PEARL HARBOUR 80 ANNIVERSARY PRESS RELEASE 7 December 2021 by Martin Stansfeld
A flood of questions incoming here, on the lines of “What about Pearl Harbour” ?
It was not me many years ago that had been asked this question in a Russian fishing lodge alongside my Japanese buddy Sugai Yasuji, a fellow guest. The interlocutor was a middle aged American trust fund beneficiary and the question was asked at breakfast in front of everybody and quite loudly. I felt obliged to save Yasuji from answering by giving the offender my ‘subway stare’ which has the shoulders slowly crouch into an attack position. The eyes do the rest, they challenge. The guy shut up smartly. No word had to be said.
The camp harboured another American who was a notorious Anglophobe. We discussed the incident at dinner time. His resentment was that in 1812 the British had burnt down his ancestor’s spread on the Potomac. I told him about the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1902 and how if it had not been ended twenty years later Brits might well have bombed Brooklyn Navy Yard at the same time as the Japs whacked Pearl Harbour. He loved it, roared with laughter ! It confirmed all he had been festering about Brits, and so Sugai and I became buddies of Ted through many happy subsequent years in the camp.
The surprise raid will likely have books written about it into infinity. My own take on the event is to examine why the IJN did not invade Hawaii instead of merely raiding its naval base. My conclusion was that while Japan had enough aircraft carriers for a raid it possessed too few for covering an invasion. It could have fielded close to double if it had not tied up construction facilities with super-battleships, heavy cruisers, and liners instead of building fast fleet carriers while also doubling air and maintenance crew training.
The conspiracy theories, beguiling though they are, at root are thorough tosh. Roosevelt was not that smart. There is however one abiding mystery, What was the purpose of the famous ‘Hull Note’ parked on the Emperor’s emissaries by Secretary of State Cordell Hull a mere week or so ahead of the Raid? Intelligent conspiratology can rightly focus on this difficult question. One day the truth may well be revealed, and much else.
My focus is also on the misplaced reliance on congregating four engine land-based bombers in the Philippines as routed through Hawaii. No deterrent to Japan. Most got torched there on the ground by Japanese naval aircraft flying from Formosa aided for the range by drop-fuel tanks. It was like the battleships had already been written off by the White House without the need for Yamamoto to sink them. The two precious Pacific Fleet carriers were only absent from the base due to the ferrying of aircraft to outlying bases the better to protect them as way-stops for refuelling the Flying Fortresses on their way to the Philippines.
Any naughty questions? email me at : [email protected]
