12-07-1941

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The American minesweeper USS Condor spotted a Japanese Ko-hyoteki midget submarine at half past four on the morning of Sunday, December 7th and relayed its location to the destroyer　Ward, which sank the sub at 6:37 a.m., thus firing what were technically the first shots of what would soon be known as the Attack on Pearl Harbor and the beginning of World War II for the United States.

Sometime in the next hour, another Japanese midget submarine entered Pearl Harbor and fired a torpedo into the battleship West Virginia, technically beginning the Japanese attack.

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Wake island ;

In January 1941, the United States Navy constructed a military base on the atoll. On August 19, the first permanent military garrison, elements of the 1st Marine Defense Battalion, totaling 449 officers and men, were stationed on the island, under Navy Commander Winfield S. Cunningham. Also present on the island were 68 U.S. Navy personnel and about 1,221 civilian workers.

The Marines were armed with six old 5" (127 mm) cannon, removed from a scrapped cruiser, 12 3" (76.2 mm) M3 antiaircraft guns (with only a single working anti-aircraft sight between them), 18 Browning M2 heavy machine guns and 30 heavy, medium and light water- and air-cooled machine guns of various manufacture and operating condition.

On December 8, 1941, the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbor (Wake being on the opposite side of the International Date Line), 16 Japanese medium bombers flown from bases on the Marshall Islands attacked Wake Island, destroying eight of the twelve F4F Wildcat fighter aircraft belonging to Marine Corps fighter squadron VMF-211 on the ground. All of the Marine garrison’s defensive emplacements were left intact by the raid, which primarily targeted the naval aircraft.


[edit] First landing attempt
 
Japanese cruiser Yubari, flagship of Rear Admiral Kajioka.Early on the morning of December 11, the garrison, with the support of the four remaining Wildcats, repulsed the first Japanese landing attempt by the South Seas Force, which included the light cruisers Yubari, Tenryū, and Tatsuta; the destroyers Yayoi, Mutsuki, Kisaragi, Hayate, Oite, and Asanagi; two old destroyers converted to patrol boats (Patrol Boat No. 32 and Patrol Boat No. 33), and two troop transport ships containing 450 Special Naval Landing Force troops. The U.S. Marines fired at the invasion fleet with their six 5-inch (127 mm) coastal artillery guns, sinking the Hayate and damaging most of the other ships. The four Wildcats also succeeded in sinking another destroyer, the Kisaragi. Hayate was the first Japanese naval ship sunk during World War II. The Japanese force withdrew before landing. This was the first Japanese defeat of the war. The first battle of Wake Island also marked the only occasion in all of World War II when an amphibious assault was repulsed by shore-based guns. After the initial raid was fought off, American news media reported that Cunningham had quipped “Send more Japs!” when queried about reinforcement and resupply. In fact, Commander Cunningham sent a long list of critical equipment—including gunsights, spare parts, and fire-control radar—to his immediate superior: Commandant, 14th Naval District.[4]

But the continuing siege and frequent Japanese air attacks on the Wake garrison continued, without resupply for the Americans. The initial resistance offered by the garrison prompted the Japanese Navy to detach two aircraft carriers (Sōryū and Hiryū) from the force that attacked Pearl Harbor to support the second landing attempt.


[edit] Task Force 14
The projected U.S. relief attempt by Admiral Wilson Brown’s Task Force 14 (TF-14) consisted of fleet carriers Saratoga and Lexington, the fleet oiler USNS Neches, the seaplane tender Tangier, the cruisers Astoria, Minneapolis, and San Francisco, and ten destroyers. The convoy carried the 4th Marine Coastal Defense Battalion, the VMF-221 fighter squadron equipped with F2A “Brewster Buffalo” fighters, along with 9,000 five-inch (127 mm) rounds, 12,000 three-inch (76.2 mm) rounds, and 3,000,000 .50 cal. (12.7 mm) rounds as well as a large amount of ammunition for mortars and other battalion small arms.

On December 22 at 21:00, the task force received controversial orders signed by Vice Admiral William S. Pye, the Acting Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, to return to Pearl Harbor for fear of losses, so no naval battle took place.


[edit] Second landing and American surrender
 
Wreckage of Wildcat 211-F-11, flown by Capt Elrod on December 11 in the attack that sunk the Japanese destroyer Kisaragi.The second Japanese invasion force came on December 23, composed mostly of the same ships from the first attempt with some new additions, plus 1,500 Japanese marines. The landings begain at 02:35 hours where, after a preliminary bombardment, the ex-destroyers Patrol Boat No. 32 and Patrol Boat No. 33 were beached and burned in their attempts to land the invasion force. After a full night and morning of fighting, the Wake garrison surrendered to the Japanese by mid-afternoon.

The U.S. Marines lost only 49 killed during the entire 15-day siege while three U.S. Navy personnel and at least 70 civilians were killed. The Japanese losses were recorded at between 700 to 900 killed with at least 1,000 more wounded, in addition to the two destroyers lost in the first invasion attempt, as well as at least 20 land-based and carrier aircraft. The Japanese captured all men remaining on the island, of whom the majority were civilian contractors employed with Morrison-Knudsen Company.

Captain Henry T. Elrod, one of the pilots from VMF-211, was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his action on the Island during the Japanese landings on the 23rd for shooting down two Japanese A6 Zero fighters. A special military decoration, the Wake Island Device was also created to honor those who had fought in the defense of the island.