Attack on Pearl Harbor

07 December 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor

A date which will live in infamy,’ was how then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt described Japan’s sudden and undeclared attack on the US naval station at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

Japan sought to prevent the US Pacific Fleet from interfering with its military adventures in Asia. On the same day as the attack, Japan invaded Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong and attack the Philippines, Guam and Wake Island.

The air assault killed 2,403 Americans and destroyed a number of battleships and other vessels, as well as important facilities on Pearl Harbor. It shocked the American public and directly led them to declare war on Japan the following day. Adolf Hitler responded by declaring war on the US on 11 December, firmly bringing America into both fronts of the war.