Speaking of history, I wanted to point a few things out about the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. I just finished watching From Here to Eternity which may have motivated this post.
The Japanese attacked with a strike force of 353 aircraft. Of those almost all survived. Only 29 aircraft were downed by some combination of anti-aircraft guns on battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and airfields and small arms fire.
The attack was very nearly a complete tactical success while also being a catastrophic strategic failure as Admiral Yamamoto had warned. While he probably never said the more poetic “sleeping giant” quote with which he has been credited he did say
If ordered to do it, we can fight hard for six months — but I have no confidence if it lasts two or three years.
One more thing. To the best of my knowledge no Japanese national or Japanese-American was executed for espionage during World War II. One German was condemned to death for espionage for activities leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor. His sentence was later commuted. In 1942 six Germans were condemned by a military tribunal and executed for espionage.
