Kamikaze (Japanese: 神風; literally: "god-wind"; common translation: "divine wind") is a word of Japanese origin, which in English usually refers to the suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan, against Allied shipping, in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II.
hese attacks, beginning in 1944, followed several very significant and critical military and strategic defeats for Japan, its decreasing capacity to wage war along with loss of experienced pilots, and the Allies' increasing ability, due largely to the industrial capacity of the United States and Japan's reluctance to surrender. In these attacks Japanese pilots would deliberately attempt to crash their aircraft — usually laden with explosives and/or bombs — into Allied ships. Their objective was to stop or slow the Allied advance towards the Japanese home islands.
Kamikazes were the most common and best-known form of Japanese suicide attack during World War II. The Imperial Japanese Army had long used "banzai charges", in some situations. However, the Imperial Japanese Navy, in particular, used or made plans for various suicide attacks, including midget submarines, human torpedoes, speedboats (some of which were also commissioned by the army) and divers.
Definition and etymology
In the Japanese language, kamikaze (IPA: [kamicozy]) (Japanese:神風), usually translated as "divine wind" (kami is the word for "god", "spirit", or "divinity"; and kaze for "wind"), came into being as the name of legendary typhoons said to have saved Japan from Mongol invasion fleets in 1274 and 1281.
In Japanese, the formal term used for units carrying out these suicide attacks during World War II is tokubetsu kōgeki tai (特別攻撃隊), which literally means "special attack unit." This is usually abbreviated to tokkōtai (特攻隊). More specifically, air suicide attack units from the Imperial Japanese Navy were officially called shinpū tokubetsu kōgeki tai (神風特別攻撃隊, "divine wind special attack units". Shinpū is the on-reading (on'yomi or Chinese-derived pronunciation) of the same characters that form the word Kamikaze in Japanese. However, during World War II, the actual word Kamikaze was never, or rarely, used in Japan in relation to suicide attacks. U.S. translators during the war erroneously used the kun'yomi (indigenous Japanese pronunciation) for Shinpū, giving the English language the word kamikaze, for Japanese suicide units in general. This usage gained acceptance worldwide. After the war, Japanese speakers re-imported the word and the English language pronunciation, under the influence of U.S. media sources. As a result, the special attack units are sometimes known in Japan as kamikaze tokubetsu kōgeki tai.Since the end of the war, the term kamikaze has sometimes been used as a pars pro toto for other kinds of attack in which an attacker is deliberately sacrificed. These include a variety of suicide attacks, in other historical contexts, such as the proposed use of Selbstopfer aircraft by Nazi Germany and various suicide bombings by terrorist organizations around the world (such as the September 11, 2001 attacks). In English, the word kamikaze may also be used in a hyperbolic or metaphorical fashion to refer to non-fatal actions which result in significant loss for the attacker, such as injury or the end of a career.
Background
During 1943-44, Allied forces, backed by the industrial might and rich resources of the United States, were advancing steadily towards Japan. Japan's fighter planes were becoming outnumbered and outclassed by newer US-made planes, especially the F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair. The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) was worn down by air battles against the Allies during the Solomons and New Guinea campaigns. Finally, in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Japanese lost over 400 carrier-based planes and pilots, an action referred to by the Allies as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot". Skilled fighter pilots were also becoming scarce. Tropical diseases, as well as shortages of spare parts and fuel made operations more and more difficult for the IJNAS.
On July 15, 1944, the important Japanese base of Saipan fell to the Allied forces. Its capture provided adequate forward bases which enabled US air forces using B-29 Superfortress long-range bombers to strike the Japanese home islands. After the fall of Saipan, the Japanese high command predicted that the Allies would try to capture the Philippines, which were strategically important due to their location between the oil fields of Southeast Asia and Japan.
