Pearl Harbour bombed

December 7, 1941

ON this day, 360 Japanese planes attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbour on the island of Oahu. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the US Pacific fleet and drew the US irrevocably into World War II.

It was Sunday morning, and at 7:02 a.m., two radar operators spotted large groups of aircraft in flight toward the island from the north, but, with a flight of B-17s expected from the US at the time, they were told to sound no alarm. Thus, the Japanese air assault came as a devastating surprise to the naval base.

It is said that much of the Pacific fleet was rendered useless, including five of eight battleships, three destroyers and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged, and more than 200 aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded. Japan’s losses were some 30 planes, five midget submarines and fewer than 100 men.

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December 10, 1901

ON this day, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. The ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and other high explosives.

In his will, Nobel directed that the bulk of his fortune be placed in a fund in which the interest would be “annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.”

Although Nobel offered no public reason for his creation of the prizes, it is widely believed that he did so out of moral regret over the increasingly lethal uses of his inventions in war. n

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December 11, 1946

THIS day, in the aftermath of World War II, the General Assembly of the United Nations votes to establish the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef), an organisation to help provide relief and support to children living in countries devastated by the war.

After the food and medical crisis of the late 1940s passed, Unicef continued its role as a relief organisation for the children of troubled nations and during the 1970s grew into a vocal advocate of children’s rights.