The Battle of Los Angeles

About Battle of Los Angeles

The full story, section by section

The story of Battle of Los Angeles in 8 parts. Tap any part to read it in full.

1. BackgroundAfter Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and the United States entered the Second World War the next day, fear and suspicion grew across the country, especially on the West Coast, where a Japanese attack or invasion was considered a real possibility.Read this part → Map of the Ellwood oil field near Santa Barbara, shelled by a Japanese submarine on 23 February 1942. · Photo: User:Antandrus, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
2. The alarmsOn 24 February the Office of Naval Intelligence warned that an attack on mainland California could be expected within the next ten hours.Read this part → Illustration drawn for this site — not a photograph.
3. The barrageAt 3:06 a.m., according to the Office of Air Force History, a balloon carrying a red flare was seen over Santa Monica and four anti-aircraft batteries opened fire, at which point "the air over Los Angeles erupted like a volcano".Read this part → Searchlights converging during the Battle of Los Angeles, 1942 · Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
4. Damage and casualtiesNo bombs were dropped and no aircraft were found.Read this part → Illustration drawn for this site — not a photograph.
5. Official explanations and the pressWithin hours, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox told a press conference that the whole incident had been a false alarm caused by anxiety and "war nerves", and that there was no evidence of enemy planes.Read this part → Page B of the February 26, 1942, Los Angeles Times, showing the coverage of the so-called Battle of Los Angeles and its aftermath (lots of articles on people finding dud shells, unexploded ordnance, etc. · Photo: LA Times., Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
6. What caused itAfter the war ended in 1945, the Japanese government said it had flown no aircraft over Los Angeles during the war.Read this part → Illustration drawn for this site — not a photograph.
7. The photograph and UFO claimsOn 26 February 1942 the Los Angeles Times published a photograph of searchlight beams converging on a bright spot in the sky.Read this part → Battle of Los Angeles · Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
8. LegacyThe raid was played for laughs in Steven Spielberg's 1979 comedy 1941, starring Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi and John Candy, which was billed as "A Comedy Spectacular".Read this part → Battery Farley, a former gun emplacement at Fort MacArthur, whose museum holds an annual "Great LA Air Raid of 1942" event. · Photo: Regular Daddy, CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons

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Key people

The people at the centre of the story — witnesses, investigators, officials and sceptics:

• William TompkinsWilliam Tompkins was a former Douglas Aircraft employee and Navy worker whose memoir became a foundational text for the secret space program movement. He claimed that during World War II he helped de…

Related cases & events

Events and sightings linked to Battle of Los Angeles:

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Related topics & places

Ideas, terms and places that come up in the story:

📖 Term · 17 min readUnidentified flying objectAn unidentified flying object, or UFO, is an unexplained phenomenon or object seen in the sky, with the modern craze originating in the United States in June 1947. While popular culture often equates UFOs with alien spacecraft, most investigations reveal them…

🛸 UFO sightings near Battle of Los Angeles

262 sightings on ufos.dev were reported within 100 km. The most-upvoted:

Sightings that mention Battle of Los Angeles

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