Chapter 527: Tragedy

“…” The American general really wanted to check his calendar to see if today was April Fool’s Day. His subordinate had just told him to sound the battle alarm, to get the dozens of naval warships in an entire naval port ready for battle. Had no one told them what the consequences of doing so would be?

“Are you guys mistaken? Today… is Sunday…” Finally, the general, somewhat dazed, replied to his subordinate.

While all the American sailors were enjoying the lazy Sunday morning sun, the Japanese pilots were already approaching their attack target. Dozens of American warships were anchored in the harbor, including the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise.

“Wooo… wooo…!” The urgent sound of the battle alarm blared over Pearl Harbor. In the end, the Americans had managed to sound their alarms before the battle began. However, the sleeping American sailors had not yet realized that danger had arrived. They rubbed their sleepy eyes, not knowing why the alarm was suddenly going off.

An American soldier was brushing his teeth. He didn’t stop his actions even after hearing the alarm. He stood on the deck, watching the planes that were gradually approaching his warship, breathing in the fresh air and feeling the cool sea breeze.

But when he widened his eyes and saw clearly the huge red sun symbol on the wings of the approaching planes, for a moment, he didn’t know what to do next.

“Jap… Japanese planes!” with his mouth full of foam, he was scared out of his wits and scrambled back into the ship, shouting to his navy comrades who had just woken up.

“What are you talking about? Utter nonsense,” a soldier who was still yawning said, having just walked out of his cabin, shirtless, to the panicked sailor.

“The Japanese! The Japanese are attacking!” the soldier who was brushing his teeth shouted, swallowing a mouthful of foam.

But as he screamed, the first bomb dropped by the Japanese had already landed on the nearby battleship, the USS Arizona. The massive explosion sent up a brilliant flame, instantly waking up all the still-sleepwalking American soldiers.

Rat-tat! Rat-tat! A Japanese fighter, spitting fire, strafed over the top of the American warship. The autocannon shells sparked as they hit the steel. The American sailors running on the exterior of the ship were hit one after another and collapsed. Blood flowed down the openwork iron staircases and finally stained the wooden deck of the warship red.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Because the battle alarm had been sounded in advance, the Americans were not completely sitting ducks this time. Some soldiers had indeed reached their battle stations a few dozen seconds early, and now they were able to open fire on the targets in the sky at the first opportunity.

As an anti-aircraft gun position on a warship suddenly opened fire, a Japanese pilot was caught off guard and quickly adjusted his flight attitude. As a result, the torpedo under his fuselage was dropped at the wrong angle. This torpedo, which had originally been aimed at a battleship, passed by the target’s bow and hit a destroyer not far away.

“Major! They’re returning fire! They’re returning fire!” a pilot shouted in terror, looking at the American warship’s anti-aircraft gun position, which was spitting fire in the distance, as he called his commander. He kept changing the flight path of his plane and finally found a warship that was not firing, hastily dropping his own bomb.

Another massive explosion rang out. A Japanese aerial bomb had hit another American battleship. The ship’s command center was struck, and it immediately erupted in huge flames. At that moment, a dozen or so planes were forming up into an attack formation, diving down to drop their bombs on the aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise.

As the battle began, the American soldiers on the ground began to run to their anti-aircraft gun positions. There were many weapons there that could engage the Japanese planes. This was a major American naval port, and its air defense firepower was naturally absolutely dense and powerful.

However, the Japanese planes had clearly anticipated this. Most of the anti-aircraft gun positions in the American naval port had already been marked on the map by Japanese intelligence agents. These positions were the main attack targets for the Japanese Zero fighters this time.

The Zero fighter could carry two 60-kilogram aerial bombs, which were perfect for bombing these fixed anti-aircraft positions. So, just as the American air defense troops, who had just gotten to their positions, were frantically turning the handles to raise the gun barrels, the Japanese Zeroes were already diving from the sky.

It had to be said that the American troops, who had long been out of battle, were not very strict in their daily training. They were accustomed to dealing with various exercises and were even more lazy and procrastinating on the weekends. When they heard the alarm, they had subconsciously treated this attack as a realistic drill and had not immediately organized to counter-attack.

