Hi, I’m Indy Neidell and this is a WW2 in
real time public service announcement.
A very special one actually.
Now, we have already hinted a few times about
something big we are preparing and today I’m
going to tell you all about it.
Last year, we travelled to France to cover
the 1940 German invasion and the breakthrough
at Sedan, and we really realized how important
it is to have boots on the ground for in depth
research.
Apart from the fact that we discovered a bunch
of new stuff by seeing things first hand,
we simply got a much better idea of how things
happened.
And I think you did as well.
So this summer we’re going to Hawaii to
film and to research in order to be able to
cover the attack on Pearl Harbor… minute
by minute.
Yep, you heard me, every minute of the roughly
six hours it lasted.
And we will publish it in real local time
starting at 6AM on December 7 this year on
this channel.
The immediate events leading up to the actual
raid read like a thriller-novel, with Japanese
diplomats burning code-books, the interception
of mysterious radio-traffic, and even the
overall foreboding atmosphere that war could
break out at any time.
The attack itself is a story of good timing
and bad luck, of daring plans and underestimated
capabilities, of victory and of tragedy.
It is a story of how two nations that had
been on collision course for years, collided.
With over 360 minutes- over 6 hours- of coverage,
we will give you an in-depth explanation of
not only what happened, but perhaps more importantly-
why.
We will immerse you in the speed, the surprise,
the adrenaline, and the terror of the first
moments of active WW2 for the US.
We will introduce you to the defenders, the
pilots, the commanders, the political leaders,
all embroiled in this sudden great act of
war.
We begin with the takeoff of the Japanese
planes from their carriers, then the confused
submarine sightings, the interception of radio
messages, through the two air raids, to the
arrival of the final planes at the rendezvous
point off Hawaii.
While the battle rages we will also look at
the events leading up to this day.
The break off of communications, the initial
planning phase, and that fateful decision
in Japan that changed the course of World
War 2, that changed the course of history.
We’ll go into the technical specifications
of the bombers and the ships, the detailed
tactics and the overall strategy.
The layout of the Oahu naval base, the disposition
and capabilities of the Japanese navy, and
even its midget submarines.
You heard right, midget submarines.
Did you know that there was also a whole submarine
fleet on its way to Pearl Harbor, which nearly
jeopardized the entire mission?
But we don’t just want to talk about the
military details, we also want to talk about
the human experience and the human cost.
The tragedy, the bravery, the heroism, the
sailors, the pilots, the nurses- the people.
We will travel to Hawaii and Japan to visit
where it happened and where it was planned,
we want to talk to local historians, we want
to talk to veterans, we want to show you the
equipment being used and the ships being attacked…
we’ll use animated maps, CGI, archive footage,
interviews and more to create the ultimate
historical experience.
Never before has December 7, 1941 been covered
in so much detail on video.
This is really exciting for me, for all of
us.
The story of Pearl Harbor is not just the
simple story of one attack on one nation on
one day.
From when the British Royal Navy shows that
an airborne attack from carriers like this
attack is even possible in its raid on Taranto,
Italy in 1940, the Japanese navy begins planning,
equipping, and training for The Pearl Harbor
attack, or Operation Z - nothing less than
a huge gamble, with the future of the whole
Japanese empire staked on the outcome of this
attack.
This blow has to land, or the war in China
could turn against them.
And there’s another less popularly known
story about the attack- we think of Pearl
Harbor as an isolated event, but it was in
reality part of a broad simultaneous campaign
that day all over the Pacific with attacks
on the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Malaya,
Singapore and Hong Kong in parallel.
The goal was to preemptively strike at any
potential future enemies who might interfere
with Japanese domination of the Pacific, to
seize control by taking the initiative.
Ultimately, however, it was the attack that
would wake the giant.
The American public had been nowhere near
willing to be dragged into a faraway war in
East Asia, or for that matter Europe.
But the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, this
“Day of Infamy”, this changed everything.
Pearl Harbor is the moment when the World
War truly goes global.
In an instant the war goes from mere crazy
to raging madness, from lightning to light
speed, and from massive to gargantuan.
It’s also the moment when the atrocities
both in Asia and Europe accelerate to an unprecedented
level.
Here on this channel we will follow all of
those developments as accurately, meticulously,
and neutrally to the standards for which we
are known.
As always, we will publish our content for
free; we want as many people as possible to
see it, to keep the memories and the lessons
from our past alive.
That is what TimeGhost does.
This project will require that we up our game
significantly, of course.
It will require far more resources than we
currently have, it will need more people,
more time, more planning, more footage, and
more videos.
Again as always, we will do our best to work
together with and engage you, in comments,
Q&As, early access to content, and insight
into our creative process.
To achieve our goals, we have to expand our
TimeGhost Army, find corporate backers for
financing and for technical collaboration.
You can easily help with that by spreading
the word, sharing our content, discussing
it on message boards, and by joining the TimeGhost
Army on Patreon or at TimeGhost.tv.
There we have already created a special tier
for the year 1941 - we’ll be announcing
some special benefits for that membership
shortly.
We are also launching a WW2 memorial program
so that you can support the war effort by
remembering those people in your lives or
your ancestry that lived, fought, and died
between 1939 and 1945 within our videos - a
generation that sacrificed their youth to
put out the fires of a world in flames.
You can learn more about that in the video
right here.
Join the TimeGhost Army, share and promote
this channel, subscribe and ring the bell,
and make sure that we never forget.
