Did the Japanese warn the USA before they attacked Pearl Harbor?

Answer 1

None. MLM The military did know that an attack from Japan was imminate. What it did lack was where the attack would happen. US military intelligence broke the Japanese code messages sent to the Japanese ambassodors in Washington that stated that they wanted them break off communications with America and to destroy all records and papers. This was a sign that an attack was coming. So the Americans knew an attack was coming but did not know where. Submitted by Mark Webb St. Louis, Missouri yet again by examining intercepts by "magic" it is apparent that there were many warnings for the coming hostilities from a long time preceading Dec 7 all the way up to the night before hostilities commenced.

Answer 2

Yes, there was a message from Japan in which they notified the US that they were declaring war, but it did not say anthing about where an attack would come. There were translation delays at the Japanese Embassy and by the time it was translated, Pearl Harbor has already been attacked.

Answer 3

No one warned the United States about the coming of the Pearl Harbor attack.

The United States did not know in advance about the Japanese attack on December 7th, 1941 at Pearl Harbor and at the other US military facilities & ships in Hawaii.

For security purposes, only specific Japanese military leaders in Japan and those that undertook the attack were aware of it. The Japanese went to great lengths to keep the operation secret. No person in a European country was told of this specific pending attack, including Hitler. Therefore, no one in Europe could provide a warning to the United States.

The US Military had partially broken the primary Japanese diplomatic code before the attack. These are referred to by US intelligence as the "Magic intercept of the Purple Codes". However none of the messages sent by the diplomats included any reference to an attack at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese diplomats themselves were not privy to the information about this attack.

The 14-Part Messagethat the Japanese Embassy received on December 6/7, 1941, and was supposed to deliver before the attack, was not a Declaration of War by Japan. Instead, the message only stated that negotiations (between Japan & the US) had reached an impasse, and blamed the US. There was no mention of a pending attack, or a threat of one.

Neither the British, Dutch or American military had been successful at breaking the Japanese Navy codes before the Pearl Harbor attack. In the popular movies: Tora, Tora, Tora & Pearl Harbor the coded messages that the US intelligence officers are reading, are the Diplomatic Messages only.

What the United States did know or suspect (by late 1941) was that the Japanese were planning to attack the British territories in Hong Kong, Malaysia & Borneo, and attack the Dutch East Indies in late November or early December 1941. There were no specific details available, just Japanese military preparations & "saber rattling".

The United States also considered that the Japanese may also attack the United States at the Philippines, Guam, Wake & Midway. Again, no specific information was available.

Some American military leaders, by late 1940, also thought that the Japanese could launch an attack against Hawaii, however that was considered less likely. US Army Chief of Staff General Marshall considered it a sufficient threat that he reinforced Hawaii with air & ground units in 1941, and assigned General Short with the specific task of using the Army units (air/ground) to defend the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.

US military preparations for the likely war with Japan focused on the Philippines. Indeed, it was because of the US military presence in the Philippines that caused Japanese military leaders to decide that it would be necessary to attack the United States in addition to the British & Dutch. The Japanese were uncertain if the United States would remain neutral if the Japanese attacked the British & Dutch. So they decided, to their great disadvantage, to attack the United States.

Meanwhile late in 1941 in Moscow, Soviet Dictator Josef Stalin (now at war with Hitler) had learned from his spies in Japan, that Japan was planning to go to war with Britain & Netherlands, and not with him in Siberia. It is not clear if Stalin knew of Japan's plans to attack the United States. In any event, Stalin gave no warning to either of his future "allies", and actually welcomed the idea that Japan would leave him alone.

The coming war with Japan was becoming obvious to most American & British leaders (and some astute in the public) by late 1941; the only question was where & when. When the Japanese did attack, they attacked the British & Americans simultaneously everywhere they could reach, including at Hawaii.

Neither the US or British ever learned of any specific plans before the attacks, because the Japanese kept these very secret as expected. The Japanese intended to, and did launch these attacks as surprise attacks before any declarations of war.

Also, it was the stated policy of the US government in 1941, to not start the war. If the United States was going to war, then the enemy would have to attack first, which it did!

Remember, as it is true today and was true then, planned "surprise" attacks will usually be a "surprise" to those attacked!

Answer 4

As the Japanese planes approached Pearl Harbor, they encountered (and attacked) some American planes. At least one of the American pilots radioed a warning back to base. Also, there were a few ships outside the harbor that also transmitted warnings. However, all of these warnings were either still being processed or awaiting confirmation when the attack on the harbor itself began. It's thought likely that it wouldn't have made much difference even if the warnings had been immediately understood and acted upon, though, since there simply wasn't time to do much of anything in response and the Japanese attacked in the Phillippines shortly afterward to much the same effect despite the American forces having 9 hours warning there.

There is contradictory evidence regarding whether Japan intended to give the US advance notice that a state of war between the countries now existed.

The Japanese government transmitted a message to their Embassy in Washington DC, and apparently intended for it to be delievered 30 minutes before the attack commenced. However, the message was still being transcribed by the embassy and had not yet been delivered at the time of the attack.

There were certainly elements in the Japanese government that did not want any advance warning to be given, and some people believe that the delay at the embassy was either deliberate or at least fully expected, and that the attack was planned (either by the government or the military) to commence before warning could be transmitted.

Complicating things a bit is the fact that by this point the US codebreakers could decode messages sent using the Japanese "Purple" code, and had intercepted and decrypted the message several hours before it was to be delivered. However, the message did not contain a formal declaration of war in so many words, or even outright state that negotiations were being terminated (though it did strongly imply that this, at least, was imminent).

Some historians believe that all the Japanese actions leading up to the attack were basically a kind of "lip service" to the propieties of diplomacy and that the real intentions were always to attack without warning of any kind while being able to claim later, if necessary, that they had tried to give advanced warning.

Answer 5

Cryptographers may have had hints, diplomats may have had hints and politicians may have had hints. No one was sharing the information an no one had actionable facts.

Answer 6

Obtain the book titled: "Day of Deceit; The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor." (2000), by Robert B. Stinnett.

Answer 7

The Japanese gave no warning of their attack on Pearl Harbor. That is why it was a successful surprise attack.

Answer 8

no they did NOT

Answer 9

they didnt