The Second Attack on Pearl Harbor: Operation K And Other Japanese Attempts to Bomb America in World War II

About the book

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.