Mitsuo Fuchida

Mitsuo Fuchida, the commander of the air squadron that attacked Pearl Harbor, wrote the following account after the war. He first describes the Japanese naval strike force leaving Japan on November 26, 1941; then he identifies the various crucial last-minute maneuvers and decisions leading up the assault on Oahu; finally, he recollects his and the other warplanes taking off from their carriers, reaching the target, and beginning to unload their deadly cargo.

Japan's fleet strategy for the opening phase of the Pacific War was now fixed. The defensive concepts of prewar days were dead and buried. The new watchword was "Attack!"

On the political front, meanwhile, developments were rapidly pointing toward war. On 5 November, the Government and High Command jointly decided that Japan would take up arms if diplomatic negotiations failed to achieve a settlement by the end of November. On...