{"id":2974,"date":"2022-12-08T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/?p=2974"},"modified":"2022-12-07T19:30:42","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T03:30:42","slug":"pearl-harbor-wasnt-the-only-taget-on-dec-7-1941","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/china\/pearl-harbor-wasnt-the-only-taget-on-dec-7-1941\/","title":{"rendered":"Pearl Harbor Wasn’t the Only Target on Dec. 7, 1941"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Pearl<\/a>

Pearl Harbor, photo courtesy of lefatima<\/p><\/div>\n

For most of my life, I thought the only country the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941, was my own, the United States of America.<\/p>\n

In my defense, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was an enormous event for the United States. Within the short period of ninety minutes, 2403 Americans were killed<\/a> and all the battleships in the US Pacific Fleet were either damaged or sunk, along with 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers, a training ship, a minelayer, and 188 airplanes.<\/p>\n

A day later, as a result of the attack, we declared war on the Empire of Japan, and at the same time we went from supporting the British clandestinely to active support. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States and we reciprocated.<\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/a>

Andy Cromarty and his best friend before the siege of Monte Cassino<\/p><\/div>\n

For Americans, everything changed as a result of that attack. We were at war. For me, our entry into World War Two meant that my dad would be in a tent in Italy when I was born.<\/p>\n

Our president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, famously declared December 7, 1941, \u201ca date which will live in infamy\u201d. Until I researched the topic for my novel, I assumed he was speaking only of the attack on Pearl Harbor. But in his December 8th speech to Congress<\/a>, which was carried to the American people on the radio, he also mentioned the Japanese attacks on the Philippines, American Midway, Wake and Guam Islands, British Hong Kong and Malaya.<\/p>\n

All those places, with the exception of Midway Island, lie west of the International Date Line, so even though they were attacked at the same time as Pearl Harbor, it was already December 8th<\/sup> there.<\/p>\n

In order to take full advantage of the element of surprise, the Japanese struck all these locations at the same time. Besides the countries and islands mentioned in Roosevelt\u2019s speech, the Japanese also attacked Thailand and the International Settlements in China which they\u2019d previously spared, including those in Shanghai, Tientsin, Hankow, and Kulangsu.<\/p>\n

\"Gulangyu,<\/a>

Gulangyu, China<\/p><\/div>\n

You may never have heard of Kulangsu (now known as Gulangyu), but it was the place that interested me because my late husband was born there. Also, it\u2019s the setting for my novel, Tiger Tail Soup.<\/em><\/p>\n

When the Japanese landed on Kulangsu on December 8, there was no resistance. They already controlled the surrounding territory. Here\u2019s how a missionary, Dr. Theodore V. Oltman<\/a>, described the action:<\/p>\n

At 4 A.M. Monday morning, December 8, 1941 armed Japanese Marines crossed the narrow harbor from Amoy and landed in the International Settlement of Kulangsu. With the aid of Consular police and Formosan interpreters (they) began to round up all American and European Nationals. They proceeded, first to the American and British Consulates and the residences of the Netherlands Indies and Hongkong Shanghai Bank officials where they arrested the foreign staffs at the point of bayonet or pistol end. Before day break a large number of other Americans and Europeans were similarly routed out of their house by armed Marines and Japanese Consular Police, and as the day wore on, all Americans and Europeans except two or three overlooked or exempted for reasons of health were rounded up. All of these Individuals except the Consuls were taken to a large building \u2014 an empty Japanese hospital \u2014 the neutrals were registered and released, to return to their homes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that was that. The Japanese were in total control of Kulangsu.<\/p>\n

At the end of that fateful day, the Japanese command must have been pleased with all they\u2019d accomplished. Only one problem: the American aircraft carriers hadn\u2019t been in Pearl Harbor.<\/p>\n

And furthermore \u2026 if I can give my personal non-historian point of view \u2026 the Japanese bit off more than they could chew. It couldn\u2019t be that easy to conquer and hold onto such a large portion of the world, especially when you make enemies with such actions as the Nanking Massacre and the attack on Pearl Harbor.<\/p>\n

\"my<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  For most of my life, I thought the only country the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941, was my own, the United States of America. In my defense, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was an enormous event for the United States. Within the short period of ninety minutes, 2403 Americans were killed and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,87,437],"tags":[624,94,627,8,625,27,470,41,626,925],"class_list":["post-2974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china","category-war","category-wwii-in-china","tag-a-date-that-will-live-in-infamy","tag-94","tag-december-7","tag-gulangyu","tag-international-settlements-in-china","tag-kulangsu","tag-pearl-harbor","tag-second-world-war","tag-theodore-v-oltman","tag-tiger-tail-soup"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-LY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7455,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wwii-in-china\/december-7-1941-attack-and-a-declaration-of-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":2974,"position":0},"title":"December 7, 1941, Attack and a Declaration of War","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"December 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Seventy-seven years ago today the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. A day later the United States declared war on Japan. By then, my future husband and his family in China were already in the middle of a Japanese invasion and occupation. 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Besides attacking Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, they planned and carried out simultaneous strikes and movements against several other targets, attacking the Philippines, Wake\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "war"","block_context":{"text":"war","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/war\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo courtesy of lefatima ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/3610994085_1a6dc87a6e_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/3610994085_1a6dc87a6e_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/3610994085_1a6dc87a6e_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2109,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/tiger-tail-soup\/empire-of-the-sun-the-movie-and-the-novel\/","url_meta":{"origin":2974,"position":3},"title":"Empire of the Sun: the Movie and the Novel","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"July 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"After twenty-seven years, I still remember the Steven Spielberg movie, Empire of the Sun. I must have seen and forgotten hundreds of movies since 1987 when it was released. But Empire of the Sun is not the kind of movie one easily forgets. The splendor of the visuals seared itself\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book reviews"","block_context":{"text":"book reviews","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"flickr, m4tik","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/movie-theater-flickr-m4tik.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6275,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/china\/my-husbands-hometown-named-a-world-heritage-site\/","url_meta":{"origin":2974,"position":4},"title":"My Husband’s Hometown Named a World Heritage Site.","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"July 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Kulangsu is known for its beaches, its mild climate, and its longstanding prohibition on the use of wheeled vehicles. 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