For educational purposes
The surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor, revealing how it required months of secret preparation, innovations in torpedo design, and clever counter-intelligence.
The surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor, revealing how it required months of secret preparation, innovations in torpedo design, and clever counter-intelligence.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:01It's the most audacious attack of World War II.
00:05The whole battleship just exploded.
00:08A surprise Japanese airstrike on the military might of America.
00:14We must take the enemy by complete surprise.
00:17Planned with precision.
00:19This is a really risky operation.
00:22Using the most advanced bomber technology.
00:25This is amazing.
00:27Developed at top secret facilities.
00:30There we go, there's something right there that looks pretty promising.
00:33And protected by a gigantic web of deception.
00:38Now that is stunning.
00:41A breathtaking military gamble.
00:43It's never been done before in the history of warfare.
00:46The attack that shook America to its core.
00:50Pearl Harbor.
00:52The biggest construction projects of World War II.
00:55Ordered by Hitler and his Japanese allies.
00:59Now these ruins survive as dark reminders of their fanatical military ambition.
01:05And America's fight to overcome it.
01:08These are the secrets of the Nazi megastructures.
01:138 a.m., December 7th, 1941.
01:25Commander Mitsuo Fuchida flies through heavy anti-aircraft fire over Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
01:333,000 meters isn't enough to escape their flank.
01:40We're being hit.
01:42It's the control cable.
01:44Just don't make any sudden moves.
01:47This is the climax of months of planning and training.
01:51Fuchida is leading the first attack wave of Japanese bombers against the U.S. Navy's Pacific fleet.
01:56The next few minutes will reveal if the Japanese plan has worked.
02:13This is one of the most exciting places that I've ever been.
02:17As a military historian, I finally got to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
02:26Imagine the scene, this peaceful, quiet island on a Sunday morning.
02:31The American fleet is laying at anchor.
02:36And all of a sudden, all hell breaks loose.
02:39The air raid sirens start going off.
02:42Sailors literally shaken from their bunks race to the decks to man anti-aircraft guns against the Japanese air fleet that has just showed up.
02:52They start shooting up in the air at the high-level bombers and the dive bombers that are coming down.
02:58And some sailors manning their guns look out across the water and they see planes coming in about the same level as the deck of the ship.
03:08Torpedo bombers drop their torpedoes in the water.
03:12Imagine you're a 19-year-old sailor in the fleet, brand new to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
03:18And you're looking out across the harbor and all you see is a torpedo wake heading straight for your defenseless ship.
03:32The origins of the Pearl Harbor attack lie in Japan's empire expansion during the 1930s.
03:40Short of natural resources, the Japanese embarked upon a land grab campaign in Southeast Asia.
03:47It was clear that they were starting to pursue an expansionist policy and one that involved military conquest as well.
03:54The jungle drums were starting to be beaten.
03:57In 1937, Japan invaded China, a long-term ally of the United States.
04:03American military bases in the Philippines suddenly looked under potential threat from the Japanese.
04:10In spring 1940, the USA moves its Pacific naval fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 2,000 miles closer to Japan.
04:21One of the most powerful fleets in the world is now an imminent threat to Japan's imperialist plans.
04:28Ignoring it isn't an option.
04:31But the Japanese don't have the resources for a long, drawn-out war.
04:36They need to find another way to solve the problem.
04:39Now the United States is much closer to the Japanese mainland.
04:44That being said, the Japanese also see that as an opportunity.
04:47The American fleet is in San Diego.
04:49The Japanese cannot reach it.
04:51But if it's Hawaii, perhaps there's an opportunity for Japan to strike and sink the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
05:00January 7th, 1941.
05:04Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy's combined fleet, is considering an idea for an incredible plan.
05:14He writes a letter to Japan's navy minister.
05:18The navy should fiercely attack and destroy the US fleet at the outset of the war.
05:26Yamamoto is suggesting a surprise air attack on the US navy in Hawaii.
