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PEARL HARBOR
"WAR GAMES"
How Japanese Blow
Was Planned
"The Age" Special Correspondent, and A.A.P.
WASHINGTON: November 18.
Rsar-Admiral Inglis yesterday presented to the
Pearl Harbor inquiry a Navy report disclosing . that the
Japanese conceived the idea of the attack early in
January, 1941; trained for it during the summer, and
ordered it on December 2, 1941.
According to the report Ad-
miral Yamamoto commander of
the combined Japanese fleet and
Admiral Nagano Chief of the
Japanese Naval Geneial Staff,
arranged war games at the Naval
Academy Tokio eaily in Sep-
temter, 1941 Naval experts
split into groups representing Bri-
tain America and Japan for the
games which included a theo-
retical surprise attack on Pearl
Harbor, Yamamoto subsequently
convinced Field-Marshal Sugi-
yama that on the basis of the war
games Japan could be victorious
Imperial Army H.Q. agreed to
co-operate.
The report, which was based on
translations of captured docu-
ments, questioning of war pri-
soners, and questionnaires which
General MacArthur submitted to
former members of the Japanese
Naval Command, said that if the
surprise attack failed the Japanese
planned to bring the numerically
inferior American fleet to a de-
cisive engagement. The report
expressed the opinion that the
complete plan was not-known to
all the Japanese leaders. It. was,
reported that the Emperor knew
in advance only a general out-
line of the plan, and none of the
Japanese officials in the United
States knew anything.
No Reconnaissance
Rear-Admiral Inglis said that
69 Catalinas, capable of flying a
triangular course over an 800-
mile radius; were available at
Pearl Harbor for patrols in De-
cember; 1941.
Associated Press comments:—
"Previous investigations indi-
cated that there was no long-dis-.
tance reconnaissance on the day
of the attack.")
Witness later testified that a
Japanese coded message reading
"Climb Mount Niltaka," radioed
from Tokio on December 5, 1941,
gave the Japanese task force the
signal to attack Pearl Harbor,
The Japanese were prepared to
call off the attack if the Wash-
ington negotiations succeeded.
Rear-Admiral Inglis explained
that this information arrived
from U.S. H.Q., Tokio, on the
night of November 16, and forced
a revision of the earlier concu-
sion that the Japanese inevoc-
ably ordered the attack on De-
ember 2 1941
On receipt of the order 'Climb
Mount Niitaka" Japanese car-
riers sent up 361 planes in thiee
waves — nearly double the num-
ber previously estimated by Am-
erican sources. On completion of
the mission the striking force
steamed circuitously to Kure.
Rear-Admiral Inglis, discussing
the reason why no landing was
attempted by the Japanese at
Pearl Harbour said — "It was de-
cided that no landing be ?ducted
because it would have been im-
possible to make prepare m?
less than a month after the open-
ing of hostilities. Probably ?
speed and supplies for the accom-
panying convoy, would have made
it unlikely that the initial attack
would be accomplished without
detection."
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