japan's Decision for War"
Louis Morton
Command Decisions, pp. 99-124
Kent Roberts Greenfield, ed
Washington:Department of the Army, Center of Military History, 2000

READ: pages 99-124.
This is a concise summation of the Japanese rationale for going to war.

"Victory At Sea"
David M. Kennedy
The Atlantic Monthly, March 1999
READ: pp. 51-55 (down to "The Philippines")

Supplemental Resources:

"Japan's Decision to Move South, 1941"
William Miniscalco
Warbird Forum: Japan At War: 1931-1945

United States Strategic Bombing Survey Summary Report (Pacific War)
Washington, DC
1 July 1946

Another superb summary of the Pacific War and provides detail to supplement the narrative of the Kennedy reading (above). I urge you to read it in its entiriety, but be sure to pay particular attention to:
     • Introduction
     • Japan's Original Strategic Plan
     • Japanese Overextension thru Turning the Tide

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