Pearl Harbor, A Surprise Attack?
...003; Marines, 108, Army, seventeen, Army Air Force, 222; Civilians, forty-nine for a total of 2399 deaths (Sterner website). The Unites States sustained losses of eighteen major battleships sunk or damaged, and 188 planes, which were destroyed (Shapiro 66). There were also 159 planes damaged, the majority hit before they had a chance to take off and defend themselves. The Japanese losses were comparatively light (Department of Defense). Twenty-nine planes were lost and less than ten percent of the attacking force failed to return to their carriers (Department of Defense). Could these losses have been avoided?! Several facts indicate they could have. The ability to intercept and decode Japanese military messages was achieved before the bombing at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese sent messages to representatives overseas in a secret code known as “purple.” Unknown to Japan, United States intelligence officials had developed a machine that allowed them to decode and read the messages. This machine was nicknamed “Magic” (Uschan 16). After the messages were decoded, the relay process was extremely slow, considering they had to be sent by ship, train, or weekly airmail. Once the codes were decoded and translated, only few officials were allowed to see them (Wels 69). On September 24th, 1941, a message from the military leaders in Japan to their consul general in Honolulu was intercepted and decoded. In the message the Japanese military leaders wanted the waters of Pearl Harbor divided into five sub areas and they wanted to know what ships were docked in the sub areas. This instruction put an invisible grid over Pearl Harbor. This was undoubtedly intended as an overlay for planning bombing attack targets – hence it came to be known as the “bomb plot message” (Layton 162). Other Magic intercepts hinted strongly at an anticipated break in communications. “On November 19, Tokyo established the ‘hidden word’ code to be used when diplomatic relations became ‘dangerous.’ The famous ‘winds’ code, which would signal ‘danger of cutting off our diplomatic relations,’ for use if international communications should be severed, was set up that same day but was not translated until November 28 (Prange 135).” According to Commander Lawrence Safford, “the winds message was broadcasted on December 4, 1941 (Prange 318).” More than fifty espionage messages were exchanged between the Honolulu consulate and Tokyo from November 12th to December 7th (Oxford 60). The President, the secretaries of State, War, and Navy; four high-ranking Naval officers; and four high-ranking Army officers were the twelve persons permitted to receive the Magic messages. Often these men were reading Magic “gist sheets,” or summaries, even before code clerks in the Japanese Embassy deciphered receivings on their machine (Oxford 56). As can be seen the Magic machine deciphered many Japanese messages which provided important information related to a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The lack of attention to numerous signs of an attack by the Japanese helped contribute to the “surprise” attack. On early December 7th, the United States had information of two Japanese military actions. The reaction or lack thereof by the United States military contributed to the “sur...