Road To Pearl Harbor The attack on the military forces of the U.S. at Pearl Harbor Hawaii did not just happen nor was it a quick reaction to initiatives instituted by President Roosevelt. The Japanese believed that they were being pushed into a corner by Roosevelt and felt that they must act to protect the Empire. Gordon Prange in 'At Dawn We Slept' describes pre-attack events in detail. The description of these events note …
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…these military targets. When the second wave returned to their carriers , 2403 people had been killed and 1178 were wounded. Eighteen ships of different sizes had been sunk or damaged and 77 aircraft of all types had been destroyed. only 29 Japanese aircraft were shot down by American return fire, most during the attack of the second wave. This number of planes downed is significant but had the defenses of Hawaii been prepared the number would have been greater.