05:33The morale of the USA would sink to the extent it could not be recovered.
05:39But for this plan to work, Japan must hit hard, fast, and first.
05:45Yamamoto's plan is certainly extremely bold, but he recognizes that it is only by such a bold strike,
05:54a lightning strike which completely could knock the Americans off their feet, that they have any chance of ultimate success.
06:00The primary objectives are the mighty battleships and aircraft carriers of the US Pacific fleet,
06:06moored 4,000 miles from Japan at Pearl Harbor.
06:10The distance alone makes this an extraordinary challenge.
06:14When Yamamoto first actually starts publishing his plan,
06:18it makes the rounds within the senior staff of the Japanese navy.
06:22And most of them think it's crazy.
06:25It's never been done before in the history of warfare.
06:28If you look at the scale of distances to carry all these airplanes all the way from Japan,
06:32several thousand miles to the Hawaiian islands, it just seemed like it couldn't be done.
06:37In February 1941, Commander Minoru Genda, a pioneer in Japanese naval aviation,
06:43is ordered to do a secret feasibility study into Yamamoto's idea.
06:50This involves evaluating US Navy strength and studying the topography and depth of Pearl Harbor.
06:58Twelve meters. Sinking degree, ten meters.
07:04Drop.
07:07Exactly seven seconds.
07:09Genda's kind of a wild card. He's a daredevil pilot. He's a Japanese national hero.
07:17Genda is one of those guys who loves a challenge.
07:21After two weeks, Rear Admiral Takejiro Onishi meets Genda to hear the outline of his plan.
07:29An attack will be difficult, but not impossible.
07:38The main objective is the American carrier ships.
07:43The Pacific Fleet's three aircraft carriers are the great prize.
07:47Sinking them offers Japan its best chance of achieving a decisive blow
07:52and neutralizing America's ability to fight back.
07:57But we must also target aircraft on the ground.
08:01Our planes will use a combination of high-level altitude bombing,
08:06diver bombing, and torpedo bombing.
08:10And we must take the enemy by complete surprise.
08:16Genda's plan goes into action in absolute secrecy.
08:23At Kagoshima in southern Japan,
08:26conflict archaeologist Professor Tony Pollard is discovering the extraordinary lengths the Japanese went to
08:32in their preparations for Pearl Harbor.
08:35This is Kagoshima Bay with the city below me.
08:38And it's here in the summer of 1941 that Japanese pilots started training for a secret operation.
08:44What they didn't know was they were training for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
08:49And this place had been chosen because it's an approximation of Pearl Harbor.
08:55Pearl Harbor's layout is distinct.
08:58A long inlet from the sea coming into a sheltered bay.
09:02An island in the middle.
09:04And lots of buildings around the harbor itself.
09:09These are all features mirrored in the topography of Kagoshima Bay.
09:15Traveling by boat out onto the bay, past Mount Sakurajima volcano,
09:21it's possible to find exact locations where Japanese pilots honed their bombing skills.
09:26This small island in Kagoshima Bay is known as Akiko.
09:30And it's just a small lump of rock.
09:32A few trees, about 500 meters long.
09:35But in the summer of 1941, Japanese air crews used it as target practice.
09:42The only things flying over the island today are those beautiful kites.
09:46But in 1941, there were very different birds of prey swooping over the island.
09:51In 1941, there were very different birds of prey swooping over the island.
09:55Japanese bombers screaming out of the sky, dropping their practice bombs.
10:01For Japan's bold attack plan to succeed,
10:04its pilots need to master not just dive bombing, but high and low level bombing as well.
10:10This will take time they might not have.
10:13Tensions in the Pacific are mounting, and war with America is fast approaching.
10:21July 1941. Japan occupies French Indochina.
10:27Their forces are now just 800 miles from American bases in the Philippines.
10:32A military confrontation could happen at any moment.
10:37But Japan is secretly preparing an audacious first strike.
