Chapter 18 - The Road to Pearl Harbor
16th Oct
In Washington the Chief of Naval Operations sends the following message to the fleet commanders: "The resignation of the Japanese Cabinet has created a grave situation X If a new Cabinet is formed it will probably be strongly nationalistic and anti American X If the Konoye Cabinet remains the effect will be that it will operate under a new mandate which will not include rapprochement with the US X In either case hostilities between Japan and Russia are a strong possibility X Since the US and Britain are held responsible by Japan for her present desperate situation there is also a possibility that Japan may attack these two powers X In view of these possibilities you will take due precautions including such preparatory deployments as will not disclose strategic intention nor constitute provocative actions against Japan X Second and third addressees (in the Pacific) inform appropriate Army and Naval district authorities X Acknowledge XX"
18th Oct
Richard Sorge, one of the most successful spies in the history of espionage is arrested in Tokyo. The son of a German engineer and a Russian mother, he was brought up in Germany, joined the Communist Party, and became a Soviet agent in 1928, serving in America, China and Japan under journalistic cover. He then got permission to go back to Germany and become a member of the Nazi Party. He returned to Tokyo as correspondent for a Frankfurt newspaper. His greatest service to the Soviet cause was also his last. Just three days ago he was able to tell Moscow that the Japanese have no intention of attacking Russia. This means that Russia will be able to transfer divisions from Siberia to defend Moscow.
Japan's deadlocked political crisis has ended with the appointment of the army strongman General Hideki Tojo, aged 57, as the new prime minister in the wake of the Konoye cabinet's resignation. General Tojo retains his portfolio as war minister. It is the first time that Japan has had a serving general as prime minister. One of his first actions has been to extend the deadline for diplomacy to prevent war with the United States until 25 November. This overturns the decision of the last imperial conference, calling for a decision on war or peace with the US no later than 15 October, which divided the Konoye cabinet and precipitated its resignation. General Tojo insisted on being given a "clean slate" on this issue before accepting his appointment from the Emperor.
HMAS Brisbane arrives at Brisbane to a tumultuous civic reception. She will remain for a week, then she will join her sister carrier Melbourne at Singapore.
The French battleship Richeleau accompanied by two cruisers sail from Oran, headed for Gibraltar. There they will join HMS Bulwark and HMS Anson and go on to Ceylon, where she will join in exercises with the forming British Far Eastern Fleet before heading to Singapore.
The first two full RAAF Sparrowhawk squadrons arrive in Malaya. While flights of the aircraft have been based here for exercises and to test how the aircraft performs in the tropical environment, these are the first active squadrons to be based there
20th Oct
"Regarding the Japanese Air Force, which many people, he said, were inclined to discount as a second-rate body equipped with obsolete aircraft and lacking skilful and daring pilots, Air Vice-Marshal Pulford said that he certainly does not underrate its capacity. When it was suggested to him that it might be compared with the Italian Air Force, he pointed out how completely the RAF gained the mastery of the skies of the Middle East even when the Italians possessed great numerical superiority. He thinks that what the RAF has done in the Middle East it could certainly do in the Far East against the Japanese. One of the best Japanese fighters is the 'O' naval fighter, but the Sparrowhawks at present with the RAF in Malaya and Burma would have no difficulty in dealing with them.
The Japanese, he said, have two bombers of the Mitsubishi type, one of which is used by the Navy and one by the Army -they are about equal in performance to the Whitley bomber in the R.A.F. He believes that Messerschmitt 109s are being produced in limited numbers in Japanese factories."
-- "The Times", Oct 20, 1941
While reports as to the performance of the latest Japanese fighters is minimal, the RAF currently consider them to be similar to that of Italian designs, that is small, agile and lightly armed, but with longer range. Given that the RAF was able to dominate the Italian Air force, they see no reason why they cannot do the same to the Japanese.
General Alexander is very concerned at the lack of help his preparations are getting from the civil authorities in Malaya. After a number of increasingly vitriolic telegrams between him and the War Cabinet, he has a meeting which is later described as 'turbulent'. As a result, far more civilian labour is released, and local industry is forbidden to poach them. The most urgent need is to complete the protected shelters for the planes, first at Singapore then further north if time permits. Alexander has also discussed the possibilities for construction at least one defence line north of the city with his engineer and General Percival. The conclusion is that it would cause more panic than it was worth to start construction now, but that the defences would be planned and ready to be implemented the moment Japan attacks. Few people in the military think that an attack is more than a short time away, and pressured by Alexander preparations are going ahead as fast as possible.