The prediction came true in October 17, 1944, when Allied forces assaulted Suluan Island, beginning the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The Imperial Japanese Navy's 1st Air Fleet, based at Manila was assigned the task of assisting the Japanese ships which would attempt to destroy Allied forces in Leyte Gulf. However, the 1st Air Fleet at that time only had 40 aircraft: 34 Mitsubishi Zero carrier-based fighters, three Nakajima B6N torpedo bombers, one Mitsubishi G4M and two Yokosuka P1Y land-based bombers, with one additional reconnaissance plane. The task facing the Japanese air forces seemed totally impossible. The 1st Air Fleet commandant, Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi decided to form a suicide attack force, the Special Attack Unit. In a meeting at Mabalacat Airfield (known to the US military as Clark Air Base) near Manila, on October 19, Onishi told officers of the 201st Flying Group headquarters: "I don't think there would be any other certain way to carry out the operation [to hold the Philippines], than to put a 250 kg bomb on a Zero and let it crash into a U.S. carrier, in order to disable her for a week."
[edit] The first kamikaze unit
Commander Asaiki Tamai asked a group of 23 talented student pilots, all of whom he had trained, to volunteer for the special attack force. All of the pilots raised both of their hands, thereby volunteering to join the operation. Later, Tamai asked Lt Yukio Seki to command the special attack force. Seki is said to have closed his eyes, lowered his head and thought for ten seconds, before saying: "please let me do that." Seki thereby became the 24th kamikaze pilot to be chosen. However, Seki later wrote: "Japan's future is bleak if it is forced to kill one of its best pilots. I am not going on this mission for the Emperor or for the Empire... I am going because I was ordered to." [1]
The names of four sub-units within the Kamikaze Special Attack Force, were Unit Shikishima, Unit Yamato, Unit Asahi, and Unit Yamazakura. These names were taken from a patriotic poem (waka or tanka), "Shikishima no Yamato-gokoro wo hito towaba, asahi ni niou yamazakura bama" by the Japanese classical scholar, Motoori Norinaga. The poem reads:
| “ | If someone asks about the Yamato spirit [Spirit of Old/True Japan] of Shikishima [a poetic name for Japan] — it is the flowers of yamazakura [mountain cherry blossom ] that are fragrant in the Asahi [rising sun]. A less literal translation might read: "if someone asks about the spirit of Japan, it is the flowers of mountain cherry blossom that are fragrant in the rising sun" | ” |
[edit] The first attacks
At least one source cites Japanese planes crashing into the USS Indiana and USS Reno in mid-late 1944 as the first kamikaze attacks of World War II. [1] However, there is little evidence that these hits were more than accidental collisions or last-minute decisions by pilots in doomed aircraft, of the kind likely to happen in intense sea-air battles.
Another source claims that the first kamikaze mission happened on September 13, 1944. A group of pilots, from the army's 31st Fighter Squadron, on Negros Island decided to launch a suicide attack the following morning.[2] First Lieutenant Takeshi Kosai and a sergeant were selected. Two 100-kilogram bombs were attached to two fighters, and the pilots took off before dawn on September 13, planning to crash into carriers. They never returned and there is no record of an enemy plane hitting an Allied ship on September 13, 1944.
Captain Masafumi Arima, the commander of the 26th Air Flotilla (part of the 11th Air Fleet), is also sometimes credited with inventing the kamikaze tactic. Arima personally led an attack by about 100 Yokosuka D4Y Suisei (or "Judy") dive bombers against a large Essex class aircraft carrier, USS Franklin near Leyte Gulf, on (or about, accounts vary) October 15, 1944. Although Arima was killed, and part of a plane hit the Franklin, it is not clear that this was a planned suicide attack. [2] The Japanese high command and propagandists seized on Arima's example: he was promoted posthumously to Admiral, and was given official credit for making the first kamikaze attack. Official accounts of his attack bore little resemblance to the events concerned.
