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The United states declared it was going to be neutral in the European conflicts.
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U.S. imposes trade sanctions, followed by an embargo, aimed at curbing Japan's military aggression in Asia
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The U.S. ambassador to Japan wires Washington that he has learned that Japan is planning a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, but nobody in Washington believes him.
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Submarines, the first units involved in the attack depart Japan.
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At 11:32PM, US Navy warships fire upon IJN vessels in the convoy, sinking the IJN Fubuki and damaging the IJN Furutaka and IJN Aoba, which themselves begin sinking.
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U.S. begins submarine warfare against Japanese shipping
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Capt. Laurence Safford discovers that officials in Washington withheld secret information from Kimmel and Short.
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U.S. troops invade Kwajalein in the Marshall Lands
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The US Army forces arriving at Omaha beach face a prepared, stout and veteran defense made possible by the German 352nd Division. After 2,400 casualties, the 1st US Infantry Division holds a beachhead.
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The U.S.S. Indianapolis delivers its mysterious cargo-the atomic bomb-to the B-29 base on Tinian.
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Developed to drop on the Germans, the first atomic bomb tumbles through the bomb-bay doors of the Enola Gay. Forty-three seconds later, six miles below but still high above the city of Hiroshima, it detonates. With a single bomb, 40,000 men, women and children are obliterated in an instant. One hundred thousand more die within days of burns and radiation. Another hundred thousand would succumb to radiation poisoning over the next five years. The Japanese still did not accept the surrender terms.
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A second atomic bomb drops, this time on Nagasaki. Some 40,000 more civilians die instantly. In Tokyo, the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War remains split between those still determined to fight on and those willing finally to give up. That evening all six members of the Council call upon the Emperor, who breaks the deadlock.
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The Japanese sign ceremonial surrender terms aboard the U.S.S. Missouri