HMS Bulwark and HMS Anson sail from Britain. The carrier will fly off a squadron of Cormorant divebombers to Gibraltar en route. They are expected to arrive at Trincomalee on the 10th November, where they will spend a month working up. Bulwark is the first carrier to sail with a full complement of the new Sea Eagle and Spearfish; as these are larger than the older aircraft they replace she has to carry eight planes on deck, but as this is now usual practice except in exceptionally bad weather it is not seen as a problem. They will be joined at Gibraltar by the French battleship Richelieu and her escorts.
21st October
The Foreign Office in Tokyo sends the following message to the Japanese Embassy in Washington: "The new cabinet differs in no way from the former one in its sincere desire to adjust Japanese-United States relations on a fair basis. Our country has said practically all she can say in the way of expressing of opinions and setting forth our stand. We feel that we have now reached a point where no further positive action can be taken by us except to urge the United States to reconsider her views. We urge, therefore, that, choosing an opportune moment, either you or Wakasugi let it be known to the United States by indirection that our country is not in a position to spend much more time discussing this matter. Please continue the talks, emphasizing our desire for a formal United States counter-proposal to our proposal of 25 September."
A squadron of Hudson bombers arrives to be used by Coastal command in Singapore. These planes have been very effective in use in Europe, and they will be used mainly for reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols. A section of Whirlwind reconnaissance planes also arrives - the ten aircraft are expected to give the command better intelligence, especially as they do not think the Japanese have any planes capable of catching them.
The first part of 1st Armoured Division arrives in Singapore; the most urgent job they will have on arrival is to show the Malay and Indian divisions how to work with tanks - the Australians already know, but these divisions have never worked with tanks. It is not expected there will be time to make them expert, but at least a basic familiarity will be useful. To save time, the tanks are not tropicalised; this will be done once more of the division has arrived.
23rd October
The first four U-class submarines arrive at Trincomalee. It is intended to deploy them from Singapore shortly once work on the base has been completed to accommodate them. Further U and T class submarines will arrive over the next two weeks, as will a depot ship.
27th Oct
The sailing of two battalions of troops from Canada to Hong Kong has had to be postponed due to engine problems with the liner Awtea. This is not bad news for the Canadians, who consider the troops not yet sufficiently trained and ready for deployment. As no other liner is available, the troops will carry on with their original training program until new transport can be arranged.
HMS Warspite, HMAS Australia and HMAS Sydney arrive at Singapore to join Force Z. Talks have been going on for some time with the Dutch and (unofficially) with Admiral Hart for the Americans. Given the naval force the RN is assembling, the Dutch have agreed that their naval forces will be under RN command (subject of course to their need to defend the DEI), and work is proceeding at making it easier for the two navies to operate together. While Admiral Hart is unable to agree to anything similar, USN officers are included in the plans for joint operations, 'just in case'.
1st Nov
Japanese Combined Fleet Operational Order Number 1 - the plan for the attack on Pearl Harbor, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies is issued.
Joseph C Grew, the US ambassador to Japan, sends a second telegram to President Roosevelt warning that the Japanese may be planning an attack on an American target. The report is filed.
The first four long-range T-class submarines arrive in Ceylon for deployment, as does the depot ship and supplies for the two submarines squadrons.
The convoy taking 9th Australian Division arrives at Singapore. Due to the rising tension the division will deploy by the 16th; a number of the 7th Australian Division will be tasked with helping to get them ready for operations as soon as possible. They are accompanied by the second part of the 1st Armoured Brigade with 60 tanks. Only two of the division's brigades are on this convoy; the third and final one will not arrive until the 22nd November due to a shortage of suitable shipping.
3rd Nov
General Marshall states at a Joint Board meeting that there would only be sufficient B-17's in the Philippines to “have a deterrent effect on Japanese operations.” The Joint Board concurred in opposing the State Department’s hard line towards Japan and advocated the USA making minor concessions to buy time. Major General Brereton arrives on Pan American Clipper to take up his appointment as Commander, FEAF. He brings with him a draft of a revised Rainbow-5 plan for the defense of the Philippines.
