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ENDNOTES
Introduction: Folklore, Viewed With a Critical Eye
1 Letter from Ensign William Robinson in Mrazek, xv.
2. Lambert and Polmar, 8. Rusbridger and Nave. Stinnett. Gannon. Theobald.
3. Slackman, 76. Prange, 1981. 203. Slackman, 9. “Unsolved History: the Myths of Pearl Harbor.” Military History Channel, 14 November 2009.
4. Most histories accept the “brilliant” label. See Robinson, bbc.co.uk/history/ worldswars/wwtwo/pearl_harbor_05.shtml. The only major history that questions a perfect performance by the attackers is Willmott, 1982, 134. He criticizes over-concentration on battleships. Clarke, 114. O’Connell, 314. Edwards, 14. Hone, Trent, 2003, 1107.
5. Toland, 236.
6. Agawa, 229.
7. Prange, 1981, 437, 419, 338.
8. Werneth, 109.
9. Willmott, et al, 2001, 61.
10. A Japanese retrospective study was conducted circa August 1942. It is included as Chapter 18, “Japanese Study of the Pearl Harbor Operation,” in Goldstein and Dillon, 1993. 278–311. This document has been little cited in general histories. The report, referred to as Lessons, will be discussed later.
11. Slackman, 119.
12. Parshall. www.combinedfleet.com/battles/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor, accessed 22 July 2009.
13. Poolman, 130.
14. “Unsolved History: Myths of Pearl Harbor.” The Military Channel, 14 November 2009.
15. Stephan, 27.
16. Repeated in many places, such as Rear Admiral Grossgean (USN, ret), in “Unsolved History: Myths of Pearl Harbor.”
17. Willmott, et al, 2001, 70–71.
18. See McFarla
nd, O’Neil, March 2002.
19. Smith, Douglas, 23.
Chapter 1: Strategic and Operational Setting
1. Drea, 102.
2. Willmott, et al, 2001, 50, 52. Agawa, 193.
3. Stephan, 74.
4. Stephan, 75. Asada, 18.
5. Pelz, 42.
6. Prange, 1981, 33.
7. Evans and Peattie.
8. Burlingame, 19.
9. The Great Pacific War was published while Yamamoto was serving as naval attaché in Washington. Toland, 150.
10. Stephan, 2.
11. Lambert and Polmar, 23. The use of Pearl Harbor as a target for raiding forces during US Navy Fleet Exercises has been misinterpreted in most histories. The Fleet did most of its exercises in the Pacific or the Caribbean to take advantage of good weather at a location remote from civilian activities (anyone who has attempted to clear a firing range of civilian shipping, fishing boats and curiosity-seekers can testify to the desire for remoteness). The fleet trained to seize and hold advanced operating bases. The war plans expected the initial objective to be the Marshall Islands, with the force based out of Pearl Harbor. This movement could be practiced over similar distances by a transit from the US west coast terminating at Pearl Harbor. At the same time, the Pearl Harbor defenses needed to be exercised, and could serve as opposition. The repeated use of Pearl Harbor as a Fleet Exercise target was more a consequence of geography than a prophecy of a surprise attack on the fleet’s base. Similarly, in 1941 the Army held large-scale maneuvers in Louisiana, but that did not mean that an invasion of Louisiana was expected.
12. Pelz, 26.
13. Agawa, 31.
14. Agawa, 195.
15. Pelz, 35.
16. Willmott, et al, 2001, 37.
17. Willmott, et al, 2001, 38
18. Stephan, 73.
19. Agawa, 175.
20. Evans and Peattie, 2.
21. Prange, 1981, 16. Toland, 152.
22. Agawa, 399. Toland, 152.
23. Agawa, 91–3.
24. Asada, 184.
25. Prange, 1981, 99.
26. Prange, 1981, 34.
27. Francillon, 350.
28. Agawa, 71, 105–6.
29. An obvious question is, “What else could Yamamoto have done?” The Japanese fleet had precious few reserves and was stretched thin over thousands of miles of attacks. But there were reserves—in particular, there were six battleships and two light carriers in the Inland Sea that were uncommitted, and could have been deployed to augment the two fast battleships and seven heavy cruisers in the South China Sea. The six days from the British warship’s well-publicized arrival at Singapore to the beginning of the war would not have provided sufficient time for the battleships to arrive in the South China Sea for the beginning of hostilities, but they could have arrive a few days thereafter.
