The Japanese Suicide Attacks of World War 2

Kamikaze!

Near the end of the war, Japan was struggling to handle all the attacks from the US forces as they were a much bigger nation that was better equipped and that would outnumber the Japanese soldiers. This meant that the Japanese army would have to take some drastic decisions. The disadvantage that the US forces had was that the Japanese army was scattered on the Islands of the pacific, therefore they could only deploy by sea and in some rare occasions parachute (however, only special troops ended up parachuting).

The culture of Japan was full of honour and that any sacrifice would bring a great name to the family of the fallen. This is why the Japanese army decided to create a special aviator squad named “ Tokubetsu Kōgekitai” which translates to special attack unit which would perform the ultimate sacrifice of launching themself with the plane into naval ships. Bombarding was not very efficient as the naval air force was standing strong and the US battleships were heavily enforced with anti-aircraft guns.

This suicidal attack was named “Kamikaze” which translates to the divine wind or spirit wind. This attack was mostly used in 1945, the late period of world war 2 in the effort to slow down the reinforcements as well as the supply line for the allied army in the pacific.

It has been estimated by historians that around 3,800 Japanese pilots have committed this suicidal attack. They are also estimating that around 7,000 allied naval personal have been killed by kamikaze attacks. Many have feared these attacks as the allied seen the kamikaze aircraft like a pilot-guided missile.

The main aircraft to be used for Kamikaze attacks was the Mitsubishi Zero A6M5 and the A6M2 as they were the most produced Japanese fighters at the time. The planes were given an extra fuel tank not only because the targets were quite a far flight away but also so that they have some fuel upon the crash to cause a much bigger explosion. The pilots were also instructed to crash into the body tank of a vessel, that is the main fuel tank of a vessel so it was just the sweet spot to blow up the whole ship.

As most of the attacks were performed right from above, they were coming at a very high speed which gave very little time for the anti-aircraft guns to stop them. The most interesting thing is the pilots themselves, many chose to name them future samurais because of their lack of fear and great courage.

For them, it was all about bringing the most honour to their family as honour is what is of most value in the Japanese culture. A quite sad fact is that most of the pilots that took part in the Kamikaze attacks were between the age of 17–25 years old. The reason for this is because the Japanese army was keeping the more experienced pilots for dogfighting as well as bombardments.

Another interesting fact is that Captain Motoharu Okamura which was the head of aviation in Japan at the time referred to the kamikaze pilots as a “swarm of bees” because they were like just bees after a bee stings it dies.