10:45Commander Minoru Genda's plan for the airstrike on Pearl Harbor
10:49needs someone of the highest caliber to carry it out.
10:53He chooses a colleague from Naval Academy days, Lieutenant Commander Mitsuo Fuchida.
11:01September 1941. Fuchida and Genda meet at Kagoshima Naval Base.
11:08My old friend! How are you?
11:11I've been looking for you. I have something very confidential to tell you.
11:19You have been assigned as the general commander of the air attack squadron for a raid on Pearl Harbor.
11:25Pearl Harbor?
11:28Fleet Admiral Yamamoto's idea is that if war breaks out,
11:33we should launch an air attack and annihilate the US Pacific fleet.
11:43You will be the flight leader of the attack force.
11:48I am very honored.
11:56Genda brings in Fuchida because, one, they're friends.
12:00And Fuchida actually kind of balances out Genda.
12:05Genda is the guy that will jump off a bridge.
12:08Fuchida is the guy that will look to see how far the drop is.
12:12On board a Japanese aircraft carrier,
12:15Navy staff are working in secret with Genda on the attack plan.
12:19Fuchida is brought in.
12:24This is the island of Oahu, and here is a dockyard in Pearl Harbor.
12:31We will attack this route to where two rows of battleships moor.
12:38But this is too shallow for a torpedo attack against American warships.
12:46Pearl Harbor's shallow depth, little more than 40 feet,
12:49presents the Japanese with their greatest obstacle.
12:53Torpedoes dropped from planes dive at least 60 feet into the water
12:58before correcting to a shallower depth.
13:01At Pearl Harbor, that would mean they'd bury themselves into the seabed
13:05and miss their targets.
13:09Do not worry about the torpedoes.
13:11Our engineers have been working on a solution to the depth problem.
13:19In that case, the risk is worth taking to ensure maximum destruction.
13:27But we cannot rely only on torpedoes.
13:30Nor can we expect too much from dive bombing.
13:34We must work on high-level bombing and train until our bombardies are good enough.
13:44Critically, the objective of this plan must be kept secret,
13:49even from the crew's training for it.
13:51Understood?
13:55Genda's naval engineers wrestle with the torpedo problem.
14:01It's essential they perfect a torpedo that will work successfully in shallow water.
14:12Former U.S. Marine Mark Waycaster is looking for evidence
14:15of how the Japanese tried to overcome these daunting technical challenges.
14:22Hidden away on Omura Bay in southern Japan
14:25lies a mysterious facility called Katashima.
14:31Katashima is a torpedo test facility
14:34that the Japanese Navy used to develop their aerial torpedoes.
14:46There we go. There's something right there that looks pretty promising.
14:56One thing you can definitely tell is we got a lot of Japanese military construction.
15:04It's got a lot of local concrete here. You can tell how it's breaking apart.
15:15We got two stories. It's angled so it's looking out over top of the bay.
15:20And it gives them a perfect view down into the bay.
15:23It's some sort of observation post.
15:27That structure there is where they're testing the torpedoes and firing it out along here.
15:32This observation point would allow them to watch the wakes
15:35and then in turn also see what the depth of that torpedo is.
15:40That's where I have to go.
15:42I've got to get over there and check that out and see if this is what I've been looking for.
15:54KATASHIMA
16:05See, there's two rails that run straight down.
16:08One set of rails going over here to the right.
16:11The other one heading over towards this tower here.
16:18This is definitely a good piece of military engineering.
16:22You can look at it. One, it's reinforced concrete all the way up.
16:26Even the walls themselves.
16:29Look at that. That's at least two feet.
16:33This building right here was built to take a beating.
16:37Over in here you've got, looks like a metal blast door.
16:42This down in here.
16:44This could have very well been a launch point for the torpedoes out into the bay.
16:49Thick walls and a blast door would help absorb the explosive force of a misfiring torpedo.
16:58Now this is interesting here.
17:00You've got this pier with all these arches in it.
