Literature / Days of Infamy

Days of Infamy is a two-novel Alternate History of the initial stages of the Pacific War by Harry Turtledove. The premise of the story is that the Empire of Japan not only attacks Pearl Harbor, but follows it up with the invasion and occupation of Hawaii.

The second novel details the occupation of the islands, and the subsequent defeat of Japanese forces by the United States in 1943.

This series provides examples of:

• Ace Pilot:
  • On the Japanese side, Saburo Shindo, like his real-life counterpart, manages a large number of kills.
  • On the American side, Joe Crosetti: downs two Zeroes, a Kate, and Val during his first combat mission. His kill rate drops after that, mostly due to a lack of targets.
• Allohistorical Allusion:
  • The first attack on Japanese occupied Oahu, by B-25s flying off an aircraft carrier, is called the "Doolittle Raid".
  • Saburo Shindo performs a kamikaze strike on the USS Bunker Hill as it's supporting the 1943 landings on Oahu. It gets off rather better than it did while supporting the 1945 landings on Okinawa.
  • During the first American attempt at re-taking Oahu, Mitsuo Fuchida suffers from appendicitis, just like he did at Midway.
• Alternate History: The two-part series details a Imperial Japanese invasion of Hawaii and the subsequent occupation thereof following Pearl Harbor.
• Anyone Can Die: Among the viewpoint characters in the Japanese armed forces, only Yasuo Furusawa survived as a prisoner of war.
• Artistic License – History:
  • Tomoyuki Yamashita is portrayed as a brutal Army General in the series who allows the soldiers under his command to commit numerous atrocities. In reality, Yamashita was a very strict and moral general who forbade any misbehavior when his troops took Singapore, had an officer and several soldiers executed for ordering a massacre and looting respectively, and personally apologized to the survivors of said massacre. He was also criticized by his own countrymen for his humane treatment of prisoners of war under his watch.
  • Japanese damage-control abilities get a significant upgrade. In the OTL, no Japanese aircraft carrier that got damaged in battle ever managed to resume aircraft operations during the battle, and no carrier was ever repaired in any facility outside of Japan. In Days of Infamy, not only does the the Akagi manage to recover its aircraft after taking a bomb to the flight deck, it gets repaired in Pearl Harbor. Presumably this is due to the Japanese policy of keeping a carrier and its pilots together: if the Akagi needed to return to Japan for repairs, one of the viewpoint characters would have gone as well.
• Awakening the Sleeping Giant: The attack on Pearl Harbor was already a Rage Breaking Point for Americans but the invasion of Hawaii just amplifies the anger. This gets further pushed when Japanese forces start bombing the West Coast of America, causing many Americans to want to leave Europe to focus on Japan.
• Book Ends: When the Japanese launch their invasion on Hawaii, the Haleiwa Fighter Strip was the first air strip to fall to the Japanese. When the Americans returned in 1943, it was the first airfield to fall to them.

