In 1941, Imperial Japan was seeking a quick knockout blow against the neutral US to seize control of the Pacific.
The key lay in eliminating the US base at Pearl Harbour on Hawaii.
Located 6000km from the US mainland, it offered deep water anchorage and vital supplies for the US Pacific Fleet.
In November 1941, a powerful Japanese naval force of battleships, aircraft carriers and other vessels started sailing in secret across the Pacific Ocean.
Early on Sunday, December 7, 1941, it arrived about 350km north of Hawaii.
At 6am, the first wave of Japanese bombers, dive-bombers, and fighters took off from the aircraft carriers and headed for the US Navy Pearl Harbour base.
Despite being monitored by a US Army radar station, the Japanese planes approached without meeting any resistance.
US forces were caught completely unaware when the first Japanese planes attacked.
They quickly scrambled to man anti-aircraft guns.
Vital to the success of the Japanese operation was the elimination of US fighter planes before they could take off.
Air fields across Hawaii were targeted by the Japanese force in the early stages of the attack.
The US military airfields in Hawaii were easy targets being largely undefended.
The task was made easier for the Japanese after US commanders ordered their planes to be bunched together in the middle of the runways, providing easy targets for the bombers.
The destruction of the airfields meant only a handful of US fighter planes survived.
A few managed to take off but the Japanese largely ruled the skies.
At about 8am, the Japanese planes launch their attack around "Battleship Row" - a long line of warships moored at Pearl Harbour.
Several of them were quickly sunk.
The USS West Virginia, USS Oklahoma, and USS Arizona all sank.
The latter's forward ammunition magazine was ignited when an armour-piercing blast hit it, resulting in the death of more than 1000 men around the ship.
At 8.54am, the second wave of Japanese attack aircraft started their assault.
Despite the inferno around them, US sailors bravely attempted to rescue their comrades from the burning ships.
Thick clouds of burning oil filled the air as the Japanese bombed fuel depots across Hawaii.
Despite efforts to extinguish the blazing oil and aviation fuel, they burned for days after the attack.
Non-military targets, including this school in the city of Honolulu, were also bombed.
A total of 68 civilians were killed.
US resistance stiffened later in the morning.
Anti-aircraft fire and the few US fighter planes that made it into the air destroyed 29 enemy aircraft.
The Japanese warplanes completed their attack by early afternoon.
More than 2400 Americans were killed in the attacks and over 1100 were wounded. The US Navy lost 21 ships.
Within hours, millions of Americans on the mainand learned of the Pearl Harbour attack.
Newspapers described the devastation on Hawaii to a stunned public.
On December 8, 1941, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt gained approval by Congress to declare war against Japan.
He famously described the Pearl Harbour attack over the previous day as "a date which will live in infamy".
It meant the US had joined World War II.
In 1945, after a bitter campaign across the Pacific, Japan surrendered.