Pick up any American history textbook and look at “the day you will live in infamy. “You know, Japan’s devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was December 7, 1941.
But what about March 4, 1942, the moment Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese?
It’s true. Less than 90 days after that famous and surprising attack on Sunday morning, Japanese bombs fell on Oahu again. Although far less fatal than the first round, the second attack at the time was thought to be too intense for the rest of the Americans to know. This has been kept secret for decades.
This is the story of Operation K.
The Imperial Japanese Navy had won an impressive victory in the first bombardment. Although it wasn’t good luck (as the biggest trophy of all, the 3 carriers of the Pacific Fleet, were at sea), it was a devastating blow. Four battleships were sunk. Four others were badly damaged. Nearly 200 fighter jets were destroyed and another 159 neutralized. Eleven other ships were sunk or badly damaged. To make matters worse, 2,335 army workers and 66 civilians were killed, and another 1,178 were injured. .
Japanese army planners turned their attention to more targets. They wanted to use long-range Kawanishi H8K seaplanes to bomb California and Texas. But first, they needed to know how repair operations were carried out at the base’s naval docks and airfields.
The attack on the continent has been shelved in favor of a new project. Five seaplanes would make a reconnaissance flight over Pearl Harbor and drop some bombs there.
The evening of March 4 was chosen because its full moon would provide visibility. The seaplanes would land at French Frigate Shoals, the largest atoll in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and refuel via submarines. They would then depart for Pearl Harbor.
In the run-up to the attack, history repeated itself in a number of ways. Just as it had before the Dec. 7 attack, U. S. intelligence piled up clues that something significant was about to happen. Incredibly, the warnings were again ignored.
Things started badly for the Japanese. Only two seaplanes were available, not the planned five. Each loaded with 4 x 550-pound bombs. Freshly refueled, they took off from French Frigate Shoals and set sail for Oahu, 560 miles away.
The transparent skies they had been counting on disappeared as a thick layer of clouds appeared. This meant that even though the U. S. defenders on the ground might not see the seaplanes, the seaplanes may not have seen the ground either.
These clouds also affected the Japanese pilots, who intended to attack in tandem. However, the moment the seaplane did not listen to the orders of the first and they separated.
Squinting in the dark night, it was to see anything. Thus, the planes dropped their bombs when team members guessed that they were close to their targets.
The first fell into the mountainside near Roosevelt High School, creating deep craters and shattering nearby windows. No one was injured. It is believed that the bombs of the moment fell into the Pacific Ocean.
Due to the war blackout, the pilots could not use the lights to guide them off the island. Both planes eventually landed at other air bases in the Marshall Islands.
What did Operation K do? Not much beyond the appearance that Japanese fighter jets can still penetrate Hawaiian airspace. While the army and military blamed each other for the mysterious explosions in the middle of the night, the Japanese planned a new intelligence operation for March 6 or 7. But exhausted and shattered crews postponed it until May 30.
At the time, Tokyo was desperate to locate where the U. S. carriers were, but it was too late. Regardless, the Americans became aware of the use of French frigates as a refueling site and sent warships to the area. The Japanese reluctantly abandoned their plans.
As a result, they had no idea that the U. S. carriers were secretly rushing toward what would be the decisive Battle of Midway, which stopped the Japanese offensive in its tracks and set the Americans on the long road to victory.
This story might have ended if Operation K’s attempts to practice the skies had succeeded.
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