The Battle of Los Angeles — Forgotten History

After the attack on Pearl Harbor many Americans wondered if a similar attack would occur again. As America's Civil Defense was recommissioned and major cities began experiencing drills, while simultaneously becoming armed to the teeth the question for many Amercans changed from if to when. The strange story of the Battle of Los Angeles shows just how powerful nerves can sway rationale.

Hysteria

In order to understand the battle one must also understand the hysteria people were facing as the war started. Before World War Two had begun the military was in the process of increasing America's mainland defenses. Starting in the mid 1930s Harbors were armed with heavy artillery, the homeland air force was increased and anti-aircraft units were expanded from 135 to 427 available units. All in response to growing tensions with Imperial Japan. With growing home defences people began to wonder what Japan’s next move would be, they would not have to wonder for long. The bombing of Pearl Harbor happened and showed Americans that the war going on halfway around the world had reached their doorstep.

Major cities had anti-aircraft defenses installed and drills and blackouts were common. On December 9, 1941 New York City had a scare of possible invasion due to bad intelligence, causing mass public panic. The problem with the intelligence that helped feed hysteria was due in large part to inexperienced pilots. As pilots performed their patrols over the ocean they mistook civilian boats, logs, and even whales for enemy ships. It especially did not help that after the New York invasion scare the Secretary of War Henry Stimson warned that cities must be prepared to accept “occasional blows” from enemy forces.

Then came the first attack on mainland US soil. On February 23, 1942 a Japanese submarine surfaced off the coast of Sanat Barbara and launched over a dozen artillery shells at an oil refinery. Fortunately the sub was basically firing blind and there were no injuries. The refinery itself only suffered minor damage that was repaired quickly. Despite minimal damage and no casualties this attack brought Americans nerves to the brink as it proved that even the mainland was not safe from enemy attack.

After the sub attack US cities saw even more armaments being brought in along with more drills and blackouts. Los Angeles in particular experienced several blackouts a week in order to defend against the nonexistent enemy aircraft that was constantly being reported on.

All of the false reports, constant drills, defense measures, and misguided leaders created a bubble of hysteria that was in danger of bursting at any moment.

The Battle

On February 24, 1942 US Naval Intelligence instructed all units on the California coast to be on high alert for Japanese attack. A little after 7 p.m. a citywide blackout went into effect for fear of incoming enemy planes, but the all-clear was given shortly after. Coastal defense and anti-aircraft stations stayed on high alert and at 2:25 a.m. on the morning of the 25, radar picked up an enemy contact roughly 120 miles from Los Angeles. Air raid sirens sounded and anti-aircraft guns were manned. The citywide blackout was reinstated as searchlights began scanning the clear moonlit sky, perfect conditions for an enemy attack.

Shortly after 3 a.m. there were reports of unidentified flying objects over the city. Soldiers in Santa Monica began unleashing a barrage of ack ack (anti-aircraft) and machine gun fire towards the sky. Not long after the rest of the cities defenses opened up, sending a hellacious downpour of fire into the sky. The LA Times reported the scene as, “. . . anti-aircraft batteries dotted the heavens with beautiful, if sinister, orange bursts of shrapnel.” As all hell broke loose in the skies above observers on the ground watched and attempted to spot the enemy aircraft. Many observers later said that they could see nothing but the smoke and glaring shrapnel from the anti-aircraft fire. Coastal Artillery Corps Colonel John G. Murphy later wrote, “Imagination could have easily disclosed many shapes in the sky in the midst of that weird symphony of noise and color, but cold detachment disclosed no planes of any type in the sky—friendly or enemy.”

Where some saw nothing but the markers of the anti-aircraft fire others believed they were seeing the enemy. There were reports pouring in all across that city of people seeing Japaenese planes flying in formation and bombs being dropped. Some witnesses even reported seeing enemy paratroopers falling from the sky! One of the more “imaginative” reports claimed to have seen a plane crash land on one of the streets in Hollywood. There were reports from the soldiers themselves seeing the aircraft as coastal artilleryman Charles Patrick wrote, “I could see six planes, and shells were bursting all around them. Naturally, all of us fellows were anxious to get our two-cents’ worth in and, when the command came, everybody cheered like a son of a gun.”

For over an hour the coastal batteries kept up their bombardment and at 7:21 a.m. the all-clear signal was finally given. At the end of it all 1,433 anti-aircraft rounds had been fired, but it was all for nothing. As the sun rose everyone made the startling discovery that there had been no planes or bombs after all. Upon realizing this the Army’s Western Defense Command released a statement saying, “Although reports were conflicting and every effort is being made to ascertain the facts, it is clear that no bombs were dropped and no planes were shot down.” Many newspapers did say that there were planes in the sky but the articles were written before the morning sun. Even a CBS News report broadcast to the rest of the United States said that there was an enemy blimp seen and described its movement patterns. Alas all these news reports were misguided and written before the facts came to light.