• Cool Plane:
  • The F6F Grumman Hellcat proves invaluable in replacing the F4F Wildcat: where the Wildcat had neither the agility to dogfight a Zero nor the speed to escape, the Hellcat is regularly described as going so fast it's as if other airplanes are nailed to the sky.
  • The Aichi D3A dive bomber was decisive in winning the battle during the first US attempt to retake Hawaii.
  • The Zero is the most effective Japanese fighter up until 1943. An incredibly agile fighter, it gets described as doing things like turning around under its own tail.
• Culture Clash: The Japanese soldiers are pretty much amazed by American culture, such as the number of privately-owned cars and surfing. By the end of the American liberation, many surviving Japanese POW's were very surprised of how they were being properly treated by their captors, given how they treated their own prisoners.
• Day of the Jackboot: From the perspective of the people living in Hawaii under Japanese occupation.
• Death from Above: Everything from air support to mortar fire to kamikazes.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Murphy was decapitated for possession of a radio.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Sanji Iwabuchi. It gets exaggerated when Iwabuchi is promoted to commander of all Japanese forces on Hawaii, after Tomoyuki Yamashita is killed defending Pearl City. Iwabuchi wasts no time ordering troops to heedlessly charge at the enemy, regardless of the number of Japanese soldiers that are killed and any civilians caught in the crossfire. Some Japanese leaders, Minoru Genda among them, are disturbed by his tactics. Although, it is much as a surprise and shock for American military intelligence to learn that Iwabuchi's mentality is hardly unique among the Japanese military.
• Fictionalized Death Account:
  • Mitsuo Fuchida, lead pilot of the attack on Pearl Harbor, was shot down by Joe Crosetti, whereas he survived the war in the real world
  • Minoru Genda, architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor, commits seppku to apologize for the failure of the plan, as opposed to surviving the war to become a politician.
• Flaunting Your Fleets: The first time the Americans attempt to retake Hawaii, they send out a fleet roughly equal in numbers to the Japanese detachment at Hawaii, but it is undone by inexperienced soldiers, faulty armaments and outdated equipment. With the second attempt to retake the islands the Americans take the time to do things right and send an overwhelming force. Japanese pilots defending their hold on the islands see a fleet stretching back as far as they can see to the horizon... and then realize that there are still more ships even further back, giving the pilot seeing this a major Oh, Crap! moment.
• For Want Of A Nail: The point of departure for the story's timeline is Minoru Genda succeeding in convincing Admiral Yamamoto to follow up the Pearl Harbor airstrikes with an invasion.
• Foregone Conclusion: The end of the series implies that World War II in the Asian-Pacific theater will proceed as it was in spite of the historical changes, just with a two-year delay.
• Freudian Excuse: The Hawaiian puppet king Stanley Owana Laanui justified his appreciation as puppet ruler for the Japanese as a way to get back at the white population that ruled Hawaii.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Averted for Queen Laanui, who was actually quite benevolent during her rule.
• Going Down with the Ship: Tomeo Kaku went down with the Akagi very much like he did in real life.
• Historical Domain Character: Quite a few for the Japanese, including Minoru Genda, Isoroku Yamamoto and Tomoyuki Yamashita, though there are still some on the American side as well.
• Historical Villain Downgrade: As bad as the Japanese soldiers are portrayed in this story, the reality was even worse. For instance, various characters often comment on how little food there is in Hawaii, even for the soldiers. However, this ignores the fact that there was plenty of meat on the island... in the form of the civilian population. Yes, according to The Other Wiki, the Imperial Japanese armed forces engaged in cannibalism among their other war crimes.
• Hypocrite: King Stanley Owana Laanui denounces the white population of Hawaii despite being married to a white woman.
• Improvised Weapon: Saburo Shindo, in a desperate attempt to get back into the air, scavenges the remains from a half-dozen Zero fighters and Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusas to produce a Frankenplane. It's a testament to his flying skills that he manages to down a Wildcat despite having armament comparable to a Sopwith Camel.
• In Its Hour of Need: Both King Stanley and Queen Cynthia chose to remain in Hawaii in the wake of the American liberation, rather than flee to Japan in a submarine.
• Interservice Rivalry: The Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, as in Real Life, had traditionally been rivals and barely tolerated each other, but this relationship only worsens during their occupation of Hawaii. After each American surprise, at least as much effort goes into figuring out how the other service is at fault as goes into preventing a repeat.
• I Will Only Slow You Down: Jim Peterson, severely malnourished, says this to Charlie Kaapu, who want to escape together from the Japanese POW camp when the second battle for Hawaii is falling in favor for the Americans. Although Charlie promises to find help for him, he is unfortunately too late.
• Kill It with Fire: The Marines use flamethrowers to evict those stubborn pockets of Japanese holdouts in Honolulu.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • The Japanese gets their comeuppance for defending Hawaii against the United States in the same situation as the Americans'.
  • Strongly implied for Jiro in the very ending of the second book for which he lives in Hiroshima.
