The attack on Pearl Harbor was a very important event during World War II, and it was one of the major reasons the United States joined the war. Pearl Harbor was the turning point during the war for the United States. In a book about Japanese Internment, which was an effect of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the author briefly gives an explanation about the attack, "On December 7, 1941, Japanese war planes bombed the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii"(Stanley 1). A possible Japanese attack had been talked about for months between Americans, but no one believed that the Japanese would land such a bold attack so close to the United States. The attack took the entire country by surprise.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was quite devastating for the United States as it destroyed the entire naval base. The attack started with a Japanese midget submarine that tried to go through the entrance of Pearl Harbor. One author noted that the Americans on the island ignored the submarine. The submarine was a warning to the United States of an attack but it was disregarded, the author says, "At about 6:30 a.m. a Japanese midget sub was spotted and sank near the entrance of Pearl Harbor. This event was disregarded"(PearlHarborOahu.com). The submarine was sunk by United States forces on the island. Next at about 8:00 a.m., Japanese war planes opened fire on anything on the island that looked important, including dry docks, airfields, oil depots, and ships. The Japanese continued with heavy fire in two waves until their strategy did not work anymore; not work anymore, they started to suffer heavy casualties, and they were running out of ammunitions for the submarines and war planes. The two waves of attacks on Pearl Harbor were very successful in the sense of destruction, but not in the sense of Japan's original strategy. The United States suffered great losses in men and equipment because they were completely unprepared for the attack.
