Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, Sep 4 – 10, 1941

Sep 4, 1941: American tanker L. P. St. Clair arrives in the Far Eastern port of Vladivostok with first cargo of gasoline meant to aid the Soviet Union in its struggle against Nazi Germany

Sep 5, 1941: Tempers flare as Japanese Emperor Hirohito meets with military leaders to discuss policy vis-a-vis the United States and accuses them of being overly optimistic about chances of winning a war

Sep 6, 1941: In Imperial Conference presided over by Hirohito, the Japanese military agrees to go to war unless progress has been made in negotiations with the United States by October 10

Sep 7, 1941: Japan’s minister of commerce and industry, Vice Admiral Sakonji Seizo, says the international situation is so tense that “a single spark might cause an explosion”

Sep 8, 1941: Japanese newspaper Hochi urges China’s leader Chiang Kai-shek to “liquidate himself” and pave the way for peace between the two nations

Sep 9, 1941: Rumors that Germany is preparing new fleet of commercial raiders for the Pacific

Sep 10, 1941: Growing number of Japanese dead in China theater prompts public debate if war widows should be allowed to remarry, even though it is traditionally frowned upon in Japanese society

Categories: War

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