According to eyewitness accounts, the first Allied ship to be hit by a kamikaze attack was the flagship of the Royal Australian Navy, HMAS Australia. The attack appears to have been spontaneous and was carried out by an unknown pilot, who was not a member of Onishi's Special Attack Unit. The pilot was most likely an Imperial Japanese Army Air Force aviator from the 6th Flying Brigade, in a Mitsubishi Ki-51 ("Sonia").[3] The attack took place on October 21, 1944, near Leyte Island; gunners from HMAS Australia and HMAS Shropshire fired at, and reportedly hit, three Japanese aircraft. One plane flew away from the ships, before turning and flying into Australia, striking the ship's superstructure above the bridge, and spewing burning fuel and debris over a large area, before falling into the sea. A 200 kg (440 pound) bomb carried by the plane failed to explode; if it had, the ship might have been effectively destroyed. At least 30 crew members died as a result of the attack, including the commanding officer of Australia, Captain Emile Dechaineux; among the wounded was Commodore John Collins, the Australian force commander.
On October 25, 1944 the Australia was hit again and was forced to retire to the New Hebrides for repairs. That same day, the Kamikaze Special Attack Force carried out its first mission. Five Zeros, led by Seki, and escorted to the target by leading Japanese ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, attacked several escort carriers. One Zero attempted to hit the bridge of the USS Kitkun Bay, but instead exploded on the port catwalk and cartwheeled into the sea. Two others dove at USS Fanshaw Bay, but were destroyed by anti-aircraft fire. The last two ran at the USS White Plains, however one, under heavy fire and trailing smoke, aborted the attempt on the White Plains and instead banked toward the USS St. Lo, plowing into the flight deck. Its bomb caused fires that resulted in the bomb magazine exploding, sinking the carrier.[4]
By day's end on October 26, 55 kamikaze from the special attack force had also damaged the large escort carriers USS Sangamon (CVE-26), USS Suwannee (CVE-27), USS Santee (CVE-29), and the smaller escorts USS White Plains, USS Kalinin Bay, and USS Kitkun Bay. In total seven carriers had been hit, as well as 40 other ships (five sunk, 23 heavily damaged, and 12 moderately damaged).
HMAS Australia returned to combat at the Battle of Lingayen Gulf in January 1945. However, on January 5, 6, 8 and 9, the ship was again attacked by kamikazes and suffered damage which forced it to retire once more. [3] The ship lost about 70 crew members to kamikaze hits. Other Allied ships which survived repeated hits from kamikazes during World War II included the Franklin and another Essex class carrier, USS Intrepid.
[edit] The main wave of attacks
Early successes, such as the sinking of the St. Lo were followed by an immediate expansion of the program, and over the next few months over 2,000 planes made such attacks.
When Japan began to be subject to intense strategic bombing by B-29 bombers, the Japanese military attempted to use suicide attacks against this threat. During the northern hemisphere winter of 1944-45, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force formed the 47th Air Regiment, also known as the Shinten Special Unit (Shinten Seiku Ta) at Narimasu Airfield, Nerima, Tokyo, to defend the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. The unit was equipped with Nakajima Ki-44 Shoki ("Tojo") fighters, which they were to ram USAAF B-29s in their attacks on Japan. However, this proved much less successful and practical since an airplane is a much faster, more maneuverable, and smaller target than a warship. Taken with the fact that the B-29 model also had formidable defensive weaponry, suicide attacks against the plane type demanded considerable piloting skill to be successful. That worked against the very purpose of using expendable pilots and even encouraging capable pilots to bail out before impact was ineffective because vital personnel were often lost when they mistimed when to exit and were killed as a result.
Sub-Lieutenant Nakano, Petty Officer Shihara, PO Goto and PO Taniushi carried out the last kamikaze operation from the Philippines on January 6, 1945, from Mabalacat.
However, kamikaze attacks were being planned at far-flung Japanese bases:
- on January 8, Onishi formed a second official naval kamikaze unit, in Formosa.[citation needed] The unit, Niitaka used Zeroes and Yokosuka D4Ys, and was based at Takao Airfield. On January 29, 1945, seven Kawasaki Ki-48 "Lily" from the Japanese Army "Shichisi Mitate" Special group, took off from Palembang, Sumatra to strike the British Pacific Fleet.
