the 80th Anniversary Edtion. In the early hours of 7th December 1941 The Empire of Japan launched a surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, without explicit warning, which crippled the US Fleet. In all 8, US Battleships were lost and 188 US Aircraft were destroyed. 2,403 American citizens were killed by the Japanese. The attack on Pearl Harbor was the immediate cause of Americas entry into World War II and the Pacific theatre which led to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and which ended with the surrender of The Empire of Japan aboard the USS Missouri on 2nd September 1945. This illustrated book takes you through