17:03There's more arches there than what is actually needed to support the weight of it.
17:08I think probably what they're using these arches for is
17:11they're firing torpedoes from launches further out.
17:14As they pass up underneath this arch,
17:16they're going to have equipment that's going to check the depth of that torpedo,
17:20its direction, to make sure it's actually doing a straight run at the depth that they want it to.
17:25Attempting to control the depth and direction of the torpedo
17:29also involves testing its guidance mechanism, aerodynamics and its weight.
17:34And that's what the Japanese are doing at Katashima.
17:38They're working out all the bugs here at this site
17:41so that they have the most effective weapon that they can possibly have to strike the US fleet.
17:46But by October 1941, after months of testing,
17:50Japan's naval engineers still haven't cracked their torpedo depth problem.
17:57Unless they find a solution,
17:59the attack on Pearl Harbor will fail to deliver the decisive blow the Japanese need.
18:06The Japanese Navy is secretly training its pilots for an audacious attack on Pearl Harbor.
18:16The planned success hinges on them sinking the US aircraft carriers
18:21and the battleships moored in a line known as Battleship Row.
18:28Battleship Row was a hugely important target for the Japanese
18:31because that is where most of the great capital ships of the Pacific fleet were anchored.
18:36The number one prize for the Japanese, however, are the three American aircraft carriers,
18:41the Saratoga, the Lexington and the Enterprise.
18:45Destroying these huge armored ships
18:47demands different kinds of precision bombing from the Japanese air units.
18:53High-level bombers need to fly horizontally at around 10,000 feet.
18:58But even at this altitude, they're vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire.
19:03So the Japanese bomber pilots needed to be able to fly under heavy anti-aircraft fire
19:09and at the same time maintain their altitude
19:12and also be very accurate and precisely drop their bombs on the ships below.
19:18Newly promoted commander Mitsuo Fuchida, who leads the pilot training,
19:22now divides his bomber crews.
19:25Some will concentrate on high-level bombing.
19:31The remainder focus on the difficult skills needed for low-level torpedo bombing.
19:43Exploring how the Japanese pilots practice torpedo attacks
19:46has brought Tony Pollard back to Kagoshima Bay.
19:50This is where they practice their low-flying techniques.
19:55This breakwater protects the mouth of the harbor at Kagoshima.
19:59There was one like this here in 1941.
20:03And it was used in the rehearsals for Pearl Harbor.
20:06It mimicked battleships moored together, maybe four of them, bow to stern.
20:12Japanese torpedo bombers would scream in over the city
20:15at just about 100 feet, just above the rooftops.
20:19Once they got over the water, they would drop down again.
20:22And as they crossed the breakwater, they'd mimic releasing those torpedoes.
20:28Now, all of that has to be done at really low level and low speed,
20:31because the water at Pearl Harbor is really shallow.
20:34The real problem they have is the potential for the torpedoes to hit the seabed.
20:39This is a really risky operation.
20:41It's going to take all of their skill as pilots.
20:53Despite the practice,
20:56Mitsuo Fuchida's pilots fail to drop their torpedoes at a shallow enough depth.
21:02Well?
21:06No matter how many times we repeated the practice drills,
21:10we just couldn't get the correct depth.
21:14Fuchida's pilots have to find a way to deliver their torpedoes
21:18to a depth of just under 40 feet to be effective at Pearl Harbor.
21:28Critical to their success will be the Nakajima Kate aircraft.
21:33It has to perform multiple roles
21:36and comprises more than half of the 274 bombers
21:39that Japan will deploy from its aircraft carriers.
21:43In 1941, this is the most advanced carrier attack bomber in the world.
21:49Historian Mike Pavelek has come to the Pacific Aviation Museum in Hawaii
21:54to see how this plane would be used in a planned attack.
21:59This is amazing.
22:02This is one of the last remaining examples of a Nakajima Kate Japanese bomber.
