Chapter 28

(DEC 1941 JAPANESE BOMB PEARL HARBOR)

Author’s Note: I apologize for the interruption of the unfolding story, but wanted to draw attention to the fact that there is some lag time between the Historical side of the story and the plot with the time-traveling Jack Kruger from the twenty-first century. As I previously indicated at the beginning, chapters 27 and 28 are the pivotal chapters of the war in Europe during World War Two and the events in these two chapters are the alpha and the omega of this dangerous time. Jack is writing from the perspective of looking back from his advantage of future existence and he is at this point actually writing within the timeframe of Nov-Dec 1942. Operation Barbarossa kicked off in Jun 1941 and the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in Dec 1941. Thus, his present time location is about one year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and about eighteen months after the invasion of the Soviet Union. His actions as a Third Reich approved press correspondent had reached a point of no return with the Gestapo and his movement from Marseilles to Trieste was prompted by the closing ring of informants looking for suspects to round up for the cleansing of this den of anti-Nazi sentiment and to teach the Vichy portion of France that disobedience to the Fuhrer’s rules was futile.

From chapter 30 through the end of Book Three, the timelines of both the Historical side of the story and the character plot of the story will be merged closely.

Now back to the story.

SUNDAY MORNING 7 DECEMBER 1941 – PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII

It was a slow and sleepy Sunday morning as the sun rose over the peaceful waters of the Pacific Ocean surrounding the beautiful diamonds that were the islands of Hawaii. They sparkled with the morning dew still lingering from the changing temperatures of the tropical paradise.

The ships of the American Pacific fleet rested on their anchors in the waters of Pearl Harbor adjacent to the large naval support base that supplied the fleet and kept them in good repair and excellent shape for monitoring the changing balance of power in the dangerous regions of the Far East. The radar stations on the high ground surrounding the Navy Base were moving at slow speed but that was understandable because it was a Sunday and everybody knew nothing ever happens on a Sunday unless it was a football game or some big event planned long ago in the past and everybody knew all about it. A couple of the stations were getting some blips coming in low and slow from the empty waters dotted only with the occasional fishing boat heading out for the day’s catch in the abundant fishing grounds that kept bellies filled in all corners of the Pacific island chain.

Within a matter of mere moments, the relaxed atmosphere would change from yawns and the rubbing of still sleepy eyes to the overwhelming shock of being in the midst of the chaos of war and the witnessing of an event that would change the world forever and wake America up to the fact that she was the last chance for the civilized world to stem the tide of evil that was sweeping up from the lair of the Nazi hordes and the seething broth of delusion that buried inside the presumptive role of superiority evidenced by the titled officers of Imperial Japan. The emperor felt such matters were too disturbing for his personal recognition and he left all such matters in the hands of his underlings with the expectation that they would make the correct moves to protect the empire without his interference.

Japan had been bulging at the seams with the obsession of expanding their control over all of Asia and making the entire area a vast source of raw materials and manpower to boost their industrial capacity. The Japanese military had made faulty conclusions about the intestinal fortitude of the American resolve and they hoped that the American would accept the shame of their defeat with infinite grace and stay out of the Asian world of politics and economic development. There was no doubt that they were able to subjugate the entire Asian world including China without undue difficulty but they were vastly out of their depth when estimating the validity of modern western culture and seriousness of purpose. To say it was a clash of cultures more than simple territorial ambitions or economic competition that set the two nations at each other’s throats would be an understatement of their impulses at that beginning stage of the conflict.

There is no need to go into detail about how many ships were damaged and how many American lives were lost because the bottom line is that the Japanese won that battle in Pearl Harbor and they had literally caught the Americans with their pants down and made the most of the moment.

At this much later date in 2019, we can speculate on the rampant rumors that circulated through publications in the early 1990s that in fact the President was well aware long in advance of the attack about the Japanese intentions and that he deliberately pretended he had no foreknowledge and allowed the attack to take place in order to whip up the American people’s emotions into participating in a total war effort. There was ample evidence to support this Machiavellian theory but it was still a speculative opinion based on circumstantial evidence.

The sneak attack by a member of the Axis gave the American government the authority to jump into the war in Europe in support of the British. It was a goal long sought by the President but he had been stymied in his intentions by a reluctant Congress and a public view that Europe’s war was their own business and the United States was best served by minding their own business. Many prominent members of society and both the Republican and Democratic Establishment were stridently anti-war and would give the President no excuse to get involved at risk of great loss of American lives.

The primary excuse given by the Pentagon for first focusing their attention on the European Theater of Operations was that it would take some time to replenish the Pacific fleet for a sustained war in the Pacific Theater of Operations. It was not a decision relished in the Department of the Navy because they were the main target of the Japanese attack.