Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy - Ludwig von Mises ...

Japanese Action Appears Imminent 175
of all activities against espionage comma and protection against
sabotage of your equipment comma property and establishments
period. 28
Again Short felt reassured that the sabotage alert he had initiated
was appropriate.
Navy Ordered to Transport Army Planes to
Midway and Wake; Hawaiian Forces Weakened
Th e day before the November 27 “war warning,” Kimmel was
advised to prepare to send some planes, men, and provisions from
Pearl Harbor to two outlying mid-Pacifi c islands:
In order to keep the planes of the Second Marine Aircraft
Wing available for expeditionary use OPNAV [Chief of
Naval Operations] has requested and Army has agreed to station
twenty-fi ve Army pursuit planes at Midway and a similar
number at Wake provided you consider this feasible and
desirable. 29
Th e cabled orders that followed called on Kimmel to transport by
aircraft carrier these Army planes, which were to support Navy
operations, and to supply the islands with ground personnel, provisions,
water, spare parts, tools, and ammunition.
In light of WPL-46, stationing men and planes on Wake
and Midway made sense. Wake was a couple of thousand miles
west of Hawaii and closer to the Japanese mandated Marshall
Islands. An outpost on Wake would extend the area over which
reconnaissance could be conducted and would permit the United
States to watch more closely what was going on in the Marshalls.
At the same time, however, it meant depriving Hawaii of about
50 percent of the Army’s pursuit planes then on Oahu. And the
28 Ibid., part 14, p. 1330.
29 Ibid., part 17, p. 2479.