5th Nov
General Marshall and Admiral Stark send a six-point memorandum to the President outlining the position taken by the Joint Board on November 3. He is specifically informed that there would be insufficient B-17's in the Philippines to serve as a “positive threat” to the Japanese until mid-December and that it would be February or March before air power in the Commonwealth was sufficient to be a “deciding factor in deterring Japan”. This memorandum further sets out that a Japanese attack on British or Dutch possessions or a threatening Japanese assault on Siam would lead to an American declaration of war.
The RAF is having growing problems with the new Fw190 fighter in Europe. It has a better performance than the current SpitfireV or the GoshawkIII. A new two-stage supercharged Merlin 61 engine has been tried in one of the pre-production Spitfire VIII, and the increase in performance is said to be huge over the current SpitfireV. This engine is specified for the production run of the Mk8, and it is hoped to have these operational in March 1942. There has been pressure from the RAF to try the new Gloster Sea Eagle in operation, but the Navy is strongly resisting this as they claim it is not yet operational - the first carriers to carry the plane are still working up their air groups, and they are only just coming into full production. They also point out that it will not necessarily solve the problem; the Spitfire is more manoeuvrable, although the Sea Eagle has far more power, and the Sea Eagle has been optimized for performance under 20,000feet. The SpitfireVIII with the new engine is expected to have better performance above this height. In any case, numbers of the Fw190 are at the moment small, and with a steadily increasing prospect of war in the Far East, they would prefer to keep the performance of the Sea Eagle a secret.
Another four U-class boats arrive in Ceylon. The first half of the squadron arrives at Singapore yesterday, their arrival and deployment kept as secret as possible.
The 12th African Division arrives in Burma via India. This division has been freed up from East Africa by the finishing of the Ethiopean campaign; it is hoped its experienced troops, already used to hot conditions, will be able to be operational soon. The same convoy brings 40 additional tanks for the armored brigade in Burma, although these will need some weeks of tropicalisation before they can be put to use.
9th Nov
General MacArthur meets with Admiral Hart and advises him to “get a real Fleet”. Hart bitterly resents this comment.
The first squadron of the new Mosquito light bomber becomes operational. The initial squadrons have been allocated to the bombing pathfinder squadrons; it is considered an ideal plane for them, and they do not need a heavy bomb load to carry their marking indicators. The pathfinder concept has slowly been improving the accuracy of the RAF bombers; a report by Justice Butt some weeks ago pointed out that while the accuracy was still poor, it was a great improvement on a year ago. As the marking planes skill increased, and new aids such as Gee were employed, it was felt the delayed heavy bombing campaign could go ahead in the spring as scheduled.
11th Nov
Battleship Mushashi, the largest warship in the world, is launched in Japan.
General Brereton, Air Force USAFFE Commander, is dispatched by General MacArthur on a three-week, 11,500-mile trip to Rabaul, Port Moresby, Townsville, and Melbourne, to comply with Marshall's directive of 30 September regarding the use of airfields in British Empire areas by the USA.
Although the largest island in the Dodecanese group, Rhodes, is now occupied and fortified by the British, low level air and sea activity continues across the islands. Italian and RAF and French planes stage raids and patrol the area, and the Italians have staged two raids by light craft against the small coastal ships supplying the British, in one case sinking or damaging a number of ships.
13th Nov
The Germans today resume their attack on Moscow now that frost has hardened the ground enough for operations. They have launched one of their customary pincer movements in a final attempt to capture the city before the winter
The plan is for the 2nd Panzer Group to take Tula, to the south of the Russian capital, and then sweep up behind Moscow to Kolemna. 3rd Panzer Group is to form the northern arm of the pincer with the task of driving eastwards to the Volga Canal and then wheeling towards Moscow while 4th Panzer Group attacks in the centre. The initial reports of the fighting show that it is going to be much harder for them to take Moscow than seemed possible last month when panic gripped the city.
The House of Representatives voted by 212 votes to 194 to revise the Neutrality Act of 1939 to allow US merchant ships to unload munitions in British ports..
15th Nov
The final four T-class boats arrive at Ceylon. This completes the two submarine squadrons deployed in the Far East. The rest of the U-class boats arrive at Singapore to take up their patrol stations. The T-class boats are headed further north, closer to the Philippines; they will refuel at Singapore at night then head out under cover of darkness.
