Word: pearle
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...mass of newly declassified material surface in archives. Thus his book reflects the view of the many official investigations that it was principally the negligence of the American military commanders in Hawaii, especially after a Nov. 26 "war warning" message from Washington, that led to the disastrous unreadiness at Pearl Harbor...
Japan's preparations for that attack are recorded in an exhaustive new history timed to coincide with the anniversary, At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor (McGraw-Hill; $22.95). Author Gordon W. Prange, who died in 1980, began interviewing many of the Japanese principals while serving as a historian on General Douglas Mac Arthur's staff in Tokyo after Japan's surrender. He learned of the daunting tactical problems that faced the planners: how to find precisely the right bombing altitude and bombs to pierce armor-plated decks, how to perfect both torpedoes...
...Britain had agreed in November to join forces in case of a Japanese attack-although the offensive was expected in the Philippines or Malaya. In Infamy, to be published by Doubleday next March, Historian John Toland argues that Washington for decades covered up its failure to warn Pearl Harbor of the imminent danger...
However these arguments may sort out in light of the new discoveries, the most serious error was committed by the Japanese. Prange points out that Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, commander of the Pearl Harbor strike force, had many misgivings about the attack and ultimately failed to exploit its success after carrying out his original orders. When the initial two waves of planes returned to their carriers, Nagumo ordered the task force home. Because the U.S. carriers Lexington and Enterprise were still somewhere at sea, the admiral was concerned about protecting his fleet. Had he sent in another wave of attackers...
...Pearl Harbor was soon resurrected and the fleet rebuilt. Japan's shaky chance to keep the U.S. out of the war in the Pacific was irretrievably lost and Americans' will to win unquenchably ignited...