22:11This is the backbone of the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor.
22:15Big, huge, thousand horsepower radial engine
22:19meant it was relatively fast, faster than most American airplanes,
22:23but also had reliability and long range.
22:27The wingspan at almost 51 feet meant that it could carry very heavy payloads,
22:33but also had great aerodynamics.
22:37Down underneath here, I'm hoping to find the shackles.
22:42Yeah, in here are the mechanisms for where the torpedo was slung
22:47or the bombs were hung.
22:49It could carry a massive naval artillery shell
22:53that was designed as an armor-piercing bomb
22:57to pierce through the battleship's decks.
23:00Or it could carry an 1,800-pound torpedo
23:04and act as a low-level torpedo bomber.
23:08Kate bomber pilots continued to train exhaustively in low-level flying,
23:13but perfecting these skills alone isn't enough.
23:17To deliver a successful attack,
23:19they need improvements in the performance of the aerial torpedoes.
23:24In late October 1941,
23:26Navy engineers think they've come up with the answer.
23:30This is a mock-up, a model of the Japanese Type 91 torpedo.
23:36Aerial-delivered torpedoes had a problem early in the Second World War.
23:42It's about 1,800 pounds,
23:44and so when it hits the water, it tended to dive to between 60 and 90 feet
23:48before it came back up towards the surface and acquired its target.
23:53So the Japanese had to come up with ways to keep the torpedo from diving too deep.
23:58One of the ways that they dealt with this
24:01is a set of wooden fins at the back here
24:04that would stabilize the weapon when it was dropped from the airplane.
24:10And so it was to keep it from wobbling and to keep it straight and true.
24:16The second method was an internal mechanism inside this.
24:21Within the torpedo is a gyroscopically stabilized anti-roll device.
24:27This controls two small fins forward of the main tail,
24:30which act like sensitive rudders,
24:32both keeping the torpedo straight in the water
24:35and stopping it from going too deep.
24:39This piece of technology could mean the difference
24:41between success and failure at Pearl Harbor.
24:51Early November 1941,
24:53back at Kagoshima Bay,
24:55the Japanese Navy tests the first batch of the new anti-roll aerial torpedoes.
25:06Mitsuo Fuchida flies high above the bay,
25:09watching from the cockpit of his plane,
25:12as Kate Bombers drop the first three real live torpedoes.
25:21Yes!
25:24Two out of three torpedoes run straight and true,
25:28both at just 12 meters deep.
25:31A key piece of the jigsaw in Japan's plan has fallen into place.
25:35The preparations for the attack on Pearl Harbor enter their final phase.
25:43Under strict secrecy,
25:45the Japanese fleet makes final preparations for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
25:50Almost 20,000 sailors and over 800 airmen
25:53assemble on ships and aircraft carriers.
25:57On November 17th,
25:59Admiral Yamamoto addresses airmen of the task force,
26:02including Commander Fuchida.
26:05The carrier fleet is about to embark
26:07on the 4,000-mile voyage towards the Hawaiian Islands.
26:12Do not underestimate the Americans.
26:15We hope to achieve surprise.
26:18But if not, they will come at us with everything they've got.
26:27Fuchida will lead the first attack wave at Pearl Harbor.
26:31Much is depending on him.
26:35After a rendezvous off northern Japan,
26:38six aircraft carriers with more than 400 planes are underway.
26:43They're supported by battleships, cruisers, destroyers,
26:46tankers and submarines,
26:48all heading towards Hawaii under strict radio silence.
26:53It's vital to Japan's attack plan
26:56that their task force's movement remains secret.
27:00One of the main parts of the Pearl Harbor attack is deception.
27:04It is absolutely essential for the Japanese
27:06that the moment they strike, they achieve massive tactical surprise.
27:10Then the Americans do not know that they're coming.
27:14So the Japanese coordinate their communication signals
27:18to deceive U.S. intelligence about the true position of their fleet.
