Searchlights and anti-aircraft fire over Los Angeles, February 25, 1942. Unretouched photo from the L.A. Times Photographic Collection at the UCLA Library.
In early February 1942, the United States was in full war mode, just two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. What Japan was capable of doing and how the war might progress was then a huge unknown for most Americans. The country was on edge. On the night of February 23, a Japanese submarine conducted what became the only bombing of the continental United States in World War II. The enemy submarine fired 13 shells from offshore into an oil facility near Santa Barbara. This added to fears among Southern Californians that a massive Japanese assault on their coastline was coming. Military intelligence instructed coastal defenses to prepare for an imminent attack.
On the morning of February 25, 1942, at 2:00 a.m., U.S. Army radar reportedly detected an unidentified object or objects about 120 miles off the coast of Los Angeles. Military authorities in the Los Angeles area ordered all air defenses fully manned. Air raid alarms were initiated and a full blackout was ordered across the city. Angelenos were jolted out of bed by the screaming sirens, but, ignoring the blackout order, hundreds of thousands of residents snapped on lights and spilled into the streets to watch searchlights sweep the sky. Thousands of volunteer air raid wardens grabbed helmets and boots to rush to their stations.
Anti-aircraft gun on display on Army Day at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, 1936. Photo from L.A. Times Collection at UCLA Library.
At 3:00 a.m., the unidentified object or objects were reported to be just off the coast of Santa Monica. Anti-aircraft units were given permission to fire on sight. At 3:07 a.m., anti-aircraft units in Santa Monica, reporting the sighting of enemy aircraft, began firing into the sky. Soon, in addition to sweeping searchlights, orange tracer shells streamed into the night sky from anti-aircraft units across the Los Angeles area.
Fear and panic quickly spread throughout the city. As smoke from exploding shells began collecting in the sky, both civilians and army gunners reported sightings of enemy aircraft, falling bombs and Japanese paratroopers. A report claimed that a Japanese aircraft had crashed in Hollywood. Frightened drivers, speeding through darkened streets, collided with one another, resulting in three traffic fatalities. As many as three other persons were reported to have died from fatal heart attacks.
U.S. Army personnel train with anti-aircraft searchlights in 1941 at Camp Callan, San Diego. Photo from Herald Examiner Collection at L.A. Public Library.
The barrage of fire over the city continued from more than an hour. When a cease-fire was ordered, anti-aircraft gunners had expended more than 1,400 rounds of ammunition, causing quite a bit of damage to structures on the ground. Many Angelenos believed that they would see a Japanese invasion force lying offshore when daylight broke.
By daylight, however, no Japanese ships lay off the coast, no downed enemy aircraft were found and no enemy bomb damage was reported. Confused and embarrassed authorities, with no explanation for the morning’s events, focused instead on arresting 20 Japanese-Americans for allegedly trying to signal the mysterious enemy aircraft.
Los Angeles Times article on morning after the "Battle of Los Angeles." From the Los Angeles Times, Feb. 26, 1942.
Within days, the U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, admitted that the whole incident to have been a mistake. The U.S. Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, however, stated that 15 enemy aircraft had appeared over Los Angeles. Stimson later backtracked from that position.
So, what did military gunners actually shoot at? Explanations for what had spooked gunners ranged from a false alarm to meteorological balloons to UFOs. An official investigation, however, could not clearly determine the exact cause. The incident turned out to be the only serious military action to occur over a continental U.S. metropolitan area during World War II.
Many years later, in 1983, the Office of Air Force History, after conducting their own study of the events in 1942,* concluded that U.S. military defenses in California were already nervously poised for action, partly due to the attack from the Japanese submarine off the coast of Santa Barbara. The office noted that meteorological balloons had been released prior to the incident that, with attached lights and their silvery color, may have been mistaken for aircraft.
* The Army Air Forces in World War II, prepared under the editorship of Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate. Volume 1, pp. 282-286. Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C.