By the time they confirmed that this attack was not a show, the disaster had already occurred, and the tragedy had already been cast. The once dense and almost impregnable anti-aircraft positions had, for the most part, been bombed into ruins by the Japanese naval air arm before they could even return fire. Many soldiers died at their gun positions, just one step away from being able to fire back at the opponents who had taken their lives.

Boom! The battleship USS Arizona was hit a second time by an aerial bomb. The battleship was now beginning to list, but not too quickly. Due to the sparse anti-aircraft fire, the Japanese bombing was not as accurate as imagined, which gave many of the American warships some time to react.

However, the Japanese pilots were indeed well-trained. They began to adjust the rhythm of their attack, prioritizing the warships whose anti-aircraft fire had not yet opened up. This way, the speed of the attack could be guaranteed, ensuring that the raid could achieve a greater result within the specified time.

One after another, the American warships exploded and caught fire. The harbor was filled with thick smoke. The American sailors began to jump into the sea on a large scale to escape, because their warships were now slowly sinking. The Japanese planes flew low over the American sailors in the water, their machine guns cutting one bloody path after another through the sea.

“The battleship Arizona is sinking! I’m watching it go down! Contact their captain! Tell them to begin damage control immediately!” the captain of a nearby destroyer shouted to his men.

But his soldiers were in a complete mess. Some were running around looking for their pets, some were frantically putting on life jackets, and more were firing everything they could find at the sky, hoping to drive away the relentless Japanese fighter squadrons.

A Japanese torpedo once again hit an American warship. This time it was the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. The deck was already burning from a bomb hit. Now its side had been struck as well, which was like adding frost to snow for this heavily targeted giant ship. The sailors on duty had already given up trying to save it. They jumped into the water to escape, trying to get as far away as possible from the doomed warship behind them.

“This is the Pacific Naval Fleet! Our fleet is under attack by the Japanese! The port is in chaos! Requesting support! Requesting support!” a voice cried out from a radio handset that had been dropped on the ground. Beside this handset lay an American officer, bleeding from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

This was the control tower of the U.S. Army Air Corps airfield. A minute ago, this place had been riddled with bullets by a Japanese plane. The officers and air traffic controllers inside were all dead. The only survivor was now crying and trying to retrieve his own severed arm.

The American ground airfields were simultaneously attacked by the Japanese planes. They had long since become a sea of fire. Over a hundred new American P-40 fighters, neatly arranged on the ground, were like targets deliberately prepared for the Japanese planes. These fragile war machines were destroyed in droves on the ground, turning into piles of burning scrap metal.

Having lost its airfields, the American base in Hawaii was even more vulnerable. The Japanese planes wreaked havoc in the sky, and at this moment, the American fleet could do little more than struggle. One after another, the American warships were sunk by the Japanese navy. Some cruisers, in the process of weighing anchor and fleeing, capsized lifeboats. The blood of the American soldiers stained the entire harbor red.

A few minutes later, with a massive explosion, the ammunition magazine of the battleship USS Pennsylvania was detonated. It exploded like a lit firecracker, breaking in two in a single second. Just two minutes later, this warship had completely run aground and sunk in Pearl Harbor.

Just ten minutes later, the carriers USS Enterprise and USS Lexington sank together, both going down at their berths. Only a single mast of the Lexington was left above the water, the American flag on it still fluttering in the sea breeze.

“Pearl Harbor has been attacked by the Japanese!” In Washington, a secretary held a telephone receiver and looked at his superior, President Roosevelt, waiting for him to issue a series of countermeasures. The secretary’s face was filled with terror, because at this moment, he couldn’t even believe that the United States had been attacked by another country.

And at this moment, Roosevelt’s expression was unreadable. He himself did not know whether he was excited that America finally had an excuse to enter the war, or if he should be sad for the American soldiers who were being attacked.

“The carrier fleet has suffered heavy damage. The Japanese air raid is still ongoing. The USS Enterprise has just been confirmed sunk. There is no specific news about the other warships yet,” the secretary said, his voice trembling slightly. “The fleet in Pearl Harbor has suffered heavy losses! Mr. President!”

“Order a counter-attack immediately! We cannot just sit and wait to die!” Roosevelt seemed to have come to his senses. He gave the order to his subordinates. “Prepare a speech. The United States will immediately declare war on the enemy who has provoked us!”

Published: 2025-09-02T03:41:21.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2025-12-12T16:05:44.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c527-tragedy-137920764

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