27:25Key to this deception strategy
27:27is a vast covert complex of extraordinary structures
27:31housing powerful technology.
27:37Tony Pollard has come to Hario radio transmitter station.
27:42Former base for Japanese Navy telegraphers.
27:46What I'm looking for in particular is the nerve center.
27:49And this incredible structure here,
27:52which is covered in ivy like some sort of ancient temple,
27:57looks a good place to start.
28:12It's like an aircraft hangar in here.
28:14It's massive, very barren and spartan.
28:18This is where it all happened.
28:21This is where the telegraphers would sit,
28:23taking in messages and tapping out coded signals
28:26to the ships at sea and right across the Japanese empire.
28:35But the telegraphy room is not the nerve center at Hario.
28:40That lies deeper within.
28:47Now this is impressive, very different.
28:53Look at that, a huge gantry crane
28:56with rails running up the side so you can move heavy machinery
29:01from one end to the other, inside and out.
29:04And the dead giveaway about the nature of that machinery is on the floor.
29:08These raised concrete plinths with fixing bolts in them.
29:13This is where the power plants, the generator units,
29:16would have sat pumping away.
29:18This is literally the heart of this transmitting center.
29:22And here are the veins and the arteries, these ducts.
29:26These would have carried cables with the power running through it.
29:30And here, look at this.
29:33Put the torch on that.
29:35Wow!
29:38This is like something out of a Frankenstein movie.
29:41Imagine the monster up there. It lives!
29:44Look at all these cables and these beautiful ceramic insulators.
29:49This is where all of the power needed
29:53to create those radio waves is generated.
29:57That power feeds into a remarkable-looking building.
30:09Oh, my life.
30:11Now, that is stunning.
30:14I'm inside one of the antenna towers.
30:18And the function of these reinforced concrete structures
30:22is to protect the radio antenna inside.
30:26Now, this is a very special building.
30:30It's a very special building.
30:33It's designed to protect the radio antenna inside.
30:38Now, most of the antenna array has been removed.
30:43The base of it's still here,
30:45but it would run all the way up nearly 450 feet.
30:50And the function of all this engineering, this megastructure,
30:55is to get those radio signals out there across the sea
31:00for hundreds if not thousands of miles.
31:03But to be able to do that requires more than just one antenna tower.
31:09Incredible.
31:11What we're standing in is the centre of a triangle
31:15with points marked by these huge radio antennas.
31:21In the lead up to Pearl Harbour, this site gains an extra importance
31:26because the Japanese have worked out
31:29that the Americans are listening in to their radio signals.
31:32Armed with this knowledge,
31:34the Japanese fleet steaming south to Hawaii maintains radio silence.
31:39And numerous stations like Hario send out fake messages
31:43using call signs belonging to aircraft carriers.
31:47The aim is to convince anyone listening
31:49that the Japanese fleet is still in home waters.
31:53In reality, the huge Japanese armada
31:56is steadily closing in on the Hawaiian islands.
31:59A tipping point in the attack plan is about to be reached.
32:04On the 2nd of December, the coded message,
32:07climb Mount Nitaka, 1208, was relayed to the Japanese fleet.
32:12It said, from this very radio station,
32:15it was the signal they'd been waiting for.
32:18There was no going back.
32:20From this point on, Japan is committed to attacking Pearl Harbour.
32:276am, December 7th, 1941.
32:31Japan's task force is bearing down on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.
32:36Just over 200 miles from their objective,
32:39they're now within striking distance.
32:42On board their aircraft carriers, Japanese pilots prepare for battle.
32:46274 bombers supported by fighters will attack in two waves.
32:52This is the moment of truth for Japan's meticulously prepared plan.
32:58For Mitsuo Fuchida and Minoru Genda,
33:01everything hangs on how the next few hours play out.
33:04Good luck.
33:10Fuchida puts on a hachimaki,
33:13a symbol that the crew of his aircraft carrier, Akagi,
33:17are with him in spirit.
