Bombs Have Fallen Over Pearl Harbor!
At about 08:00 a.m. Sunday morning Japanese fighters dropped bombs and missiles over the US naval base in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. Some 2000 Americans died, and several military vessels and planes were bombed to pieces.
Japanese Attack
A large number of Japanese fighter planes, some say that there could have been as many as 300 aircrafts, came in several groups and dropped bombs and missiles over the base, clearly aiming for the battleships and aircrafts stationed in Pearl Harbour. Eyewitnesses say that it looked like they were aiming for the aircraft carriers and other major vessels first, before destroying the minor vessels and aircrafts. After just 90 minutes, the attack was over.
Some Japanese aircrafts were shot down, and early reports say that over 2000 Americans have been killed. Ruth Erickson, a nurse in the Naval Hospital in Pearl Harbour, experienced the chaos face to face: “My heart was racing, the telephone was ringing, the chief nurse, Gertrude Arnest, was saying: "Girls, get into your uniforms at once. This is the real thing!"”
Declaring War on Germany
On Monday, President Roosevelt asked the Congress to declare war on Japan, and they agreed with only one vote down. This means that the USA joins World War II two years after it started.
Eighteen vessels have so far been confirmed damaged in the attack and among them four have sunk. How will this end? Now that President Roosevelt has declared war, will we see more attacks like this? How will the relationship with Japan be affected by this?
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor Downloaded 15.1.15
http://pearlharbor.military.com/nps_history_oral.html Downloaded 19.1.15
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/7/newsid_3494000/3494108.stm Downloaded 15.1.15