The first of the latest version of the Valentine tank, mounting a 6pdr gun in a turret designed for the Canadian Grizzly tank arrive in North Africa. The first of the new Grizzly are expected to arrive in Britain shortly, and a small number will be shipped on to Alexandria for examination in the field by the British and French armoured divisions. Planning has been going ahead steadily for an invasion of Sicily in the spring and a more powerful tank has been eagerly awaited. General Montgomery has already pointed out that as amphibious forces are limited by sealift, especially until a port can be captured, having the best equipment in the initial landings is of especial benefit.
General Alexander approves plans for food rationing in Singapore. The engineers have been working on possible solutions for water; if the island is invested the water supply is so far north as to be very vulnerable to enemy attack. Singapore receives regular rain which can be collected; additional storage is being looked at. The administration is also drawing up plans for evacuation of civilians if Malaya is attacked; these will leave on small coastal shipping and on returning supply convoys for Ceylon and Australia.
18th Nov
General Brooke replaces General Dill as Chief of the Imperial General Staff. General Dill is assigned to Washington, DC. General Paget becomes C. in C. British Home Forces. These appointments will become effective in December.
General Brooke has a passion for innovation in military mobility, mechanization and gunnery, and this is expected only to increase the current progress for better mechanised forces in the Imperial Armies.
The Japanese Imperial Diet secretly approves a "resolution of hostility" against the United States. Admiral Yamamoto informs his staff to plan for an attack on the Royal Navy at Singapore once the strike at Pearl Harbor has been completed. This will have to be finalised later, as it will depend on how costly (and successful) the attack on the Pacific fleet is, and what force the Royal Navy have in Malaya at the time, but in principle and assuming the Pacific fleet is hit as heavily as he hopes, he wants to swing his forces around and cripple and drive back the Royal Navy Eastern Fleet as soon as possible.
Five mother submarines, each with a midget sub lashed to the deck, depart Kure Naval Base for Pearl Harbor. The submarines arrive off Oahu, Hawaiian Islands, on 6 December. Nine submarines from Kwajalein also sail for their stations.
A convoy containing supplies and a considerable amount of ammunition starts to unload in Singapore. In addition to army supplies, it carries additional shells for the ships which will be operating from the base, as well as torpedoes for the submarines and the new Torpex MkXV aerial torpedo. A similar convoy docked two days ago at Trincomalee.
The Dutch army in the Dutch East Indies receive their first shipments of the US 'Stuart' tank. These had originally been ordered by France, but after the actions in North Africa had shown they were really too light for use against German tanks, had been passed on to the Dutch - it was felt that it would be a very useful vehicle against the much lighter and poorly-protected Japanese tanks. The Dutch forces have been eagerly looking forward to their first modern tanks.
21st Nov
The Navy Department sends the following message to the Commanders of the Asiatic and Pacific Fleets. "Have been informed by Dutch Legation that they have received a dispatch as follows: "According to information received by the Governor General of The Netherlands East Indies a Japanese expeditionary force has arrived in the vicinity of Palau. Should this force, strong enough to form a threat for The Netherlands Indies or Portuguese Timor, move beyond a line between the following points Davao (Philippine Islands) Waigeo (Island, Netherlands East Indies) Equator the Governor General will regard this as an act of aggression and will under those circumstances consider the hostilities opened and act accordingly." Inform Army authorities of foregoing. Request any information you may have concerning development of this Japanese threat against the Dutch East Indies and your evaluation of foregoing information."
22nd Nov
The Japanese First Air Fleet arrives in Hitokappu Bay, Etorofu Island, Kurile Islands. This fleet consists of six aircraft carriers (HIJMS Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga, Shokaku, Soryu and Zuikaku), two battleships (HIJMS Hiei and Kirishima), two heavy cruisers (HIJMS Chikuma and Tone), a light cruiser (HIJMS Abukuma) and ten destroyers.
The German assault on Moscow continues. After bitter fighting, the Germans are now some 35 miles from the city.
23rd Nov
Carrier Striking Task Force Operations Order No. 1 is issued stating:
"The Carrier Striking Task Force will proceed to the Hawaiian Area with utmost secrecy and, at the outbreak of the war, will launch a resolute surprise attack on and deal a fatal blow to the enemy fleet in the Hawaiian Area. The initial air attack is scheduled at 0330 hours, X Day. Upon completion of the air attacks, the Task Force will immediately withdraw and return to Japan and, after taking on new supplies, take its position for Second Period Operations. In the event that, during this operation, an enemy fleet attempts to intercept our force or a powerful enemy force is encountered and there is danger of attack, the Task Force will launch a counterattack.