33:23From his Kate aircraft, Fuchida will lead the first wave of bombers.
33:29It's his duty to report back to the fleet on the effectiveness of the attack.
33:37But just outside Pearl Harbour,
33:40a US Navy ship spots something suspicious.
33:44The periscope of a submarine.
33:48Mike Pavelek is discovering the final piece of the Japanese plan.
33:54This is amazing.
33:56This is the Japanese midget submarine, HA-19,
34:00that was actually at Pearl Harbour on the day of the attack.
34:05It's called a midget submarine, but it's a bit of a misnomer
34:08because it's actually quite big.
34:12Up here in the front, we have two torpedo tubes.
34:16The entire armament of this vessel.
34:20This section here under the conning tower is where the crew was.
34:26Two crew, an ensign and an NCO,
34:29would run the entire battle from inside this little section right here.
34:36Here is where the engine compartment was.
34:39Batteries that ran an electric motor that drove a shaft of 600 horsepower
34:45that ran the screws at the back,
34:48propelling this fairly quickly underwater and on the surface.
34:53This little tiny hatch is where they actually entered and exited the submarine from.
34:59Looking at it, I can tell that they were much smaller than I am.
35:08Well, all the machinery's gone, the battery, the electric motor,
35:12but you can see how cramped these conditions are.
35:15Just imagine that Sunday morning when the two sailors in this tiny submarine
35:20are sneaking into Pearl Harbour to attack the American fleet.
35:26The Japanese midget sub's greatest advantage is stealth.
35:31Bigger Japanese submarines would get close enough to Pearl Harbour,
35:36launch this ship, and then they would go from there into Pearl Harbour,
35:41physically into Pearl Harbour.
35:43The idea was to find an American ship and follow it past the submarine nets
35:47that would be temporarily open,
35:49and then fire the torpedoes at anything that they saw.
35:53The midget submarines deployed on the morning of December 7th have limited success.
36:00HA-19 has mechanical problems and beaches on the shore.
36:06The US Navy sinks two more.
36:09But their sheer presence causes panic and confusion at Pearl Harbour.
36:15High above this submarine action, the first attack wave of Japanese planes,
36:20led by Mitsuo Fuchida, sight the island of Oahu and Pearl Harbour itself.
36:27The clouds have cleared. It's a good sign.
36:30I can see them. Eight battleships.
36:35Where are the aircraft carriers?
36:39The US aircraft carriers, the great prizes for Japan, are away at sea.
36:45It's a shattering blow for the Japanese.
36:48But with these targets absent, their focus switches to battle.
36:55Just before Fuchida's bombers attack, an agreed coded message is sent.
37:00Tora! Tora! Tora!
37:02It reaches Admiral Yamamoto's flagship, thousands of miles away.
37:06The enemy have been surprised, and the attack is on.
37:13The attack is on.
37:15The enemy have been surprised, and the attack is on.
37:20And the attack is on.
37:298 a.m. December 7th, 1941.
37:32Pearl Harbour is under attack.
37:34Japanese bombers unleash over 100 tons of ordnance onto the US Pacific Fleet.
37:42Zero fighters strafe the harbour.
37:46Panic reigns as American sailors rush to anti-aircraft gun stations.
37:52No one is expecting Pearl Harbour to be attacked.
37:55This is a complete and total shock.
37:58In the skies above, Mitsuo Fuchida is in his Kate high-level bomber,
38:02leading his squadron towards their targets.
38:053,000 meters isn't enough to escape their flak.
38:10We're being hit! It's the control cable!
38:14Just don't make any sudden moves!
38:18Despite the absence of the American aircraft carriers,
38:21there are plenty of other important targets for the Japanese bombers.
38:25None more so than Battleship Row.
38:32Six of the eight US battleships are anchored together.
38:35USS Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee, West Virginia, Maryland and Oklahoma.
38:42Nearby are the California and Pennsylvania.
