These aviators were not crazy people ready to kill themselves, but an effective weapon of the Japanese Army and Navy. They were part of groups of pilots organized to carry out suicide attacks against American and British ships in the Pacific Ocean during World War II (1939-1945). This desperate tactic of the kamikazes (“gods of the wind” in Japanese) reflected the crisis of the Japanese Army, when defeat by the Allies was imminent. So much so that they appeared only in 1944, when the Armed Forces of Japan suffered from heavy casualties and numerous losses of equipment. What moved these men towards certain death was a genuinely religious fervor, based on traditional Japanese values. Culturally, suicide in certain circumstances was seen by them as a demonstration of honor. A sacred atmosphere enveloped the aviators: on the eve of their missions they participated in religious rituals and embarked to their death with samurai swords, the ultimate symbol of Japanese bravery. For all their glamour, kamikazes were usually novice pilots who used any plane that could fly. Despite this, a specialized aircraft was even made exclusively for suicides. Equipped with rocket engines, this 100% kamikaze plane was tiny and weighed only 480 kilos – not including the over 1 ton bomb it carried. By American reckoning, the kamikazes were not very efficient: it is estimated that three out of four suicide planes were destroyed before reaching their target, and only one out of 33 managed to sink a ship. Still, they spread terror on the eastern front of the War. “Estimates are that the kamikazes destroyed more than 30 ships and killed 5,000 Americans in a single battle,” says American historian Jon Guttman, editor of the specialized American magazine Military History (“Military History”).
dive into it
At the bookshop:
Kamikazes
AJ Barker, Renes, 1975
Kamikaze: Japan’s Suicide Gods
Albert Axell and Hideaki Kase, Pearson Longman Publishing, 2002
On the Internet:
https://www.tcr.org/kamikaze.html
1. The kamikaze plane was basically a pilotable bomb. So much so that it was carried by a bomber and had no landing gear. The mini-aircraft was released in the vicinity of the ship to be attacked, but as the bombers were heavy and slow, the planes became an easy target for enemy fighters.
2. The suicide pilot was traveling inside the bomber. When the aircraft reached the vicinity of the target, it descended through the bomb bay and accommodated itself in the kamikaze plane. Then, it detached itself and started a gliding flight for about 80 kilometers, at 470 km/h
3. About 5 kilometers away from the target, the pilot of the suicide plane fired the three rocket engines of the aircraft, powered by gunpowder, and began its final dive towards the ship. At that time, its speed exceeded 960 km/h, almost 300 km/h faster than the American fighters tasked with intercepting it.
4. When diving, the pilot tried to hit the enemy ship at the straightest possible angle, to make the defensive artillery action more difficult. Suicide planes did not cause even greater destruction because they were commanded by inexperienced aviators, who did not hit the most vulnerable points of the targets.
5. In the suicide missions, kamikaze pilots also used conventional planes. Equipped with loads of explosives and extra fuel tanks to ensure destruction on impact, these aircraft could inflict damage severe enough to put attacked ships out of commission, even if they failed to sink them.
6. To make the kamikaze attacks more difficult, the Americans reinforced their anti-aircraft artillery, increased the armor of the ships and adopted defensive maneuvers, such as avoiding concentrations of boats. From December 1944, radar-equipped destroyers were deployed within 100 kilometers of the main fleets. They gave an early warning to guide the fighters that returned the attack
Read too:
– Why did kamikazes wear helmets?
– How did the suicide bombers come about?
– Who were the ninjas?