The second unit, the Midway Bombardment Unit (the 7th Destroyer Division less the 2nd section), will depart from Tokyo Bay around X-6 Day and, after refuelling, secretly approach Midway. It will arrive on the night of X Day and shell the air base. The unit will then withdraw and, after refuelling, return to the western part of the Inland Sea. The oiler Shiriya will accompany the bombardment unit on this mission and will be responsible for the refuelling operation."
24th Nov
Admiral Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, sends the following message to Admiral Hart, Commander-in-Chief Asiatic Fleet in the Philippine Islands; Admiral Kimmel, Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet in the Territory of Hawaii; Admiral Blakely, commander of the Eleventh Naval District at San Diego, California; Admiral Greenslade, commander of the Twelfth Naval District at San Francisco, California; Admiral Freeman, commander of the Thirteenth Naval District at Seattle, Washington; and Admiral Sadler, commander of the Fifteenth Naval District in the Canal Zone: "Chances of favourable outcome of negotiations with Japan very doubtful. This situation coupled with statements of Japanese Government and movements their naval and military forces indicate in our opinion that a surprise aggressive movement in any direction including attack on Philippines or Guam is a possibility"
27th Nov
The last Italian forces in Ethiopia have surrendered in Gondar. After holding out for nine months, aided by the mountains and the rains, General Nasi's troops were overwhelmed today. The British have taken 11,500 Italian and 12,000 native troops prisoner.
The Japanese carrier forces and Combined Fleet sail for the Pearl Harbor operation.
At 2000 unidentified aircraft were spotted at high altitude over central Luzon by Iba radar. All FEAF units placed on alert. Admiral Hart authorizes reconnaissance flights over Japanese troop convoys.
28th Nov
General Brereton requests permission to conduct high-altitude photo reconnaissance of Takao in Southern Formosa. General MacArthur refuses, citing "the War Department instructions to avoid any overt act" and directed that all Army reconnaissance, including that conducted in co-operation with the Asiatic Fleet, be limited to two-thirds the distance from Luzon to Formosa. The USS Enterprise and her escort group sets sail from Pearl Harbor for Wake Island to ferry Marine Wildcats to the island.
There is a meeting with General Alexander, Air Marshal Park, Admiral Somerville and their aides in Singapore to discuss the readiness of the area against attack.
While the defensive situation is much improved from even three months ago, it is still not close to what is desired, and it is felt that it will take another 3-4 months to bring the defence up to the standard required. None of the three officers think that they will have this time.
The ground forces have been reinforced, and more importantly reinforced with experienced troops. Not only has this given Alexander more options, the new forces have allowed him to conduct extensive training of the units already in theatre, which has improved their performance. He is especially pleased to now have armoured units available - despite some pre-war opinions, these have worked perfectly well in the jungle, as have the troops, who have found the plantations in particular quite navigable. He is still short of equipment - in particular AA guns, and as a result of the exercises showing that a considerable quantity of the pre-war stocks had deteriorated (having to be replaced), the stocks are less than optimal, although the reduced numbers of guns balances this out. Even so, only some 35% of the planned number of guns is available.
The situation of the air force is a little better. Earlier in the year, there were few modern planes in theatre, and the pilots were woefully short of training - indeed, Park would not have accepted them as fit for service when he was running 11 Group in Britain. Improving their training has been a major part of his preparations, and staff has been borrowed from Operational Training Units in Europe to improve efficiency. The quality is still variable, and a considerable number of the pilots need more experience, the general competence has improved. The overall situation has been helped by the arrival of more experienced pilots with some of the new squadrons (often men with combat experience), and judicious use of some of these to stiffen the existing squadrons has helped.
The radar and control situation has also improved. A number of the Army's AMES stations are in operation, Singapore Island and a considerable distance north of it now being covered. Thought was given to location a set in the north, but Koto Bharu, the best location, was considered far too vulnerable to attack. The control of interception has been improved considerably due to constant practice, although Park is still unhappy about the quality. Progress has been made on the airfields; many of those that were just strips six months ago are now equipped with concrete runways, thanks to the additional manpower made available, which is a huge help in the Malayan climate. Park has also instituted defence and demolition schemes for the forward airfields based on his experience in SE England during the Battle of Britain. Again these are not complete, but the northern airfields felt most likely to be at risk have been covered.