38:46These mighty, heavily armoured warships become the focus of the Japanese attack.
38:56The main group of battleships.
39:06Yes! Direct hits!
39:09One of the prized targets for the Japanese, the USS Arizona,
39:13is dealt a mortal blow by one of Fuchida's Kate bombers.
39:17The USS Arizona was hit by two 800kg armour-piercing bombs,
39:21one of which hit near one of the gun turrets,
39:24penetrated through the top of the deck, down into the magazine,
39:28and the whole battleship just exploded.
39:31It was one of the greatest losses of life that the US Navy had ever experienced.
39:39Nearly 1,200 men die on the Arizona.
39:44It's a catastrophe for the US Navy.
39:47As the Arizona goes down,
39:50the Japanese strike force hit US planes on their airfields.
39:54The American commanders, they placed a wingtip to wingtip.
39:58And of course, if you do that, that's unprotected.
40:02Of the total 390 US aircraft,
40:05188 are destroyed, another 159 are badly damaged.
40:1115 minutes after the first wave is finished,
40:14the second wave of Japanese planes hits Pearl Harbor.
40:17They continue the attack of US battleships,
40:20and strafe and bomb nearly every airfield.
40:24All the months of torpedo bomb practice pay off.
40:27At least 26 Japanese torpedoes hit American ships.
40:35Within two hours, the US Pacific Fleet is devastated.
40:40By 9.45 a.m., three battleships are sunk.
40:43The other five have all taken heavy hits.
40:47Another 11 ships are either sunk, capsized, or severely damaged.
40:53More than 2,400 servicemen, medics, and civilians have been killed.
41:02It's hard to overestimate the sense of shock and horror
41:06of the Americans for what happened at Pearl Harbor.
41:09You've got some of the mightiest ships
41:11lying stricken, sunken, rolled over in pieces.
41:14You know, the levels of destruction were absolutely enormous.
41:23Pearl Harbor
41:34Today, the wrecks of some of the ships sunk on December 7, 1941,
41:38remain in Pearl Harbor.
41:41One of those is the USS Utah.
41:43It's hit by a couple of Japanese torpedoes.
41:46It capsizes and sinks where it lies.
41:48Inside, dozens of sailors are trapped.
41:51Eventually, most of them make it out, but 58 sailors die.
41:55It stands today as a memorial to the sailors at Pearl Harbor,
42:00but also the attack that launched the United States into the Second World War.
42:08Around midday on December 7,
42:10Mitsuo Fuchida returns to the carrier Akagi.
42:13He wants another strike on Pearl Harbor,
42:17but his superior, Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, decides against a further attack.
42:22The question is, why didn't the Japanese attack again?
42:25Well, of course, the whole point about Pearl Harbor is surprise.
42:28And once you've attacked once, that surprise is gone.
42:30Also, they were extremely nervous about the whereabouts of the US carriers.
42:34The aircraft carriers were nowhere to be seen.
42:37Where were they?
42:38And perhaps they were, you know, planning a counterattack,
42:41and Nagumo had no way of knowing.
42:44So the Japanese fleet withdraws.
42:49Thousands of miles to the north,
42:51Admiral Yamamoto receives a report of the attack.
42:55The Japanese have lost just 29 aircraft,
42:59but Yamamoto knows they've missed the great prize,
43:03the US carriers.
43:06The knockout blow Japan needed has not been achieved.
43:11Within a year, four of the eight US battleships hit at Pearl Harbor
43:15are repaired and put back to sea.
43:20Yamamoto is killed in 1943 when his transport plane is shot down.
43:25Fuchida and Minoru Genda both survive the war.
43:30Fuchida becomes a born-again Christian doing missionary work.
43:34He dies in 1976.
43:37Genda eventually leaves the military for a career in politics.
43:41He dies in 1989.
43:45At Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Navy stunned America.
43:51But the attack galvanized the might of the United States into action
43:56and brought a nation burning for revenge into World War II.