• Leave Behind a Pistol: Once the U.S. retook Hawaii, Stanley Owana Lannui shot his wife before turning his gun on himself.
• Leave No Survivors: Jim Peterson and the surviving POW's that were working in the tunnel are buried alive by their Japanese guards during the American liberation.
• Les Collaborateurs:
  • Jiro Takahashi and other elder Japanese Issei welcomed the Japanese invasion out of pride for their heritage and birth country.
  • A subversion for Japanese gardener Yoshi Nakayama, who never wanted to abuse his position as a translator for the Japanese occupiers, but had little choice in the matter. Because of his sincerity, he escaped unscathed from running the gauntlet after the occupation ended.
  • The "Royal Hawaiian Army" is a mixed bag during the liberation. On one side, many disenfranchised native Hawaiians were willing to fight the Americans to the death. But for the majority, many realized the futility and chose to peacefully surrender without incident.
• Make an Example of Them: As U.S. forces prepared to overrun Iolani Palace, King Stanley and Queen Cynthia both realized that if they were captured alive, this would be their fate. Hence them choosing suicide over capture.
• Monumental Damage:
  • In Days of Infamy, the Aloha Tower is bombed by Japanese dive bombers to break American morale.
  • In End of the Beginning, the Iolani Palace and the Honolulu Hale were made as the Japanese's last line of defense against US Marines, and were necessary destroyed by the Americans to crush the Japanese that are fighting to the last man.
• Nicknaming the Enemy: IJN sailors refer to all US Navy dive bombers as "Hell Divers".
• Off with His Head!: Murphy, an elementary school principal, was decapitated by the Japs for charges of treason. More specifically for secretly keeping a radio.
• Only Sane Man: Isoroku Yamamoto, unsurprisingly, knew that attacking and invading Hawaii was a bad idea from the beginning but, like in OTL, was obligated to obey his Emperor's wishes against his better judgment.
• Propaganda Machine: Jiro happily accepts doing newspaper interviews and regular radio broadcasts extolling the virtues of Japan. But by the time the Americans return, Jiro starts to have doubts about his job when the propaganda pieces start to sharply contradict reality.
• Puppet King: Stanley Owana Laanui was made "King of Hawaii" by the Japanese after the Pearl Harbor attack and invasion. Ironically, Stanley was the Japanese government's last choice for office, as many native Hawaiians with better claims to the throne, such as Abigail Kawananakoa, knew very well that the real power remains in Japanese hands and flatly declined Japan's offer.
• Pyrrhic Victory: The first Battle of the North Pacific, while a Japanese victory, cost them a lot of expert pilots.
• Right Under Their Noses: The hidden American airfield that was built on Kauai, an island which the Japanese never bothered to occupy, becomes a strategic landing site for American bombers during the liberation.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Queen Cynthia Laanui, despite being noted as being a bit dumb, helped oversee the dispersal of supplies and did some charity work.
• Secret Police: The Kempeitai police occupied Hawaii. Charlie Kaapu draws the ire of the Kempeitai purely on the say-so of a Japanese major whom Kaapu had cuckolded.
• Semper Fi: The United States Marine Corps are among the main American forces that liberated Hawaii. Les Dillon and Dutch Wenzel are Marines.
• Seppuku: Minoru Genda commits seppuku after the United States reconquered Hawaii. In this case, Yasuo Furusawa acted as Genda's second by shooting him in the head just as Genda disemboweled himself.
• Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility: From a realistic perspective, it's considered logistically impossible for Japan to invade and occupy Hawaii. Specifically noted by the occupying Japanese forces, who have to convert the Hawaiian pineapple plantations into farms to feed themselves. Even then, they end up having to remove most of their occupying force after repulsing the initial American counterattack.
• Sole Survivor: Out of all the Japanese characters given a POV, only Yasuo Furusawa survives.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: Ironically, this is Jiro's fate. Despite being proud of his country, he had spent so many years living in Hawaii that once he flees to Japan he finds himself feeling alienated and even uncomfortable upon meeting his extended family, whom he rarely spoke with.
• Suicide Attack: Saburo Shindo's death in making what's apparently the first kamikaze attack on the USS Bunker Hill.

• Taking You with Me: During the American liberation, desperate Japanese soldiers start carrying live grenades and diving in front of American tanks.
• Tank Goodness:
  • The M3 Stuarts fare well against Japanese tanks during the invasion. Unfortunately, they fare rather less well against Japanese aircraft.
  • By the second book, M4 Shermans prove quite effective at taking out machine-gun nests and other Japanese strongpoints. And this time, it's the Americans who have air superiority.
• Underestimating Badassery: Both America and Japan underestimated each other prior to the invasion. In the first book, the Japanese believed that the Americans were lazy and incompetent, a view which is only reinforced by the Americans' first failed attempt to retake Hawaii. By the second book, however, it is Japan on the receiving end of this when America pulls its wits together, upgraded its military and successfully liberates Hawaii.
• Villainous Breakdown: King Stanley Laanui starts drinking heavily after learning that the Imperial Japanese Navy was wiped out by the Americans and gets worse when he realizes that Hawaii will inevitably fall back into their hands.
• You ALL Share My Story: Although narrowly averted. Charlie Kaapu gets thrown into the POW camp with Jim Peterson. Lester Dillon was among the Marines that assaulted Iolani Palace and knocked out Yasuo Furusawa.