The air force has been reinforced with more modern planes, which has allowed the coverage of more of the peninsular; in particular he now has a small number of reconnaissance planes with radar for use at sea, and a squadron of night fighters to defend Singapore. More of the older planes than he would like are still in front line service, but some have been kept back for training. Since he has little accurate information on the capabilities of Japanese planes and pilots, he intends to decide later whether these aircraft (mainly Buffaloes) are capable enough to be used in combat.
The naval force has been heavily reinforced. Somerville points out that a number of his ships are not yet up to his standards operationally, but those are being held at Ceylon while exercises continue. About 2/3 of his force is ready, although he has serious worries as to having too many ships at Singapore - he sees no reason why the IJN cannot do to him what the RN has done to Germany and Italy, although the static defences of Singapore are rather more prepared and alert than Wilhelmshaven and Taranto were. He intends to keep only a small force at Singapore until more is known about the location of the IJN carrier force, accepting that this means he is less capable of stopping an initial invasion force.
29th Nov
A liaison conference among the Service Chiefs and Cabinet of the Japanese Government decides that the final proposal from the US is unacceptable. Their alternative is war. Their decision is prepared for an Imperial Conference, with the Emperor, which is scheduled for December.
30th Nov
MacArthur orders Fort Mills on Corregidor put on full alert.
The continuing reports of Japanese activity, and the reports of what could be troop convoys heading south, are putting Admiral Somerville in a dilemma. He cannot initiate action against the Japanese, yet concentrating his forces at Singapore means leaving them open to the possibility of a carrier strike. The IJN have at least six fleet carriers available, and a strike by them could devastate his fleet. However leaving them out at sea has its own drawbacks, the IJN has a strong submarine force and if spotted they could again be vulnerable to air attack. Once the Japanese commit themselves his task will be simpler, but until then he decides to keep the bulk of his fleet south and west of Singapore.
He has ordered a patrol line of U-class submarines south of French Indo China and oriented North-South to catch any ships heading for the peninsular. He also orders four of the larger T-class to sail tomorrow for stations between the Philippines and the China coast.
His surface force at Singapore consists of the light carrier Melbourne, the fast battleship KGV and three cruisers plus their destroyer escorts. These are at sea to the north-east of Singapore. If his reconnaissance detects a strong enemy force, he will either reinforce them with more of his fleet, or if the enemy force seems too large withdraw them and concentrate west of Singapore ready for a carrier strike.
2nd Dec
The Premier, Hideki Tojo, publicly rejects US proposals for peace. The Japanese carrier force "Kido Butai" sailing for the Hawaiian Islands receives a special radio signal: "Climb Mount Niitaka 1208", from Japanese Combined Fleet Commander Admiral Yamamoto. This is the order to execute the attack on Pearl Harbor.
German troops reach the outskirts of Moscow, 20 miles away. The Kremlin is in sight.
5th Dec
Despite the nearness of his advance units to Moscow, Hitler agrees to a halt in the Moscow offensive due to the growing exhaustion of his troops and the freezing weather conditions.
Japan assures the USA that its build-up of troops in Indochina is "a purely defensive measure"
In Australia the government cancels all army leave as the prospect of war with Japan grows more likely. Japanese convoys are on the move in Asia, and the only question now seems to be where, not whether, they will strike. Allied forces have been brought to the first degree of readiness. Australian service chiefs have been summoned and the Australian war cabinet has issued orders for emergency measures in the Pacific. Australia has two divisions in place in Malaya, and a new division, the 8th, has finished training in Australia.
All RN and RAN ships in theatre have been ordered to finish any boiler cleanings, hull cleaning and minor refits as soon as possible and be ready at eight hours notice. General Alexander has ordered the engineers to be ready to proceed with the defensive works as soon as he gives the order.