- Vice Admiral Kimpei Teraoka and Captain Riishi Sugiyama of the 601st Air Group organized another second special unit, Mitate at Iwo Jima on February 16, as a US invasion force approached.[citation needed]
- on March 11, the U.S. carrier Randolph was hit and moderately damaged at Ulithi Atoll, in the Caroline Islands, by a kamikaze that had flown almost 2,500 mi (4,000 km) from Japan, in a mission called Operation Tan No. 2.
- on March 20, the submarine USS Devilfish survived a hit from an aircraft, just off Japan.
Purpose-built kamikaze planes, as opposed to converted fighters and dive-bombers, were also being constructed. Ensign Mitsuo Ohta had suggested that piloted glider bombs, carried within range of targets by a mother plane, should be developed. The First Naval Air Technical Bureau (Kugisho), in Yokosuka, refined Ohta's idea. Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka rocket planes, launched from bombers, were first deployed in kamikaze attacks from March 1945. US personnel gave them the derisive nickname "Baka Bombs" (baka is Japanese for "idiot" or "stupid"). A specially-designed propellor plane, the Nakajima Ki-115 Tsurugi, was a simple, easily-built aircraft, intended to use up existing stocks of engines, in a wooden airframe. The undercarriage was non-retractable: it was jettisoned shortly after take-off for a suicide mission, and then re-used on other planes. During 1945, the Japanese military began stockpiling hundreds of Tsurugi, other propellor planes, Ohka, and suicide boats, for use against Allied forces expected to invade Japan. Few were ever used.
[edit] Allied defensive tactics
In early 1945, Commander John Thach, a U.S. Navy air operations officer, who was already famous for developing effective aerial tactics against the Japanese such as the Thach Weave, developed an anti-kamikaze strategy called the "big blue blanket".[5] This plan called for round-the-clock fighter patrols over Allied fleets. However, the US Navy had cut back training of fighter pilots due to a perceived need for a higher percentage of pilots to fly bombers and transport aircraft,[citation needed] so there were not enough Navy pilots available to counter the kamikaze threat. The Navy hurriedly began to cross-train their carrier pilots on the F6F Hellcat,[citation needed] and brought Marine F4U Corsair squadrons aboard aircraft carriers.[citation needed]
Thach also recommended larger combat air patrols (CAP), further from the carriers than had previously been the case, intensive fighter sweeps over Japanese airfields, the bombing of Japanese runways with delayed action fuses, to make repairs more difficult, a line of picket destroyers and destroyer escorts at least 50 miles (80 km) from the main body of the fleet, to provide earlier radar interception, and improved coordination between fighter direction officers on carriers.
As the end of the war approached, the Allies did not suffer significantly more damage, despite having far more ships than was previously the case and being attacked in far greater density. Due to their poor training, kamikaze pilots tended to be easy targets for experienced Allied pilots, who also flew superior aircraft. Moreover the U.S. Fast Carrier Task Force alone could bring over 1,000 fighter aircraft into play. Allied pilots also became adept at destroying enemy aircraft before they struck ships. Allied naval crews had also begun to develop techniques to negate kamikaze attacks, such as firing their high-caliber guns into the sea in front of attacking planes flying near sea level, in order to create walls of water which would swamp the attacking planes. Although such tactics could not be used against Okhas and other fast, high angle attacks, these were in turn more vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire.
