Why did the Japanese attack US Pearl Harbour and retreat?

Question

Shouldn't the Japanese occupy the US Pearl Harbour after victory assualtion and shouldn't they leap forward to defend from any US counter-strike or move toward to USA mainland?

Answer 1

Their purpose was not to occupy Pearl Harbour. What they wanted to do was win the war, and to destroy the US naval forces. Therefore they destroyed the ships in Pearl Harbour, and they wanted to attract the rest of the US marine in the Pacific.
It was a question of tactics. Had there been no extraordinary circumstances, they would have won the Midway battle ... But there was the meteorologic conditions, fog, and many other small facts that amounted from victory to defeat.

Answer 2

If you read DAY OF INFAMY by Walter Lord, you will find that a great many people at Pearl Harbor that night were asking themselves the very same question.

The reason is, Pearl Harbor was not the Japanese Strategic Objective. They didn't want Pearl Harbor. They didn't want San Francisco either (despite what the propaganda during the war said). They wanted China, Vietnam, and especially Indonesia.

What happened was this. The Japanese wanted to carve an Empire out of Asia to supply themselves with natural resources that the Japanese Home Islands lack. Things like Oil, Iron, etc.

They started this during the Russo-Japanese War of 1907 when the took Korea and Manchuria. They grabbed some German colonies in the Pacific by joining the Allies in WW1.

Then in the late 1930s they attacked China. There was a huge war going on between Japan and China during the late 30s and early 40s. (Go look up FLYING TIGERS and RAPE OF NANKING on Wikipedia.) The Japanese were winning, and they were brutial to the Chinese when they captured them. (See RAPE OF NANKING again. )

In any case, this news got back to the USA, in newsreels and on the radio. This caused public opinion in the US to turn against the Japanese, and the President (FDR) put economic sanctions on Japan. We wouldn't sell them any more steel or oil.

Well that pretty much cut off Japan's oil suppy. The Japanese had two choices. They could back down, OR they could go TAKE some oilfields. They decided not to back down.

There are large oil fields in what we now call Indonesia. Back then it was called The Dutch East Indies, because it was ruled by Holland. However, Holland had been invaded and taken over by the Germans in the spring of 1940, so by late 1941 the Dutch East Indies wasn't getting any support from back home, and there wern't a whole lot of troops or ships or planes to guard it. The French Colonies in the area (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) had sided with the French Nazis, (also called Vichy), so they weren't going to fight the Japanese if they came. The British had some important bases in the area (like Singapore) but they had been fighting the Germans since September 1939, so there wern't that many ships or planes or troops left guarding their colonies, and the ones that were there wern't the best.

So the Japanese plan was to go SOUTH not East. The main Japanese thrust was South, to take the oil fields and rubber plantations in Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc. Japan's objective was to sieze the resources, and Indonesia and Burma were where the resources were.

Thing was the Japanese knew that by doing this they would be starting a war with the USA. The USA owned the Philipines at the time, and everyone was expecting the Japanese to attack the Philipines. (That's why the Pearl Harbor attack was a suprise, everybody knew an attack was coming, they just all expected it to be in the Philipines.)

The US warplan was A) Japanese attack Philipines B) US Forces in Philpines fall back and hold out. C) US Pacific fleet steams down from Pearl Harbor, gets into a big naval battle with the Japanese. Presumably the USN wins, and they come to the rescue of the guys in Philipines like the Cavalry coming to the resuce in a western movie.

Well the Japanese weren't dumb. They figured this out and came up with a plan to sink the US fleet while it was still in Pearl Harbor. That is why the hit the US Fleet at Pearl. To sink the US fleet before it had the chance to mess with their plans to take the Dutch East Indies and Burma.

The Japanese didn't want Hawaii, and they didn't want the US Mainland, they wanted the Dutch East Indies. The only reason they hit Hawaii was that the US Fleet was there, and the only reason the hit the US Fleet was that it was going to mess up their plans to sieze the Dutch East Indies.

That's why they didn't invade Hawaii. They didn't want it.

Answer 3

They didn't retreat. The objective of the Japanese on the attack on Pearl Harbor was not, as some have stated, to bring the United States into the war. The Japanese felt that it was inevitable that war with the US would happen. The sole objective of the attack was to disable the US Pacific fleet, to make it ineffective in the coming war. Yamamoto wanted to sink the carriers and battleships that were the backbone of the fleet.

Unfortunately, the carriers weren't in port. However, there was significant damage to the battleships and other classes of craft.

An additional note - almost simultaneously to the attack on Pear Harbor, the Japanese attacked the Phillipines and other locations in the South Pacific - with the intent of paralyzing enemy fleets and gaining a strategic advantage throughout the Pacific.

What they didn't count on was the resolve of the American and allied militaries after the attacks. Yamamoto did, however, have some idea when, shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack, he said that he feared that all that had been done was that they had 'awakened a sleeping giant.' Yamamoto should know - he had spent years in the United States as a student and a Naval attache; he was familiar with the US's industrial might and capabilities.

Answer 4

There is no historical data to support the idea that the Japanese ever considered occupying Hawaii or to invade the United States. There strategic goal was to cripple the US Pacific fleet to allow them to continue to concur and consolidate Asian / Pacific areas to gain raw materials. At the time of the attack, the only naval powers in the Pacific theater were the Japanese and the United States. And although not at war, the United States was openly opposed to Japanese imperialism.

We should also remember that Japanese land forces were bogged down in China and were preparing to engage British forces in Asia and US forces in the Philippines. It was the Japanese hope that they would destroy the United States Pacific fleet that was based at Hawaii. After the attack they were very much aware that they missed the US carrier fleet, however, they had no plan or resources to attempt to search and attack the fleet at sea. Japan had good reason to think this tactic would be effective, because the British had already used a carrier based attack to crush the Italian fleet in harbor and give to the British control over the Mediterranean Sea.

As other writers have noted, the battle of Midway was Japan’s attempt to destroy the US carrier fleet. In that the US fleet won a tactical victory at Midway, it allowed the US time to rebuild the Pacific fleet and become the most powerful naval force on earth. Simply stated, the Japanese did not have the logistics, means, or need to occupy Hawaii or invade the United States.

Answer 5

What you must understand, is the Imperial Japanese Navy did not think like our Navy and looks at battle plans differently. This is why they lost the battle of Midway during a time our Navy still had not fully recovered. Anyway, their goal at that point and time was not conquering but crippling the US Navy and lets face it they did that very well. At that time, December 7th 1941, Hawaii was very far from Japan and supporting an outpost in Hawaii that far from Japan would have been very hard on their economy, which was already stretched. Many Japanese in their Navy agreed with your view but the major decision makers in their Navy felt the country was not ready for occupation, at least not yet and by the time they should have it was too late.

Answer 6

As some people above have said it correctly,
1) Japan had no intention to occupy Pearl Harbor.
2) Japan had no intention to attack U.S. mainland.
3) Japan's interest was in Asia, not in the U.S.
4) Japan attacked Pearl Harbor to prevent the U.S. from intervening Japanese war in Asia.

Answer 7

To destroy the United State's Pacific fleet. Thus, making it easier to control the Pacific Ocean.

Answer 8

Admiral Yamamoto did not know where the American aircraft carriers were located, so he was worried about their planes attacking his battle group

Answer 9

it was to get the USA into the war
a strategic move
like a giant terrorist action.
who was behind it is the moot point

Answer 10

I think,If I read the history books right,that they done that to bring the US into WWII.