6th Dec
The Russian army launches a major counteroffensive on the Moscow front. The Germans are being hampered by the freezing conditions, for which they are not prepared, and the attack is a notable success
The first two brigades of the 4th Indian Division arrive in Burma, although only half its heavy equipment has arrived in the first convoy. The rest of the division and its equipment will arrive in two weeks
President Roosevelt again appeals to the Japanese Emperor for peace and asks for troop withdrawal from French Indochina. There is no Japanese reply. Later the first 13 parts of a 14 part Japanese message are transmitted. Unknown to the Japanese, this message is intercepted and decoded by US Intelligence
An RAF reconnaissance plane discovers a Japanese convoy heading west, south of Cambodia point. Bad weather makes it difficult to keep the ships under observation, so the Whirlwind is relieved by a series of SeaLance planes flying out of Kota Bharu and using their ASV radar to keep track of the convoy, which is sailing steadily into the Gulf of Siam. There are four U-class submarines in a patrol line that intersects the convoy, and they are ordered to concentrate on it during the night of the 7th. One of the submarines is ordered to move south to Koto Bharu, as the forward airfield is an obvious target for attack. The submarine is not authorised to take action unless the Japanese are not only inside territorial waters but also launching a landing. Air Marshal Park only has a small number of the radar-equipped SeaLance, so to supplement them sends out six Hudson patrol planes. If the convoy sighted is an invasion fleet, then a supporting force cannot be too far away if it is to give them cover, and he hopes that one of the Hudsons will spot them
Admiral Somerville can only consider this to be an invasion convoy (or at least ships acting like one). His big question is where is the covering force, and how large is it. At the moment it is not possible to say if the convoy is heading for Siam, or Malaya, or both. While he keeps planes covering the convoy, urgent attempts are made to try and find where the warships covering it are hiding. The ships at Singapore are brought to two hours notice for sailing (his advance squadron has been in port so the carrier can have her bottom cleaned). A squadron of RAF Beaufighters are put on alert for a possible torpedo attack, and the Army units in the north are alerted that an invasion may commence within 48hours. The RAF radar units on and north of Singapore Island have been on alert for some days. The RAF and Army units in the north will have to manage for the time being with the Malaysian version of the Observer Corps, the radar systems not having yet covered the entire country, but at least Park has managed to get a basic command system working, thanks in part to the availability of RN personnel trained in the similar job at sea.
Parks is also worried about air raids on Singapore. While there have been a number of air raid drills, there has only been one a month for the civilian population due to the disruption they cause (although the military have been tested more frequently), and he is concerned that an early raid could cause severe casualties. No-one is sure about the range of Japanese bombers, but it is considered possible they could raid the island with at least a light bomb load. There have also been problems in digging slit trenches in the often-wet conditions, although steady progress has been made in more permanent facilities for the airfields and some of the more important military targets.
7th - 8th Dec
Six Japanese carriers launch an air strike at the USN naval base at Pearl Harbor, using 184 planes in the first wave and 176 planes in the second wave, a much heavier strike even than the one the RN made against Taranto. The attack was made before a declaration of war, and resulted in massive damage to the US fleet, which seemed to be caught by surprise and without defensive measure such as torpedo nets fully or properly deployed.
Only 29 Japanese planes failed to make it back, although others were too badly damaged to be used again. Comments made seem to indicate that a daylight raid was not expected after the earlier examples of night raids in the European war by the Royal Navy.
The attack was a devastating success. Four battleships were sunk, and four more damaged, effectively destroying the US fleet in the Pacific. Also lost or damaged were three cruisers, three destroyers, an AA training ship and a minelayer. In addition the USAAF airfields were badly damaged, the USAAF losing nearly 200 planes.
Although reconnaissance planes took off from Hawaii, the Japanese attack force was not found. Although the damage done was serious, no further strike was launched (unlike the RN at Taranto), and, possibly due to the need to use a considerable force to neutralise the airfields, the damage to the fleet could have been even worse. Fortunately the US carrier force was not in the harbour at the time of the attack, and so was preserved for future missions.
Wake Island has received a warning from Pearl Harbour at 0650. The islands defences and the airbase were not fully operational, but they had received the second half of their fighters only a few days before. There were now 24 F4F3 Wildcats to defend the island. Unfortunately the radar set due to be delivered was till at Pearl Harbor, and so it was decided to rotate eight fighters at a time on CAP, as warning was expected to be minimal without radar.
At noon the airfield was attacked by 36 G3M bombers. Visibility was poor, and the bombers were not spotted until they began their attack runs. Only some of the aircraft were protected by revetments (these had only been built for the earlier group of 12 planes), and as a result the bombers destroyed five Wildcats on the ground. The control of the planes was poor, and the CAP did not succeed in intercepting the bombers before they made their escape.