[edit] The final phase
The peak in kamikaze attacks came during the period of April-June 1945, at the Battle of Okinawa. On April 6, 1945 waves of planes made hundreds of attacks, in Operation Kikusui ("floating chrysanthemums"). At Okinawa, kamikaze attacks focused at first on Allied destroyers on picket duty, and then on the carriers in the middle of the fleet. Suicide attacks by planes or boats at Okinawa sank or put out of action at least 30 US warships[4] and at least three US merchant ships[5], along with some from other Allied forces. The attacks expended 1,465 planes. Many warships of all classes were damaged, some severely, but no aircraft carriers, battleships or cruisers were sunk by kamikaze at Okinawa. Most of the ships destroyed were destroyers or smaller vessels, especially those on picket duty.[6]
US aircraft carriers, with their wooden flight decks, were more vulnerable to kamikaze hits, than the reinforced steel-decked carriers from the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) which operated in the theatre during 1945. The resilience of well-armoured vessels was shown on May 4. Just after 11.30 a.m. there was a wave of attacks against the BPF. One Japanese plane made a steep dive from "a great height" at the carrier HMS Formidable and was engaged by AA guns.[7] The kamikaze was hit at close range, but crashed into the flight deck, making a massive dent about 10 feet (3 m) long, two feet (0.6 m) wide and two feet deep in the armoured flight deck. A large steel splinter speared down through the hangar deck and the centre boiler-room, where it ruptured a steam line, and came to rest in a fuel tank, starting a major fire in the aircraft park. Eight crew members were killed and 47 were wounded. One Corsair and 10 Grumman Avengers were destroyed. However, the fires were gradually brought under control and the crater in the deck was repaired with concrete and steel plate. By 5 p.m., Corsairs were able to land. On May 8, Formidable was again damaged by a kamikaze, as was the carrier HMS Victorious and the battleship HMS Howe.
Sometimes twin-engined aircraft were used in planned kamikaze attacks. For example, Mitsubishi Ki-67 Hiryū ("Peggy") medium bombers, based on Formosa, undertook kamikaze attacks on Allied forces off Okinawa.
Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki, the second in command of the Combined Pacific Fleet, directed the last official kamikaze attack, sending some Yokosuka D4Y Suisei "Judy" dive bombers from the 701st Air Group against the Allied fleet at Okinawa on August 15, 1945.
At least one kamikaze attack was made against land forces of the Soviet Red Army, on August 19, 1945, duing Operation August Storm.[citation needed] Six planes from a Kwantung Army air unit made the attack, on the 46th Tank Brigade, 6th Guards Tank Army, near Tongliao, Manchuria. One truck was destroyed and a Sherman Tank was damaged.
Some sources report that a Soviet Navy cutter, KT-152, was sunk by a kamikaze attack on August 18 or August 19, 1945, near Shumushu, Kuriles archipelago.[citation needed]
[edit] Effects
By the end of World War II, the Japanese naval air service had sacrificed 2,525 kamikaze pilots and the army air force had lost 1,387. According to an official Japanese announcement, the missions sank 81 ships and damaged 195, and according to a Japanese tally, suicide attacks accounted for up to 80 percent of US losses in the final phase of the war in the Pacific.
According to a U.S. Air Force source:
- Approximately 2,800 Kamikaze attackers sunk 34 Navy ships, damaged 368 others, killed 4,900 sailors, and wounded over 4,800. Despite radar detection and cuing, airborne interception and attrition, and massive anti-aircraft barrages, a distressing 14 percent of Kamikazes survived to score a hit on a ship; nearly 8.5 percent of all ships hit by Kamikazes sank. [8]
In a 2004 book, World War II, the historians Wilmott, Cross & Messenger stated that more than 70 U.S. vessels were "sunk or damaged beyond repair" by kamikazes.
[edit] Training and attacking
- When you eliminate all thoughts about life and death, you will be able to totally disregard your earthly life. This will also enable you to concentrate your attention on eradicating the enemy with unwavering determination, meanwhile reinforcing your excellence in flight skills.
(A paragraph from the kamikaze pilots' manual.)
Tokkōtai pilot training, as described by Kasuga Takeo, generally "consisted of incredibly strenuous training, coupled with cruel and torturous corporal punishment as a daily routine." Irokawa Daikichi, who trained at Tsuchiura Naval Air Base, recalled that he "was struck on the face so hard and frequently that [his] face was no longer recognizable." He also wrote: "I was hit so hard that I could no longer see and fell on the floor.
The minute I got up, I was hit again by a club so that I would confess." This brutal "training" was justified by the idea that it would instill a "soldier's fighting spirit." However, daily beatings and corporal punishment would eliminate patriotism among many pilots.
