On December 7, 1941, the United States suffered a sneak attack at Pearl Harbor that crippled our battleship force in the Pacific and killed more than 2400 Americans—but awakened a fierce fighting spirit that would deal the Japanese fleet a crushing blow in the Battle of Midway, only six months later. The US Navy web site has an excellent collection of historical photographs from Pearl Harbor, many taken by the attacking Japanese warplanes: Pearl Harbor Raid, 7 December 1941.