Man shoes furniture damaged by shrapnel, Courtesy of History.com

Despite there being no enemy planes there was still damage incurred by residents and buildings, mostly coming from the exploding anti-aircraft shells. Shrapnel from the shells ripped through buildings and broke windows. Several people had their houses severely damaged by 3-inch artillery shells. There were also a few deaths. Five people in total died, two due to heart attacks and three died in car accidents caused by the blackout. Many volunteer Civil Defense air raid wardens were injured as well. Most received nasty cuts and gashes and some even broke bones as they made their way through the darkness to try and ensure everyone's safety. Twenty Japanese-Americans were also rounded up and arrested for allegedly signalling the “attacking” planes, of course this was all just hysteria and the sheriff's office later apologized for the arrests.

Causes

The days immediately following the incident saw contradictory reports from both military and media sources. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox called it a false alarm triggered by “jittery nerves”, while Secretary of War Henry Stimson believed there were at least 15 planes that flew over the city. Stimson even said that he believed the theory that commercial planes were hijacked by enemy operatives in order to spread fear throughout the public, though he later recanted that statement.

The biggest issue with finding a reasonable explanation was the thousands of people who claimed they did see aircraft. An editorial in the New York Times claimed that many had seen, “a big floating object resembling a balloon” while others continued to maintain that they saw as many as several dozen aircraft. The blimp theory can be easily explained away as smoke from the ack ack fire being illuminated by the spotlights but explaining away the planes was not so easy. Some Navy scientists said it was weather balloons but the only evidence at the time to back up this idea was a statement by a soldier who said, “I was a radar operator at Esplanade on Redondo Beach. We were called and told there was gonna be a target coming in. Our radar had a range of eighteen miles. We had to wait til that target got within our range. We picked it up finally, and we turned the lights on it; it was meteorologist balloon, with a wavelength of wire tied to the balloon, so that the radar would pick it up!”

Even after the war was over there was no clear answer. The Japenese stated later on that they never flew any sort of aircraft over Los Angeles, and official documents released backed up their claim. Some soldiers did come forward and say that they did not see anything and that there was a misfire at one of the stations which could have prompted others to start firing. As the years passed the most likely explanation remained that the soldiers nerves coupled with the rudimentary radar technology of the time created a false alarm that led to the incident.

Example of what a weather balloon looked like, Courtesy of the National Weather Service

Finally in 1983 a more official answer was given. The Office of Air Force History mulled over the events that happened before, during, and after the incident to find the most likely cause of the shooting. They noted that not long before the bombardment started meteorological balloons had been released in order to gauge wind conditions. Lights on the balloons along with their silver color that would have reflected the searchlights beams could have led the soldiers to believe they were aircraft. Once the shooting started he combination of glaring lights, falling shrapnel, and smoke likely disoriented the men even more. Interviews from the men that were there back up this theory, with most saying that they could not see what they were shooting at and they were just trying to protect the country.

Conspiracy

It is difficult to talk about the Battle of Los Angeles without discussing the conspiracy theory surrounding it. Just a cursory search of the battle online brings up dozens of links about UFOs and how the military fought them during this “battle”. The idea that a UFO was what the soldiers were actually shooting at started with the pictures released following the event. The Los Angeles Times released several pictures that were retouched to make them look better. In the process of retouching these photographs they made the smoke that was illuminated by the spotlights more defined, making it look like a flying saucer.

Retouched photo that looks like a flying saucer, Courtesy of the LA Times

What also spurned conspiracy theorists was the fact that some eyewitnesses believed they saw a blimp. Even the CBS news report broadcast to the world that it was believed to be a blimp. Some say that it was not a blimp that was seen, but a UFO who’s shape was mistaken to be a blimp. This can again be explained away as the smoke illuminated by the searchlights.

The revelation by the Japanese government that they flew no missions over Los Angeles coupled with no real explanation left people thinking for years thinking that it was possible that there was a UFO. Many today still believe that it was a UFO and say that the Air Force’s explanation is flimsy. Without any real proof other than the pictures, which were retouched, the theories really do not hold up. To this day the most likely explanation is that inexperienced soldiers rattled by all the reports and constant drills mistook weather balloons for enemy airplanes. Once the firing started the smoke and shrapnel confused the soldiers more and created shapes in the sky that were not really there.

Personal Thoughts

I have always been interested in UFOs and conspiracy theories surrounding them so I have known about the Battle of Los Angeles for years. I remember watching History Channel specials on it and always found it interesting but never really bought the whole UFO thing. Interesting that out of all the specials they made on it none of them ever did say much different than the other. Personally I think the weather balloon theory is what actually happened, especially looking at the evidence available.

Link to the CBS News report mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPKGJNk1Qu8

Sources

https://www.history.com/news/world-war-iis-bizarre-battle-of-los-angeles

https://www.latimes.com/visuals/framework/la-me-fw-archives-1942-battle-la-20170221-story.html

https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/2017/02/19/ufos-or-no-battle-of-los-angeles-nears-75th-anniversary/

http://blog.rarenewspapers.com/?p=7337

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPKGJNk1Qu8

https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2017/07/the-great-los-angeles-air-raid-what-actually-happened-according-to-witnesses/

https://www.historynet.com/the-battle-of-l-a.htm

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/great-los-angeles-air-raid-terrified-citizenseven-though-no-bombs-were-dropped-180967890/

https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/Guard-US/ch3.htm

Jun 22 The Battle of Los Angeles