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Pearl Harbor : die Geschichte eines Überfalls
"Luftangriff auf Pearl Harbor! Dies ist keine Übung. Ich wiederhole - keine Übung!"
Dieser Funkspruch des kommandierenden Admirals der USA-Pazifikflotte, den die Marinefunkstation von Mare Island bei San Francisco am 7. Dezember 1941 kurz nach dreizehn Uhr empfing, schlug in Amerika wie ein Blitz ein. Der Stolz der amerikanischen Marine, die Pazifikflotte, lag in der Bucht von Pearl Harbor auf Grund, unfähig, in den von Japan begonnen Krieg einzugreifen. Länger, als die Nationaltrauer um den Verlust der Flotte und den Tod der über zweitausend Menschen dauern konnte, forschte Argwohn und Mißtrauen nach den Hintergründen dieses Geschehnisses. Mancher sonderbare Begleitumstand aus den ersten Dezember tagen des 1941 bekräftigte diese Verdächtigungen. Wieso konnte der japanische Angriffsverband über sechstausend Kilometer zurücklegen, ohne entdeckt zu werden? Warum wurden die angreifenden Flugzeuge von den Radarstaionen nicht geortet? Warum mißachtete der Generalstabschef die Regeln und versah den Warntext an die Pazifikflotte nicht mit Dringlichkeitsvermerk? Soviel Zufälle, so viel Fragen.
Dieser Funkspruch des kommandierenden Admirals der USA-Pazifikflotte, den die Marinefunkstation von Mare Island bei San Francisco am 7. Dezember 1941 kurz nach dreizehn Uhr empfing, schlug in Amerika wie ein Blitz ein. Der Stolz der amerikanischen Marine, die Pazifikflotte, lag in der Bucht von Pearl Harbor auf Grund, unfähig, in den von Japan begonnen Krieg einzugreifen. Länger, als die Nationaltrauer um den Verlust der Flotte und den Tod der über zweitausend Menschen dauern konnte, forschte Argwohn und Mißtrauen nach den Hintergründen dieses Geschehnisses. Mancher sonderbare Begleitumstand aus den ersten Dezember tagen des 1941 bekräftigte diese Verdächtigungen. Wieso konnte der japanische Angriffsverband über sechstausend Kilometer zurücklegen, ohne entdeckt zu werden? Warum wurden die angreifenden Flugzeuge von den Radarstaionen nicht geortet? Warum mißachtete der Generalstabschef die Regeln und versah den Warntext an die Pazifikflotte nicht mit Dringlichkeitsvermerk? Soviel Zufälle, so viel Fragen.
- GenresHistory
Perfect Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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September 14, 2009
This is about a topic that Americans see as integral to their national identity, but then this book is written by an East German author who fought as a paratrooper on the side of Nazi Germany during the second world war. Secondly it's well written. And thirdly the leftist propaganda strewn throughout the book is enough to make you laugh. The whole thing seems to be full of unresolvable contradictions, but somehow it just works.
However the authors biography is a little more complicated than I first let on. He was born in 1927 and was somewhere around 16 when he was forced into the army. After this time he did become the head of a large socialist youth group, so that does explain lines such as "Pearl Harbor was always this way on Sundays: everyone in the city slept in late - the night before they watched football while drinking a number of whiskeys." or "it was mostly hubris. America felt powerful, it felt invincible. What could these 'little, yellow-bellied japs' do to us?" Americans are seen as lazy, hedonistic, racist incompetents running around not knowing what to do. Also I've lived in the former East Germany for quite a while, and the thing you always hear about is how strict the travel restrictions were. Harry Thürk did a lot of writing about countries he may never have visited, maybe that's how he got around the restrictions - research and imagination.
Also it was normal for books written about the USA to show us as nothing to be feared. And they would have to praise the USSR. This book does fit this ideal. At the very end talking about the US deceleration of war, "the average American realized that his place was at the side of the people who were already fighting fascism, on the side of the Soviet Union who in this fight was the vanguard."
Still it was great to read. The language is clear, there are many little pieces of information or stories that I hadn't read before. And it's just amazing to see how this event is considered by non-Americans. Like I said, it has become part of the American national identity, so in a way we are always the good guys. In this book the decadent Americans are only less bad, since we went on to stand side-by-side with the Soviet Union. Like I said interesting, and great fun.
However the authors biography is a little more complicated than I first let on. He was born in 1927 and was somewhere around 16 when he was forced into the army. After this time he did become the head of a large socialist youth group, so that does explain lines such as "Pearl Harbor was always this way on Sundays: everyone in the city slept in late - the night before they watched football while drinking a number of whiskeys." or "it was mostly hubris. America felt powerful, it felt invincible. What could these 'little, yellow-bellied japs' do to us?" Americans are seen as lazy, hedonistic, racist incompetents running around not knowing what to do. Also I've lived in the former East Germany for quite a while, and the thing you always hear about is how strict the travel restrictions were. Harry Thürk did a lot of writing about countries he may never have visited, maybe that's how he got around the restrictions - research and imagination.
Also it was normal for books written about the USA to show us as nothing to be feared. And they would have to praise the USSR. This book does fit this ideal. At the very end talking about the US deceleration of war, "the average American realized that his place was at the side of the people who were already fighting fascism, on the side of the Soviet Union who in this fight was the vanguard."
Still it was great to read. The language is clear, there are many little pieces of information or stories that I hadn't read before. And it's just amazing to see how this event is considered by non-Americans. Like I said, it has become part of the American national identity, so in a way we are always the good guys. In this book the decadent Americans are only less bad, since we went on to stand side-by-side with the Soviet Union. Like I said interesting, and great fun.
Displaying 1 of 1 review