When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor a second time in March 1942 during Operation K, it was the longest shore-based bombing mission of the war, lasting nearly 36 hours and covering more than 4,750 miles. The operation involved two Kawanashi H8K "Emily" flying boats taking off from the Marshall Islands and using submarines to refuel. Although their bombing was ineffective because of cloud cover over Pearl Harbor, according to the author, the attack nevertheless affected the American defense posture. A longtime reporter and aviation journalist, Steve Horn not only provides a wealth of new material and technical data in his book, he also tells an exciting story, and his work will appeal to a broad audience wanting to learn about the rarer aspects of the Pacific campaign. Among the other Japanese missions he describes are the bombing of the continental United States by a tiny floatplane launched from a submarine, and the launching of thousands of bomb-carrying balloons, intended to ride the jet stream across the Pacific and create panic and terror in American cities. Horn explains that when the Japanese could not determine what effect these "wind weapons" were having on their enemy, they stopped producing them. The war's end, he says, brought a plan to bomb the Panama Canal to a halt. In chronicling these mostly unknown plans and operations, the author adds an important dimension to the historical record.
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About the Author
Steve Horn, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, flew many types of aircraft, including B-52s in combat duty in Vietnam, and served as chief of intelligence for the 43rd Strategic Wing on Guam. As a civilian, he was a newspaper reporter and chief of publications for Lear Aviation. He now lives in Greenville, SC.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A crucial history of a little-known facet about the war in the Pacific,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Second Attack on Pearl Harbor: Operation K and Other Japanese Attempts to Bomb America in World War II (Hardcover)
Written by aviation journalist and retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel Steve Horn, The Second Attack On Pearl Harbor: Operation K And Other Japanese Attempts To Bomb America In World War II is a crucial history of a little-known facet about the war in the Pacific - that Pearl Harbor was targeted for attack again after the infamous incident that led to America's entry into World War II. In March of 1942, the Japanese launched Operation K and attached Pearl Harbor a second time; yet because dense cloud cover over Pearl Harbor obscured the targets, the bombs did no damage. Other largely unknown or historically neglected Japanese military plans include a plan to bomb the Panama Canal, abandoned when the war ended, and a plan to launch thousands of bomb-carrying balloons intended to ride the jet stream across the Pacific and create terror in American cities, scrapped when the effect of these so-called "wind weapons" could not be practically determined. Accessible to lay readers and scholars alike, The Second Attack On Pearl Harbor is a welcome contribution to military history libraries for its illumination of an oft- overlooked topic, and highly recommended.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well Done History of Japanese Missions to Pearl.,
By
This review is from: The Second Attack on Pearl Harbor: Operation K and Other Japanese Attempts to Bomb America in World War II (Hardcover)
I'm writing this on Pearl Harbor day (2005), there's a documentary on the tube about Pearl and just finshed this book on the subsequent air attacks conducted by the Japanese on Pearl. I was surprised at how many such attacks there were.This book begins with Fuchida's arguments to Admiral Nagumo that a third strike was needed. Well known from various books on Pearl and in the movie 'Tora, Tora, Tora' this attack would have finished off several Navy ships and perhaps most important bombed the millions of gallons of fuel that the Navy would later use to carry the war to Japan. The next real attack was conducted on March 2, 1942. Two of Japan's big four engined flying boats flew from the Marshall islands, refueled by submarine and dropped bombs in Hawaii. They did no damage, but did drop bombs. Another such attack was planned as part of the recon before the battle of Midway, but when the subs got to the refulling point they found Americans and the planes could not be refueled. There were other plans by the Japanese to work in conjunction with the Germans to use these big planes to bomb the US East Coast, the Panama Canal, the West Coast and more. These never came to pass. This book is a well researched, well written story of these Japanese efforts, both planned and actual. It cover a little known part of the war in the Pacific.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is three books, three books, three books in one!,
By
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This review is from: The Second Attack on Pearl Harbor: Operation K and Other Japanese Attempts to Bomb America in World War II (Hardcover)
Steve Horn attempts so much in this book. He covers the night time attack on Pearl Harbor during March 4, 1942. The book opens with the Battle of Midway, covers American code-breaking, the development of aircraft-carrying submarines and the aircraft carrier, and the strategic bomber programs that Japan wasn't able to get off the ground. There is a bit about the paper balloons used as a strategic bombing system, and the role that the Aleutian Islands played --other than as a diversion for the Midway attack in June, 1942. As during the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, radar detected and tracked the incoming bombers--but there wasn't anything that could intercept the two Emily flying boats at 1 AM on Oahu. There were a dozen or so Boeing P-26 fighter planes, painted black, assigned the night interception mission, but these ancient aircraft didn't have the speed to catch the raiders.I think that Steve Horn tried too much in one book. No wonder--the simple story of the one raid would have made a fine magazine article. More material is expected from a book. I could quibble that the O2U and F4U were lumped together in an appendix as the same Corsair aircraft--the first was an observation airplane and the second was the famed fighter planed flown by the Black Sheep squadron--but the book has an index and a decent bibliography. There are footnotes, but no photos. Calling the firebomb bearing paper balloon campaign "one of America's first terrorist attacks" struck me as inaccurate--anybody remember the use of the Native American by France and England during the 18th Century or the abolitionist and pro-slavery terrorists of Kansas and Missouri prior to the Civil War? Like the second Pearl Harbor raid, the balloons barely made the newspapers. On the other hand, this book does detail a little-known raid that preceeded the Doolittle Raid by six weeks. A major "character" in the story is the Kawanishi H8K "Emily" four-engined flying boat. It was fast, heavily armed, and (unusual for early-war Japanese aircraft) was armored. With long range and its ability to operate from the ocean, the two flying boats refueled from Japanese submarines to extend their range during the March 4, 1942 operation. I enjoyed this book and welcome it to my World War Two library, but I think that the author tried too much.
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