Kamikaze pilots - Japans last weapon

Kamikaze, which means Divine Wind in Japanese, was Japans last attempt to
balance the ever increasing technological and material advantage of the American
forces advancing to Japan. The Kamikaze attack tactic was suggested on October
19, 1944, by vice-Admiral Onishi of the Japanese Navy, when he was assigned to
command the air attacks against the huge American invasion fleet off the Philippines,
and then realized that he had less than 100 operational aircraft for this task. There
was no way to sink or even severely damage the American fleet in any conventional
tactic, so the Admiral needed a force multiplier, a way to get a significantly greater
striking power from a given force.
The solution was obvious. Guided weapons provide dramatically greater accuracy
and lethality than unguided weapons, producing much greater damage per weapon
unit and per sortie. Such weapons already existed and were operational for over a
year then, but not in Japan. The German Air Force successfully used large radio-
guided Fritz-X bombs against battleships and cruisers since September 1943, but
Japan had no such weapon, and therefore Admiral Onishi suggested that volunteer
pilots will guide their bomb-carrying aircraft all the way to an explosive suicide
collision with their American warship targets, acting as a living guidance system,
literally becoming smart bombs.

The new tactic was adopted immediately. Large numbers of pilots, initially qualified
and experienced pilots and later air cadets with minimal training who were asked to
volunteer, were assigned to Special Attack air wings, the official name of the
Kamikaze units. Their goal and motto was One man - one ship.

To increase the Kamikaze pilots chance of successful penetration of the American
Navys dense perimeter defense of fighters and anti-aircraft ships, and reach the
main ships in the center, most desirably the aircraft carriers, the Japanese
concentrated most of the Kamikaze pilots attacks during the battle of Okinawa in ten
large attack waves of mixed Kamikaze and conventional attack aircraft, in an
attempt to saturate the American defenses. These large attack waves, nicknamed
Kikosui (floating Chrysanthemum), were also coordinated with the Japanese naval
and ground operations of the battle of Okinawa, the wars last great battle.

In the first of these Kamikaze attack waves, 355 Kamikaze pilots attacked the
American fleet off Okinawa, together with 341 conventional attack aircraft, and in
coordination with a naval attack which included the super-battleship Yamato. The
result of this massive air strike was six sunk ships and ten severely damaged.

When Japan ran out of ordinary combat aircraft for Kamikaze attacks, slow trainer
aircraft were also used. Another aircraft used was the Okha (cherry blossom),
Japans latest new weapon. The Okha was specifically designed as a Kamikaze
missile. It was a small rocket-powered aircraft with a large 1200kg warhead in the
nose, that was carried by a bomber and dropped 20-30 miles from its target, where
its Kamikaze pilot ignited the rockets and streaked to its target. In its final dive, the
Okha reached a top speed of 576mph, much faster than any other aircraft, but most
Okhas were shot down by American fighters before even being dropped from the
carrying bombers.

A total of about 5000 Kamikaze pilots were launched, mostly in the Battle of
Okinawa, consuming much of the remaining human and material resources of
Japanese air power. The result of their effort was 36 sunk American ships and
landing craft, and 368 damaged. The ferocity of watching wave after wave of
Kamikaze pilots hurtling down through a dense hail of anti-aircraft fire, and the
enormous fiery explosions which followed, terrorized the Americans, but the
Kamikaze campaign failed to achieve its strategic goal of stopping the American
advance, and American air attacks were launched against the Kamikaze air bases in
southern Japan in order to reduce their numbers. Japan lost its last battle despite
the enormous sacrifice of its fanatic warriors, and lost the war.