Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, Nov 27 – Dec 3, 1941

Nov 27, 1941: George C. Marshall, left, chief of staff of the US Army, warns in War Department Message: ‘Japanese future action unpredictable but hostile action possible at any moment’

Nov 28, 1941: Admiral Nagano Osami, Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, tells Japan’s foreign minister Togo Shigenori that ‘zero hour’, when military action against the United States will commence, is December 7, Washington time

Nov 29, 1941: Admiral Kondo Nobutake leads the Japanese Navy’s Second Fleet from Japan’s Inland Sea in preparation of invasion of American, British and Dutch possessions in Southeast Asia

Nov 30, 1941: German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop tells Japanese Ambassador Oshima Hiroshi that if Japan finds itself at war with the United States, Germany will join the war immediately

Dec 1, 1941: Japanese Navy’s Pearl Harbor strike force crosses the International Date Line, having covered roughly half the distance to Hawaii

Dec 1, 1941: In meeting attended by Emperor Hirohito, Japan’s top leadership decides to go to war against the United States

Dec 2, 1941: Japan’s naval headquarters sends coded message to Pearl Harbor strike force, en route to Hawaii: ‘Climb Mount Niitaka’, meaning war with the United States will commence on December 7

Dec 2, 1941: British fleet led by battleship HMS Prince of Wales arrives in Singapore amid growing tension in the Far East and lingering concerns about imminent Japanese move

Dec 3, 1941: Japanese army approves new policy for war in China known as ‘Three Alls’: ‘Kill all, burn all, loot all’

Categories: War

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