Australia attacked Japanese invasion fleet at Malaya before Pearl Harbor attack

[Boyo_Jim]

was watching a WWII documentary about the Bristol Beaufighter on Youtube and stumbled on a claim that RAAF #1 Squadron were ordered to engage the Japanese in combat before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This was news to me, and I thought to myself that maybe they got their orders sooner, but surely hadn’t engaged by the time of the attack. But I had no idea why such orders would be issued or who would issue them.

But according to several histories of #1 RAAF Squadron, not only were they engaged before Pearl Harbor, they had sunk at least one Japanese transport involved in the invasion of Malaya and damaged two more. They had also lost two of the seven attacking aircraft (Lockheed Hudsons). According to Wiki:

… Two hours before the Japanese attacks on Malaya started, Hudsons from the Squadron spotted the Japanese invasion fleet and later became the first aircraft to make an attack in the Pacific War, sinking a Japanese transport ship, the IJN Awazisan Maru and damaging two more transports, the Ayatosan Maru and Sakura Maru, off Kota Bharu, an hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor. …

And this was in the midst of landing operations, and the Japanese were already shelling the beach. This makes me wonder. I knew that the Japanese attacked a large number of targets on December 7, more or less simultaneously with the Pearl Harbor attack, but it had always been my understanding that Pearl Harbor (to get ultra-specific, the firing on the mini-subs before the air raid) was the first attack.

Please remove a small bit of my ignorance if you can shed any light on other hostilities commencing before the Pearl Harbor attacks.

[Giles]

The Wikipedia article on Military history of Australia during World War II says:

The RAAF became the first service to see action in the Pacific when Australian aircraft shadowing the Japanese invasion convoy bound for Malaya were fired at on 6 December 1941.

[General_Apathy]

See “Report on the Air Operations during the Campaigns in Malaya and Netherland East Indies from 8th December, 1941 to March 1942”; Section II, NARRATIVE OF OPERATIONS BASED ON MALAYA: Events From 22nd November To Midnight 7-8th December, 1941, First sighting of Japanese Expedition - 6th December, 1941. (beginning ¶ 150) @ Events From 22ND November To Midnight 7-8TH December, 1941.

[General_Apathy]

Also regards the actions of No. 1 Squadron RAAF (No. 1 Squadron RAAF - Wikipedia), note the time of the landings at Kota Bharu and the subsequent attacks on Japanese transports “an hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor.” as per Malayan campaign - Wikipedia.

[terentii]

Given the fairly poor communications at the time, an hour off here and there couldn’t have made much difference in the grand scheme of things. Hell, not even Washington was able to get a message through to Pearl Harbor in time (though they might have tried harder, if some accounts are to be believed).

Certainly things happening well on the other side of the International Date Line wouldn’t have drawn much attention, especially with the Battle of Moscow dominating the news.

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

I’m guessing some of these are local times, so December 8 in Malaya is December 7 in Hawaii.