Consequently, it wasn’t until much later that the final part-saying that the ultimatum should be delivered at 1300-was deciphered. Unfortunately, the telegrams contained a message from the Foreign Minister acknowledging each staff member of the embassy. Not until 1000 did deciphering of the urgent new telegrams begin, though. “Between 07 several new telegrams were received, however, which necessitated summoning the staff. First Secretary Okumura Katuzo began to type up the message, while other secretaries collated the copies. Sadao Iguchi, embassy counselor, permitted most of the staff to go home. “By early the next morning, work had been completed on 13 parts the fourteenth had not yet been received. So, deciphering and other procedures were interrupted. To make matters worse, a farewell party for Terasaki Hidenori, first secretary of the embassy, was taking place that same evening. time) on 6 December, only eight or nine parts of the memorandum received at the embassy had been deciphered. Retired Captain Yuzuru Sanematsu, then-Commander and assistant naval attaché to Washington, recalls: “by 2200 (U.S. They sent a pilot message to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., saying that several important and urgent telegrams would soon be transmitted. This was later changed to 30 minutes.įoreign Minister Togo and his high-ranking staff took the matter seriously, making all necessary preparations to deliver the ultimatum. Based on this, Admiral Nagano first proposed that the ultimatum be delivered one hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor. So, theoretically speaking, one minute before the attack would be enough. There was no article in the Hague Treaty concerning when an ultimatum should be delivered to the opponent’s government. L- Bellinger (Commander Patrol Wings, Hawaiian Islands) stated that: “Japan has never begun a war after the declaration of war.” But they did not mention the Hague Treaty. Martin (Commanding General, Hawaiian Army Air Forces) and Rear Admiral Patrick N. In a research paper dated 31 March 1941, Major General Frederick L. But these wars occurred before the Hague Treaty was ratified in 1907. For instance, a Japanese naval unit opened fire on Chinese warships off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula before the declaration of the Sino-Japanese War in 1897, and the Navy used the same tactic against the Russian fleet at the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. It was true that the Japanese Navy commonly used a surprise attack at the beginning of a war. It is clear that the Navy was not responsible for it.” Admiral Shimada’s testimony on this subject at the Tokyo trial held just after the war reads, in part, as follows: ‘‘The delay in the announcement of the declaration of war to the American government was entirely due to the fault of the staff of the Foreign Office. Navy Minister Admiral Shigetaro Shimada, Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo, and other members of the conference confirmed the procedure, which was endorsed by Admiral Osami Nagano, Chief of Naval General Staff, and Admiral Yamamoto. Ambassador Kochisaburo Nomura in Washington should deliver the message to the responsible person in the American government. ► The anouncement should be given before the attack on Pearl Harbor. ► The announcement of the ultimatum to the American government should be in the form of “a declaration of war.” ► The diplomatic procedures were to be left entirely to the Foreign Minister. Prime Minister Hideki Tojo decided on the following course of action: On 4 December 1941, a joint conference of the government and the Imperial General Headquarters was held. This agreement had been signed at The Hague, in Holland, in 1907. Japanese Navy officers were under strict orders to adhere to the international treaty concerning the declaration of war. Following that decision, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander in Chief Combined Fleet, ordered Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, Commander of the First Air Fleet, to prepare an attack of the American fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor. On 2 November 1941, the Japanese government and the Imperial General Headquarters agreed to prepare for war against the United States and the United Kingdom. The misunderstanding resulted from an unusual mistake made by the Japanese Foreign Office staff concerned. Many people, including both Japanese and Americans, still believe that the attack by the Carrier Task Force of the Imperial Japanese Navy on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 was intended as a sneak attack.
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