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Most articles and books
on the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, note that the
Japanese codeword for a successful surprise attack radioed back to their
carrier was "TORA, TORA, TORA." However, on Dec. 7, 1991, the
50th anniversary of the event, Japanese historians at
symposia being held both at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and at CAF
Headquarters in Midland, Texas, revealed that the actual codes were
individual syllables, not the word "TORA." The first code,
"To," indicated that the attack had begun, and the second,
"Ra," that success had been achieved.
When these transmissions
were heard by the American radio operators in the heat of the attack,
they were translated as a single word, the "To, To, To…Ra, Ra,
Ra" becoming "TORA, TORA, TORA", the Japanese word for
"Tiger." |
