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N0KFQ > TODAY 25.11.14 17:00l 47 Lines 1965 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 40822_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Nov 25
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Sent: 141125/1555Z 40822@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.61
Nov 25, 1941:
A "war warning" is sent to commanders in the Pacific
On this day in 1941, Adm. Harold R. Stark, U.S. chief of naval
operations, tells Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, commander of the U.S.
Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, that both President Roosevelt and
Secretary of State Cordell Hull think a Japanese surprise attack
is a distinct possibility.
"We are likely to be attacked next Monday, for the Japs are
notorious for attacking without warning," Roosevelt had informed
his Cabinet. "We must all prepare for trouble, possibly soon," he
telegraphed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Kimmel's command was specifically at the mid-Pacific base at
Oahu, which comprised, in part, Pearl Harbor. At the time he
received the "warning" from Stark, he was negotiating with Army
Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short, commander of all U.S. forces at Pearl
Harbor, about sending U.S. warships out from Pearl Harbor in
order to reinforce Wake and Midway Islands, which, along with the
Philippines, were possible Japanese targets. But the Army had no
antiaircraft artillery to spare.
War worries had struck because of an intercepted Japanese
diplomatic message, which gave November 25 as a deadline of
sorts. If Japanese diplomacy had failed to convince the Americans
to revoke the economic sanctions against Japan, "things will
automatically begin to happen," the message related. Those
"things" were becoming obvious, in the form of Japanese troop
movements off Formosa (Taiwan) apparently toward Malaya. In fact,
they were headed for Pearl Harbor, as was the Japanese First Air
Fleet.
Despite the fact that so many in positions of command anticipated
a Japanese attack, especially given the failure of diplomacy
(Japan refused U.S. demands to withdraw from both the Axis pact
and occupied territories in China and Indochina), no one expected
Hawaii as the target.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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