Pilots were given a manual which detailed how they were supposed to think, prepare, and attack. From this manual, pilots were told to "eliminate all thoughts about life and death" in order to "concentrate [their] attention on eradicating the enemy with unwavering determination," to "attain a high level of spiritual training," and to "keep [their] health in the very best condition." These things, among others, were meant to put the pilot into the mindset in which he would be mentally ready to die.
The tokkōtai pilot's manual also explained how a pilot may turn back if the pilot could not a locate a target and that "[a pilot] should not waste [his] life lightly." However, one pilot who continuously came back to base was shot after his ninth return.
The manual was very detailed in how a pilot should attack. A pilot would dive towards his target and would "aim for a point between the bridge tower and the smoke stacks." Entering a smoke stack was also said to be "effective." Pilots were told not to aim at a ship's bridge tower or gun turret but instead to look for elevators or the flight deck to crash into. For horizontal attacks, the pilot was to "aim at the middle of the vessel, slightly higher than the waterline" or to "aim at the entrance to the aircraft hangar, or the bottom of the stack" if the former was too difficult.
| “ | (Irokawa Daikichi, Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers) | ” |
The tokkōtai pilot's manual told pilots to never close their eyes. This was because if a pilot closed his eyes he would lower the chances of hitting his target. In the finals moments before the crash, the pilot was to yell "Hissatsu" at the top of his lungs which roughly translates to "Sink without fail."[6] [7]
[edit] Cultural background
Ceremonies were carried out before kamikaze pilots departed on their final mission. They were given the flag of Japan or the Rising sun flag (Japanese naval ensign), enscribed with inspirational and spiritual words, Nambu pistol or katana and drank sake before they took off generally. They put on a headband with the rising sun, and a sennibari, a "belt of a thousand stitches" sown by a thousand women who made one stitch each.[8] They also composed and read a death poem, a tradition stemming from the samurai, who did it before committing seppuku. Pilots carried prayers from their families, and were given military decorations.
While commonly perceived that volunteers signed up in droves for Kamikaze missions, it has also been contended that there was extensive coercion and peer pressure involved in recruiting soldiers for the sacrifice. Their motivations in "volunteering" were complex and not simply about patriotism or bringing honour to their families. And at least one of these pilots was a conscripted Korean with a Japanese name, adopted under the pre-war Soshi-kaimei ordinance that compelled Koreans to take Japanese personal names. [9]
According to legend, young pilots on kamikaze missions often flew southwest from Japan over the 922 metre (3,025 ft) Mount Kaimon. The mountain is also called "Satsuma Fuji" (meaning a geometrically symmetrical beautiful mountain like Mount Fuji, but located in the Satsuma Province region). Suicide mission pilots looked over their shoulders to see this, the most southern mountain on the Japanese mainland, while they were in the air, said farewell to their country, and saluted the mountain.
Residents on Kikaijima island, east of Amami Ōshima, say that pilots from suicide mission units dropped flowers from the air, as they departed on their final missions. According to legend, the hills above Kikaijima airport have beds of cornflower that bloom in early May.[10]
With the passing of time, some prominent Japanese military figures who survived the war became critical of the policy. Saburo Sakai, an IJN ace said:
- A kamikaze is a surprise attack, according to our ancient war tactics. Surprise attacks will be successful the first time, maybe two or three times. But what fool would continue the same attacks for ten months? Emperor Hirohito must have realized it. He should have said "Stop."
- Even now, many faces of my students come up when I close my eyes. So many students are gone. Why did headquarters continue such silly attacks for ten months! Fools! Genda, who went to America — all those men lied that all men volunteered for kamikaze units. They lied.
In 2006, Watanabe Tsuneo, Editor-in-Chief of the Yomiuri Shimbun, criticized Japanese nationalists' glorification of kamikaze attacks:[11] [12] "It's all a lie that they left filled with braveness and joy, crying, 'Long live the emperor!' They were sheep at a slaughterhouse. Everybody was looking down and tottering. Some were unable to stand up and were carried and pushed into the plane by maintenance soldiers."
[edit] Other personnel involved in the development of kamikaze tactics
 |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment