Japanese kamikazes. Seven Lives for the Emperor

The creator of kamikaze squads, commander of the first air fleet, Vice Admiral Onishi Takijiro, stated: “If a pilot, seeing an enemy plane or ship, strains all his will and strength, turns the plane into a part of himself, this is the most perfect weapon. Can there be greater glory for a warrior than to give his life for the emperor and for the country?

However, the Japanese command did not come to such a decision out of a good life. By October 1944, Japan's losses in aircraft, and most importantly, in experienced pilots, were catastrophic. The creation of kamikaze detachments cannot be called anything other than a gesture of despair and faith in a miracle that can, if not reverse, then at least level out the balance of forces in the Pacific Ocean. The father of the kamikaze and the corps commander, Vice Admiral Onishi and the commander of the combined fleet, Admiral Toyoda, were well aware that the war was already lost. By creating a corps of suicide pilots, they hoped that the damage from kamikaze attacks inflicted on the American fleet would allow Japan to avoid unconditional surrender and make peace on relatively acceptable terms.

The only problem the Japanese command had was with recruiting pilots to perform suicidal missions. German Vice Admiral Helmut Geye once wrote: “It is possible that among our people there are a number of people who will not only declare their readiness to voluntarily go to death, but will also find enough mental strength to actually do it. But I have always believed and still believe that such feats cannot be performed by representatives of the white race. It happens, of course, that thousands of brave people in the heat of battle act without sparing their lives; this, undoubtedly, often happened in the armies of all countries of the world. But for this or that person to voluntarily condemn himself to certain death in advance, such a form of combat use of people is unlikely to become generally accepted among our peoples. The European simply does not have that religious fanaticism that would justify such exploits; the European lacks contempt for death and, consequently, for his own life...”

For Japanese warriors, raised in the spirit of bushido, the main priority was to carry out orders, even at the cost of their own lives. The only thing that distinguished kamikazes from ordinary Japanese soldiers was the almost complete lack of chance of surviving the mission.

The Japanese expression "kamikaze" translates to "divine wind" - a Shinto term for a storm that brings benefit or is an auspicious omen. This word was used to name a hurricane that twice, in 1274 and 1281, defeated the fleet of the Mongol conquerors off the coast of Japan. According to Japanese beliefs, the hurricane was sent by the thunder god Raijin and the wind god Fujin. Actually, thanks to Shintoism, a single Japanese nation was formed; this religion is the basis of Japanese national psychology. According to it, the Mikado (emperor) is a descendant of the spirits of heaven, and every Japanese is a descendant of less significant spirits. Therefore, for the Japanese, the emperor, thanks to his divine origin, is related to the entire people, acts as the head of the nation-family and as the main priest of Shintoism. And for every Japanese it was considered important to be loyal first of all to the emperor.

Onishi Takijiro.

Zen Buddhism also had an undoubted influence on the character of the Japanese. Zen became the main religion of the samurai, who found in its meditation a way to fully reveal their inner capabilities.

Confucianism also became widespread in Japan; the principles of humility and unconditional submission to authority and filial piety found fertile ground in Japanese society.

Shintoism, Buddhism and Confucianism were the basis on which the entire complex of moral and ethical standards that made up the samurai code of Bushido was formed. Confucianism provided the moral and ethical basis for bushido, Buddhism brought indifference to death, and Shintoism shaped the Japanese as a nation.

A samurai must have a complete desire for death. He had no right to be afraid of her, to dream that he would live forever. All thoughts of a warrior, according to bushido, should be aimed at rushing into the midst of enemies and dying with a smile.

In accordance with traditions, kamikazes developed their own special farewell ritual and special paraphernalia. Kamikazes wore the same uniform as regular pilots. However, each of her seven buttons had three cherry blossom petals stamped on them. At Onishi's suggestion, white bandages on the forehead - hachimaki - became a distinctive part of kamikaze equipment. They often depicted the red hinomaru sun disk, as well as black hieroglyphs with patriotic and sometimes mystical sayings. The most common inscription was “Seven Lives for the Emperor.”

Another tradition was a cup of sake immediately before the start. Right on the airfield, they covered the table with a white tablecloth - according to Japanese beliefs, this is a symbol of death. They filled cups with drink and offered them to each of the pilots lined up in a line as they set off for the flight. Kamikaze accepted the cup with both hands, bowed low and took a sip.

A tradition was established according to which pilots departing on their last flight were given a bento - a box of food. It contained eight small rice balls called makizushi. Such boxes were originally given to pilots going on a long flight. But already in the Philippines they began to supply kamikazes with them. Firstly, because their last flight could be long and they needed to maintain their strength. Secondly, for the pilot, who knew that he would not return from the flight, the box of food served as psychological support.

All suicide bombers left nail clippings and strands of their hair in special small unpainted wooden boxes to send to their relatives, as each Japanese soldier did.

Kamikaze pilots drink sake before takeoff.

Almost simultaneously with naval aviation, the first detachment of army kamikaze pilots was created. Six army special attack units were formed at once. Since there was no shortage of volunteers, and in the opinion of the authorities, there could be no refuseniks, the pilots were transferred to army kamikazes without their consent. November 5 is considered the day of official participation in military operations of army groups of suicide pilots, all in the same Leyte Gulf.

However, not all Japanese pilots shared this tactic; there were exceptions. On November 11, one of the American destroyers rescued a Japanese kamikaze pilot. The pilot was part of Admiral Fukudome's Second Air Fleet, which was transferred from Formosa on October 22 to participate in Operation Se-Go. He explained that upon arrival in the Philippines, there was no talk of suicide attacks. But on October 25, kamikaze groups began to hastily form in the Second Air Fleet. Already on October 27, the commander of the squadron in which the pilot served announced to his subordinates that their unit was intended to carry out suicide attacks. The pilot himself considered the very idea of such attacks stupid. He had no intention of dying, and the pilot admitted quite sincerely that he had never felt the desire to commit suicide.

How were aerial kamikaze attacks carried out? In the face of growing losses of bomber aviation, the idea was born to attack American ships with fighters alone. The lightweight Zero was not capable of lifting a heavy, powerful bomb or torpedo, but could carry a 250-kilogram bomb. Of course, you couldn’t sink an aircraft carrier with one such bomb, but it was quite possible to put it out of action for a long period. It's enough to damage the flight deck.

Admiral Onishi came to the conclusion that three kamikaze aircraft and two escort fighters constituted a small, and therefore sufficiently mobile and optimally composed group. Escort fighters played an extremely important role. They had to repel attacks from enemy interceptors until the kamikaze planes rushed towards the target.

Due to the danger of detection by radars or fighters from aircraft carriers, kamikaze pilots used two methods of reaching the target - flying at an extremely low altitude of 10-15 meters and at an extremely high altitude - 6-7 kilometers. Both methods required properly qualified pilots and reliable equipment.

However, in the future it was necessary to use any aircraft, including obsolete and training ones, and the kamikaze pilots were recruited by young and inexperienced recruits who simply did not have time to train sufficiently.

Airplane "Yokosuka MXY7 Oka".

On March 21, 1945, an unsuccessful attempt was made for the first time to use the Yokosuka MXY7 Oka manned projectile aircraft by the Thunder Gods detachment. This aircraft was a rocket-powered aircraft designed specifically for kamikaze attacks, and was equipped with a 1,200 kg bomb. During the attack, the Oka projectile was lifted into the air by a Mitsubishi G4M until it was within the kill radius. After undocking, the pilot, in hover mode, had to bring the plane as close to the target as possible, turn on the rocket engines and then ram the intended ship at high speed. Allied forces quickly learned to attack the Oka carrier before it could launch a missile. The first successful use of Oka aircraft occurred on April 12, when a missile aircraft piloted by 22-year-old Lieutenant Dohi Saburo sank the radar patrol destroyer Mannert L. Abele.

A total of 850 projectile aircraft were produced in 1944-1945.

In the waters of Okinawa, suicide pilots inflicted very serious damage on the American fleet. Of the 28 ships sunk by aircraft, 26 were sent to the bottom by kamikazes. Of the 225 ships damaged, 164 were damaged by kamikazes, including 27 aircraft carriers and several battleships and cruisers. Four British aircraft carriers received five hits from kamikaze aircraft. About 90 percent of kamikazes missed their target or were shot down. The Thunder Gods Corps suffered heavy losses. Of the 185 Oka aircraft used for the attacks, 118 were destroyed by the enemy, killing 438 pilots, including 56 “thunder gods” and 372 crew members of the carrier aircraft.

The last ship lost by the United States in the Pacific War was the destroyer USS Callahan. In the Okinawa area on July 29, 1945, using the darkness of the night, an old low-speed training biplane Aichi D2A with a 60-kilogram bomb at 0-41 managed to break through to the Callahan and ram it. The blow hit the captain's bridge. A fire broke out, which led to an explosion of ammunition in the cellar. The crew left the sinking ship. 47 sailors were killed and 73 people were injured.

On August 15, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender in a radio speech. In the evening of the same day, many of the commanders and staff officers of the kamikaze corps set off on their last flight. Vice Admiral Onishi Takijiro committed hara-kiri on the same day.

And the last kamikaze attacks were carried out on Soviet ships. On August 18, a Japanese army twin-engine bomber tried to ram the Taganrog tanker in the Amur Gulf near the Vladivostok oil base, but was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. As follows from the surviving documents, the plane was piloted by Lieutenant Yoshiro Tiohara.

On the same day, the kamikazes achieved their only victory by sinking the minesweeper boat KT-152 in the Shumshu area (Kuril Islands). The former seiner, the fish scout Neptune, was built in 1936 and had a displacement of 62 tons and a crew of 17 sailors. From the impact of the Japanese plane, the minesweeper boat immediately sank to the bottom.

Naito Hatsaro in his book “Gods of Thunder. Kamikaze pilots tell their stories” (Thundergods. The Kamikaze Pilots Tell Their Story. - N.Y., 1989, p. 25.) gives the number of losses of naval and army kamikazes with human accuracy. According to him, 2,525 naval and 1,388 army pilots died in suicide attacks in 1944-1945. Thus, a total of 3,913 kamikaze pilots died, and this number did not include lone kamikazes - those who independently decided to go on a suicidal attack.

According to Japanese statements, 81 ships were sunk and 195 damaged as a result of kamikaze attacks. According to American data, losses amounted to 34 sunk and 288 damaged ships.

But in addition to material losses from massive attacks by suicide pilots, the allies received psychological shock. It was so serious that the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester Nimitz, suggested keeping information about the kamikaze attacks secret. US military censors have placed strict restrictions on the dissemination of reports of suicide pilot attacks. The British allies also did not talk about kamikazes until the end of the war.

Sailors extinguish a fire on the aircraft carrier USS Hancock after a kamikaze attack.

Nevertheless, kamikaze attacks fascinated many. Americans have always been amazed by the fighting spirit demonstrated by suicide pilots. The kamikaze spirit, originating in the depths of Japanese history, illustrated in practice the concept of the power of spirit over matter. “There was a kind of hypnotic admiration in this philosophy alien to the West,” recalled Vice Admiral Brown. “We watched in fascination every diving kamikaze - more like an audience at a performance, and not potential victims who were going to be killed. For a while we forgot about ourselves and thought only about the person who was on the plane.”

However, it is worth noting that the first case of an aircraft ramming an enemy ship occurred on August 19, 1937, during the so-called Shanghai Incident. And it was produced by the Chinese pilot Shen Changhai. Subsequently, 15 more Chinese pilots sacrificed their lives by crashing planes into Japanese ships off the Chinese coast. They sank seven small enemy ships.

Apparently, the Japanese appreciated the heroism of the enemy.

It should be noted that in desperate situations, in the heat of battle, fire rams were carried out by pilots from many countries. But no one except the Japanese relied on suicide attacks.

The former Prime Minister of Japan, Admiral Suzkuki Kantarosam, who more than once looked death in the eye, assessed kamikazes and their tactics this way: “The spirit and exploits of kamikaze pilots certainly evoke deep admiration. But these tactics, considered from a strategic point of view, are defeatist. A responsible commander would never resort to such emergency measures. Kamikaze attacks are a clear indication of our fear of inevitable defeat when there were no other options to change the course of the war. The air operations that we began to carry out in the Philippines left no possibility of survival. After the death of experienced pilots, less experienced pilots and, in the end, those who had no training at all, had to be thrown into suicide attacks.”

"You fall down too quickly, but you manage to understand
All these days, all your short life, you got used to dying.
Guardian of the Empire
At the distant junction of 2 worlds
Guardian of the Empire
Sentry invisible posts
Guardian of the Empire in Darkness and Fire
Year after year in battles in the Holy War" (Aria. "Guardian of the Empire")

It’s hard to disagree with this, but the above quote from the greatest Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, author of such works as “The Golden Temple”, “Patriotism”, etc., after all, very accurately fits the image of kamikaze pilots. “Divine wind” is how this term is translated from Japanese. Last October marked 70 years since the first formation of military units of suicide pilots.

By that time, Japan was already hopelessly losing the war. The occupation of the Japanese islands by the Americans was getting closer every day, less than a year remained until the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima (08/06) and Nagasaki (08/09), allegedly avenging Pearl Harbor, and today blaming Russia for it; they say that the USSR was the first to test nuclear weapons in order to use them on the Japanese. There is not a single documentary evidence of this and there never will be; even if they appear, they will be akin to freshly printed green candy wrappers that need to be burned as slander without any extra thought or hesitation. In similar retaliation, I will be happy to rewrite the course of the Battle of Midway in the necessary revisionist context, which became the turning point of the war in the Pacific theater of operations, or simply portray the Americans as the main aggressor and instigator of World War II; I do not hesitate to call them the aggressors of the war in the Pacific, which is more than fair. For there should never be an excuse for what, unlike the Japanese, the Pindos did, seizing not only territories controlled by Japan, but also turning the country into their own private springboard for an attack on the USSR.

The kamikaze story began at the end of October 1944. By that time, the Japanese still held the Philippines, but every day the Japanese strength was dwindling. The Japanese fleet by that time had completely lost its supremacy at sea. On July 15, 1944, US troops captured the Japanese army base on the island of Saipan. As a result of this, US long-range bomber aircraft had the opportunity to strike directly at Japanese territory. After the fall of Saipan, Japanese commanders assumed that the Americans' next goal would be to capture the Philippines, due to its strategic location between Japan and its captured oil sources in Southeast Asia.

It immediately becomes obvious that one of the reasons for Japan's defeat in World War II was oil. Even then, the Americans did not hide the fact that complete control over oil resources is the key to success in the struggle for world domination and Japan’s resource famine was just an overture to the big cold diplomatic game, as a result of which the USSR would be destroyed, which is what happened in 1991. Both Japan and Russia, as the successor to the Soviet Union, and even Korea became victims of American military and diplomatic aggression. It is this tragedy that today should unite Russia not only with China, with which we are now building good neighborly partnerships, but also with Japan and Korea, which have been subjected to American fanaticism. After all, if the same Japan comes out in support of the peaceful reunification of Korea, then it may in the future reorient itself towards Beijing and Moscow, and this will already isolate the United States in the North Pacific and Russia will intercept the strategic initiative in the Pacific space; in other words, “pacifization” instead of “balkanization”. If Hawaii also declares its independence and secedes from the United States, then this will be the Pacific collapse of America, which they will try in every possible way to prevent.

On October 17, 1944, the American occupiers began the Battle of Leyte Gulf by attacking Suluan Island, where a Japanese military base was located. Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi decided on the need to form squads of suicide pilots. At the briefing, he said: “I don’t think there is any other way to accomplish the task before us except to bring down a Zero armed with a 250-kilogram bomb on an American aircraft carrier. If a pilot, seeing an enemy aircraft or ship, exerts all his will and strength, will turn the plane into a part of itself - this is the most perfect weapon. And can there be greater glory for a warrior than to give his life for the emperor and for the country? "

Takijiro Onishi, father of the kamikaze

In addition to resources, the Japanese also experienced a personnel shortage. Aircraft losses were no less catastrophic and often irreplaceable. Japan was significantly inferior to the Americans in the air. One way or another, the formation of air death squads was essentially a gesture of desperation, a hope, if not to stop the American advance, then at least to significantly slow down their advance. Vice Admiral Onishi and the commander of the combined fleet, Admiral Toyoda, knowing full well that the war had already been lost, in creating a corps of suicide pilots, the calculation was made that the damage from kamikaze attacks inflicted on the American fleet would allow Japan to avoid unconditional surrender and make peace at a relatively acceptable conditions.

German Vice Admiral Helmut Geye once wrote: “It is possible that among our people there are a number of people who will not only declare their readiness to voluntarily go to death, but will also find enough mental strength to actually do it. But I have always believed and still believe that such feats cannot be performed by representatives of the white race. It happens, of course, that thousands of brave people in the heat of battle act without sparing their lives; this, undoubtedly, often happened in the armies of all countries of the world. But for this or that person to voluntarily condemn himself to certain death in advance, such a form of combat use of people is unlikely to become generally accepted among our peoples. The European simply does not have that religious fanaticism that would justify such feats; the European lacks contempt for death and, consequently, for his own life...”

The term "kamikaze" is directly related to the national religion of the Japanese - Shinto (Japanese: "way of the gods"), because the Japanese, as you know, are pagans. This word was used to name a hurricane that twice, in 1274 and 1281, defeated the fleet of the Mongol conquerors off the coast of Japan. According to Japanese beliefs, the hurricane was sent by the thunder god Raijin and the wind god Fujin. Actually, thanks to Shintoism, a single Japanese nation was formed; this religion is the basis of Japanese national psychology. According to it, the Mikado (emperor) is a descendant of the spirits of heaven, and every Japanese is a descendant of less significant spirits. Therefore, for the Japanese, the emperor, thanks to his divine origin, is related to the entire people, acts as the head of the nation-family and as the main priest of Shintoism. And for every Japanese it was considered important to be loyal first of all to the emperor.

The Japanese were particularly influenced by movements such as Zen Buddhism and Confucianism. Zen became the main religion of the samurai, who found in its meditation a way to fully discover their inner capabilities; the principles of humility and unconditional submission to the authority of filial piety, proclaimed by Confucianism, found fertile ground in Japanese society.

Samurai traditions said that life is not eternal, and a warrior had to die with a smile, rushing without fear into a crowd of enemies, which was embodied in the spirit of kamikaze. Suicide pilots also had their own traditions. They wore the same uniform as regular pilots, the only difference was that each of the 7 buttons had 3 sakura petals stamped on them. An integral part was the symbolic hachimaki armband (the same one was sometimes worn by career pilots), on which either the hinomaru sun disk was depicted, or some mystical slogan was embossed on it. The most widespread slogan was: “7 lives for the emperor.”

Another tradition is to take a sip of sake before takeoff. If you watched Pearl Harbor, you probably noticed that other pilots followed the same principle. Right on the airfield, they covered the table with a white tablecloth - according to Japanese (and generally East Asian) beliefs, this is a symbol of death. They filled cups with drink and offered them to each of the pilots lined up in a line as they set off for the flight. Kamikaze accepted the cup with both hands, bowed low and took a sip.

In addition to the farewell sip of sake, the suicide pilot was given boxes of food (bento) and 8 rice balls (makizushi). Such boxes were originally given to pilots going on a long flight. But already in the Philippines they began to supply kamikazes with them. Firstly, because their last flight could be long and they needed to maintain their strength. Secondly, for the pilot, who knew that he would not return from the flight, the box of food served as psychological support.

All suicide bombers left nail clippings and strands of their hair in special small unpainted wooden boxes to send to their relatives, as each Japanese soldier did.

Are you familiar with the name Tome Torihama? She went down in history as “mother” or “aunt kamikaze”. She worked in a diner where kamikazes came in a few minutes before takeoff. Torihama-san's hospitality was so widespread that the pilots began to call her mom ( Tokko: but haha) or aunt ( Tokko: oba-san). From 1929 until the end of her life, she lived in the village of Tiran (Ciran; not to be confused with the capital of Albania!); currently it is the city of Minamikyushu. When the American occupiers entered Chiran, she was at first shocked by the lack of manners (I will add that all current and then Americans have this in their blood), but then she changed her anger to mercy and began to treat them the same way as with kamikazes, and those in turn, the suicide pilots reciprocated.

Tome Torihama surrounded by kamikazes

Later, she will make efforts to preserve the memory of the country's heroes. In 1955, Tome raised money to make a copy of the statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, which was erected in honor of the victims in a small temple near the kamikaze museum in Tirana.

Goddess Kannon statue in Wakayama

Let me add that a well-known Japanese company Canon, to whom we owe the appearance of printers and printing devices, is named after this goddess. Goddesses of mercy.

On October 25, 1944, the first massive kamikaze attack against enemy aircraft carriers was carried out in Leyte Gulf. Having lost 17 aircraft, the Japanese managed to destroy one and damage six enemy aircraft carriers. It was an undoubted success for Onishi Takijiro's innovative tactics, especially considering that the previous day Admiral Fukudome Shigeru's Second Air Fleet had lost 150 aircraft without achieving any success at all. The first Zero hit the stern of the USS Senti, killing 16 people in the explosion and causing a fire. A few minutes later, the aircraft carrier Suwanee was also disabled. Fires caused by a kamikaze hitting the deck of the escort aircraft carrier Saint-Lo soon caused the detonation of the arsenal, as a result of which the ship was torn apart. 114 crew members were killed. In total, as a result of this attack, the Japanese sank one and disabled six aircraft carriers, losing 17 aircraft.

In the face of growing losses of bomber aviation, the idea was born to attack American ships with fighters alone. The lightweight Zero was not capable of lifting a heavy, powerful bomb or torpedo, but could carry a 250-kilogram bomb. Of course, you couldn’t sink an aircraft carrier with one such bomb, but it was quite possible to put it out of action for a long period. It's enough to damage the flight deck.

Admiral Onishi came to the conclusion that 3 kamikaze aircraft and 2 escort fighters constituted a small, and therefore quite mobile and optimally composed group. Escort fighters played an extremely important role. They had to repel attacks from enemy interceptors until the kamikaze planes rushed towards the target.

Due to the danger of detection by radars or fighters from aircraft carriers, kamikaze pilots used 2 methods of reaching the target - flying at an extremely low altitude of 10-15 meters and at an extremely high altitude - 6-7 kilometers. Both methods required properly qualified pilots and reliable equipment.

Initial success led to immediate expansion of the program. Over the next few months, more than 2,000 aircraft carried out suicide attacks. New types of weapons were also developed, including the Yokosuka MXY7 Oka manned cruise bombs, manned Kaiten torpedoes, and small speedboats packed with explosives.

On October 29, kamikaze planes damaged the aircraft carriers Franklin (33 aircraft were destroyed on board the ship, 56 sailors were killed) and Bello Wood (92 killed, 44 wounded). On November 1, the destroyer Abner Reed was sunk, and 2 more destroyers were disabled. On November 5, the aircraft carrier Lexington was damaged (41 people were killed, 126 were wounded). On November 25, 4 more aircraft carriers were damaged.

On November 26, kamikazes attacked transports and covering ships in Leyte Gulf. The destroyer "Cooper" was sunk, the battleships "Colorado", "Maryland", the cruiser "St. Louis" and 4 more destroyers were damaged. In December, the destroyers Mahan, Ward, Lamson and 6 transports were sunk, and several dozen ships were damaged. On January 3, 1945, a kamikaze hit on the aircraft carrier Ommany Bay caused a fire; soon, as a result of the detonation of ammunition, the ship exploded and sank, taking 95 sailors with it. On January 6, the battleships New Mexico and the California, which was revived after Pearl Harbor, were damaged.

In total, as a result of kamikaze actions in the Battle of the Philippines, the Americans lost 2 aircraft carriers, 6 destroyers and 11 transports; 22 aircraft carriers, 5 battleships, 10 cruisers and 23 destroyers were damaged.

Yokosuka MXY7 Oka

But the greatest damage was caused by kamikazes in the battles for Okinawa. Of the 28 ships sunk by aircraft, 26 were sent to the bottom by kamikazes. Of the 225 ships damaged, 164 were damaged by kamikazes, including 27 aircraft carriers and several battleships and cruisers. 4 British aircraft carriers received 5 hits from kamikaze aircraft. A total of 1,465 aircraft took part in the attacks.
On April 3, the aircraft carrier Wake Island was disabled. On April 6, along with its entire crew (94 people), the destroyer Bush was destroyed, into which 4 aircraft crashed. The destroyer Calhoun was also sunk. On April 7, the aircraft carrier Hancock was damaged, 20 aircraft were destroyed, 72 people were killed and 82 were wounded.

Aircraft carrier Hancock after a kamikaze attack

Before April 16, another destroyer was sunk, 3 aircraft carriers, a battleship and 9 destroyers were disabled. On May 4, the aircraft carrier Sangamon with 21 aircraft on board completely burned down. On May 11, two kamikaze hits caused a fire on the aircraft carrier Bunker Hill, in which 80 aircraft were destroyed, 391 people were killed and 264 were injured.

Fire on the USS Bunker Hill

Kiyoshi Ogawa, the kamikaze who rammed Bunker Hill

By the end of the Battle of Okinawa, the American fleet had lost 26 ships, 225 were damaged, including 27 aircraft carriers.

The Thunder Gods Corps suffered heavy losses. Of the 185 Oka aircraft used for the attacks, 118 were destroyed by the enemy, killing 438 pilots, including 56 “thunder gods” and 372 crew members of the carrier aircraft. The last ship lost by the United States in the Pacific War was the destroyer USS Callahan. In the Okinawa area on July 29, 1945, using the darkness of the night, an old low-speed training biplane Aichi D2A with a 60-kilogram bomb at 0-41 managed to break through to the Callahan and ram it. The blow hit the captain's bridge. A fire broke out, which led to an explosion of ammunition in the cellar. The crew left the sinking ship. 47 sailors were killed and 73 people were injured.

By the end of World War II, Japanese naval aviation had trained 2,525 kamikaze pilots, and the army provided another 1,387. According to Japanese statements, 81 ships were sunk and 195 damaged as a result of kamikaze attacks. According to American data, losses amounted to 34 sunk and 288 damaged ships. In addition, the psychological effect on American sailors was also of great importance.

Japanese aviation never had problems with a shortage of kamikaze pilots; on the contrary, there were three times more volunteers than aircraft. The bulk of the kamikazes were twenty-year-old university students; the reasons for joining suicide squads ranged from patriotism to the desire to glorify their family. And yet, the underlying reasons for this phenomenon lie in the culture of Japan itself, in the traditions of Bushido and medieval samurai. The special attitude of the Japanese towards death also plays a huge role in this phenomenon. To die honorably for one's country and for the Emperor was the highest goal for many young Japanese of that time. Kamikazes were extolled as heroes, they were prayed for in temples as saints, and their families immediately became the most respected people in their city.

Famous kamikazes

Matome Ugaki is a vice admiral and commander of the 5th Air Fleet of the Japanese Navy. Made a combat mission to the Okinawa area on a kamikaze mission on August 15, 1945, as part of a group of 7 aircraft belonging to the 701st Air Group. Died

Ugaki Matome

Seki, Yukio - lieutenant, graduate of the Naval Academy. Without sharing the command’s views on kamikaze tactics, he obeyed the order and led the first special strike force. He flew a combat mission from Mabalacat Air Base to Leyte Gulf on a kamikaze mission on October 25, 1944, leading a group of 5 aircraft belonging to the 201st Air Corps. The aircraft carrier Saint Lo was destroyed by a ram. Died The aircraft carrier Kalinin Bay was disabled by other members of the group, and 2 more were damaged. The first successful kamikaze attack.

Yukio Seki

It is interesting that the kamikazes sang the famous song “Umi Yukaba” before taking off.

Original:

海行かば (Umi yukaba)
水漬く屍 (Mizuku kabane)
山行かば (Yama yukaba)
草生す屍 (Kusa musu kabane)
大君の (O: kimi no)
辺にこそ死なめ (He ni koso siname)
かへり見はせじ (Kaerimi wa sedzi)

or option:

長閑には死なじ (Nodo ni wa sinadzi)

Translation:

If we leave by sea,
Let the sea swallow us up
If we leave the mountain,
Let the grass cover us.
O great sovereign,
We will die at your feet
Let's not look back.

The shock of the Anglo-Saxons was so serious that the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester Nimitz, proposed keeping information about the kamikaze attacks secret. US military censors have placed strict restrictions on the dissemination of reports of suicide pilot attacks. The British allies also did not talk about kamikazes until the end of the war.

It should be noted that in desperate situations, in the heat of battle, fire rams were carried out by pilots from many countries. But no one except the Japanese relied on suicide attacks.

Kantaro Suzuki, Prime Minister of Japan during the war. Replaced Hiroshi Oshima in this post

The former Prime Minister of Japan, Admiral Kantaro Suzuki himself, who more than once looked death in the eye, assessed kamikazes and their tactics this way: “The spirit and exploits of kamikaze pilots certainly evoke deep admiration. But these tactics, considered from a strategic point of view, are defeatist. A responsible commander would never resort to such emergency measures. Kamikaze attacks are a clear indication of our fear of inevitable defeat when there were no other options to change the course of the war. The air operations that we began to carry out in the Philippines left no possibility of survival. After the death of experienced pilots, less experienced pilots and, in the end, those who had no training at all, had to be thrown into suicide attacks.”

Memory

In the “civilized” Western world, primarily in the USA and Britain, kamikazes are thrown with mud in every possible way. The Americans put them on a par with the perpetrators of the September 11 terrorists, and this has long been no secret to anyone. This is further proof that the United States is a soulless and sick society, as Evgeniy Viktorovich Novikov rightly noted, in every possible way denigrating the memory of those who yesterday contributed to the liberation of the planet from American capitalist globalism. In Japan, thanks to the efforts of that same “kamikaze mother” Tome Torihama, a museum was opened, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

Tirana Kamikaze Museum, Minamikyushu. Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan

The museum displays photographs, personal items and the last letters of 1,036 Army pilots, including an old school piano on which two pilots played "Moonlight Sonata" the day before departure, as well as 4 aircraft models of which were used in kamikaze attacks: the Nakajima Ki-43 " Hayabusa", Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien", Nakajima Ki-84 "Hayate" and the heavily damaged and rusted Mitsubishi A6M "Zero", raised from the bottom of the sea in 1980. In addition, the museum shows several short videos compiled from wartime photographs and videos, as well as a 30-minute film dedicated to the last letters of the pilots.

Next to the museum is a Buddhist temple dedicated to the goddess of mercy Kannon. There is a smaller copy of the statue of Yumetigai Kannon (Dream-Changing Kannon) installed at Horyu-ji Temple in Nara. Donations for its installation were collected by “kamikaze mother” Tome Torihama, the owner of a diner in Tirana that served military pilots. Inside the replica is a scroll with the names of the deceased pilots. Along the road leading to the museum there are stone toro lanterns with stylized images of kamikazes carved on them.

The materials displayed in the museum present the fallen pilots in a very positive light, portraying them as young brave men who voluntarily sacrificed themselves out of love for their homeland, but this only applies to army pilots: there are very few references to naval aviation pilots, of whom there were more kamikazes. Additionally, the museum only counts those killed in battles near Okinawa, while several hundred army kamikazes died in the Philippines and elsewhere.

It is interesting that the first director was the “failed kamikaze” Tadamasa Itatsu, who survived due to the fact that all the missions in which he took or was supposed to take part ended unsuccessfully.

At the end of my story, I want to ask one question: so, are kamikazes the same kind of war criminals who need to be trashed and judged? Nothing of the kind: kamikaze is an example of the heroism of the emperor’s warriors, the Yamato warriors, the warriors of their country. With their mortal exploits, they proved that their conscience and soul were pure and blameless, unlike those who bombed them in early August 1945.

Glory to you, Heroes of Yamato! Death to the occupiers!

Mini gallery

Attack of the USS Columbia

A military secret. When will the collapse of the American Empire begin?(the beginning of the story about kamikaze from the 47th minute):

Aria. Empire Guard:

The popularized and highly distorted image of the Japanese kamikaze that has formed in the minds of Europeans has little in common with who they really were. We imagine the kamikaze as a fanatical and desperate warrior, with a red bandage around his head, a man with an angry look at the controls of an old plane, rushing towards the goal shouting “banzai!” Japanese warriors since the time of the samurai have viewed death literally as a part of life.

They got used to the fact of death and were not afraid of its approach.

Educated and experienced pilots flatly refused to join kamikaze squads, citing the fact that they simply had to stay alive in order to train new fighters who were destined to become suicide bombers.

Thus, the more young people sacrificed themselves, the younger were the recruits who took their places. Many were practically teenagers, not even 17 years old, who had the chance to prove their loyalty to the empire and prove themselves as “real men.”

Kamikazes were recruited from poorly educated young men, the second or third boys in families. This selection was due to the fact that the first (that is, eldest) boy in the family usually became the heir to the fortune and was therefore not included in the military sample.

Kamikaze pilots received a form to fill out and took five oaths:

The soldier is obliged to fulfill his obligations.
A soldier is obliged to observe the rules of decency in his life.
The soldier is obliged to highly respect the heroism of the military forces.
A soldier must be a highly moral person.
A soldier is obliged to live a simple life.

But kamikazes were not only suicide bombers in the air; they also operated underwater.

The idea of creating suicide torpedoes was born in the minds of the Japanese military command after a brutal defeat in the Battle of Midway Atoll. While the world-famous drama was unfolding in Europe, a completely different war was going on in the Pacific. In 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy decided to attack Hawaii from the tiny Midway Atoll, the outermost one in the western group of the Hawaiian archipelago. There was a US air base on the atoll, with the destruction of which the Japanese army decided to begin its large-scale offensive.

But the Japanese greatly miscalculated. The Battle of Midway was one of the major failures and the most dramatic episode in that part of the globe. During the attack, the imperial fleet lost four large aircraft carriers and many other ships, but exact data regarding human losses on the part of Japan has not been preserved. However, the Japanese never really considered their soldiers, but even without that, the loss greatly demoralized the military spirit of the fleet.

This defeat marked the beginning of a series of Japanese failures at sea, and the military command was forced to invent alternative ways of waging war. Real patriots should have appeared, brainwashed, with a sparkle in their eyes and not afraid of death. This is how a special experimental unit of underwater kamikazes arose. These suicide bombers were not much different from airplane pilots; their task was identical - by sacrificing themselves, to destroy the enemy.

Underwater kamikazes used kaiten torpedoes to carry out their mission underwater, which translated means “will of heaven.” In essence, the kaiten was a symbiosis of a torpedo and a small submarine. It ran on pure oxygen and was capable of reaching speeds of up to 40 knots, thanks to which it could hit almost any ship of that time. The inside of a torpedo is an engine, a powerful charge and a very compact place for a suicide pilot. Moreover, it was so narrow that even by the standards of small Japanese, there was a catastrophic lack of space. On the other hand, what difference does it make when death is inevitable?

Midway operation

Main caliber turret of the battleship Mutsu

1. Japanese kaiten at Camp Dealy, 1945. 2. USS Mississinewa burning after being hit by a kaiten in Ulithi Harbor, November 20, 1944. 3. Kaitens in dry dock, Kure, October 19, 1945. 4, 5. A submarine sunk by American aircraft during the Okinawa campaign.

Directly in front of the kamikaze's face is a periscope, next to it is a speed shift knob, which essentially regulates the supply of oxygen to the engine. At the top of the torpedo there was another lever responsible for the direction of movement. The instrument panel was stuffed with all sorts of devices - fuel and oxygen consumption, pressure gauge, clock, depth gauge, etc. At the pilot's feet there is a valve for admitting sea water into the ballast tank to stabilize the weight of the torpedo. It was not so easy to control a torpedo, and besides, the training of pilots left much to be desired - schools appeared spontaneously, but just as spontaneously they were destroyed by American bombers. Initially, kaiten were used to attack enemy ships moored in bays. The carrier submarine with kaitens attached to the outside (from four to six pieces) detected enemy ships, built a trajectory (literally turned around relative to the location of the target), and the captain of the submarine gave the last order to the suicide bombers. The suicide bombers entered the kaiten's cabin through a narrow pipe, battened down the hatches and received orders via radio from the submarine captain. The kamikaze pilots were completely blind, they did not see where they were going, because the periscope could be used for no more than three seconds, since this led to the risk of detection of the torpedo by the enemy.

At first, kaitens terrified the American fleet, but then the imperfect technology began to malfunction. Many suicide bombers did not swim to the target and suffocated from lack of oxygen, after which the torpedo simply sank. A little later, the Japanese improved the torpedo by equipping it with a timer, leaving no chance for either the kamikaze or the enemy. But at the very beginning, kaiten claimed to be humane. The torpedo had an ejection system, but it did not work in the most efficient way, or rather, it did not work at all.

At high speed, no kamikaze could eject safely, so this was abandoned in later models. Very frequent raids of the submarine with kaitens led to the devices rusting and breaking down, since the torpedo body was made of steel no more than six millimeters thick. And if the torpedo sank too deeply to the bottom, then the pressure simply flattened the thin hull, and the kamikaze died without due heroism.

It was possible to use kaitens more or less successfully only at the very beginning. Thus, following the results of naval battles, official Japanese propaganda announced 32 sunk American ships, including aircraft carriers, battleships, cargo ships and destroyers. But these figures are considered too exaggerated. By the end of the war, the American navy had significantly increased its combat power, and it was increasingly difficult for kaiten pilots to hit targets. Large combat units in the bays were reliably guarded, and it was very difficult to approach them unnoticed even at a depth of six meters; the kaitens also did not have the opportunity to attack ships scattered on the open sea - they simply could not withstand long swims.

The defeat at Midway pushed the Japanese to take desperate steps in blind revenge against the American fleet. Kaiten torpedoes were a crisis solution for which the imperial army had high hopes, but they did not materialize. Kaitens had to solve the most important task - to destroy enemy ships, and no matter at what cost, but the further they went, the less effective their use in combat operations seemed to be. A ridiculous attempt to irrationally use human resources led to the complete failure of the project. War is over

Japanese Type A boat, Second Lieutenant Sakamaki, at low tide on a reef off the coast of Oahu, December 1941.

Japanese Type C dwarf boats on American-occupied Kiska Island, Aleutian Islands, September 1943.

Japanese landing ship Type 101 (S.B. No. 101 Type) in Kure Harbor after the Japanese surrender. 1945

Damaged by aircraft, the Yamazuki Mari transport and the Type C dwarf submarine are abandoned on the shores of Guadalcanal

Koryu Type D midget boat at Yokosuka Naval Base, September 1945.

In 1961, the Americans raised a boat (Type A), which sank in December 1941 in the Pearl Harbor canal. The boat's hatches are open from the inside; a number of publications report that the boat's mechanic, Sasaki Naoharu, escaped and was captured

These planes were designed for only one flight. A one-way ticket. They were made of birch plywood, equipped with obsolete decommissioned engines and lacking weapons. Their pilots had the lowest level of training, they were just boys after a couple of weeks of training. Such a technique could only have been born in Japan, where a beautiful death redeemed no matter how meaningless and empty a life. Equipment for real heroes.

By 1944, Japanese military equipment and aviation in particular were hopelessly behind their Western counterparts. There was also a shortage of trained pilots, and even more so of fuel and spare parts. In this regard, Japan was forced to seriously limit air operations, which weakened its already not very strong position. In October 1944, American troops attacked the island of Suluan: this was the beginning of the famous Battle of Leyte Gulf near the Philippines. The first air fleet of the Japanese army consisted of only 40 aircraft, unable to provide the navy with any significant support. It was then that Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi, commander of the First Air Fleet, made a largely historic decision.

On October 19, he said that he saw no other way to inflict any noticeable damage on the Allied forces other than by using pilots who were ready to give their lives for their country and bring down their plane, armed with a bomb, on an enemy ship. The preparation of the first kamikazes took about a day: already on October 20, 26 light carrier-based Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters were converted. On October 21, a test flight was made: the flagship of the Australian fleet, the heavy cruiser Australia, was attacked. The kamikaze pilot did not cause too serious damage to the ship, but, nevertheless, part of the crew died (including the captain), and the cruiser could not take part in battles for some time - it was undergoing repairs until January 1945. On October 25, the first successful kamikaze attack in history was carried out (against the American fleet). Having lost 17 aircraft, the Japanese sank one ship and seriously damaged 6 more.

In fact, the cult of a beautiful and honorable death has been known in Japan for centuries. The valiant pilots were ready to give their lives for their homeland. In the vast majority of cases, kamikaze attacks used conventional aircraft, converted to transport a single heavy bomb (most often these were mass-produced Mitsubishi A6M Zeros of various modifications). But “specialized equipment” was also designed for kamikazes, characterized by simplicity and low cost of design, the absence of most instruments and the fragility of materials. This is what we will talk about.

"Zero" became one of the best carrier-based fighters of World War II. It was distinguished by a very high flight range (about 2600 kilometers) and excellent maneuverability. In the first battles of 1941-42. he had no equal, but by the autumn of 1942, the latest “Air Cobras” and other, more advanced enemy aircraft began to appear over the battlefield in increasing numbers. Reisen became obsolete in just six months, and there was no worthy replacement for it. Nevertheless, it was produced until the very end of the war and therefore became the most popular Japanese aircraft. It had more than 15 different modifications and was produced in quantities of more than 11,000 copies.

"Zero" was very light, but at the same time quite fragile, since its skin was made of duralumin, and the pilot's cabin had no armor. The low wing load made it possible to ensure a high stall speed (110 km/h), that is, the ability to make sharp turns and increased maneuverability. In addition, the aircraft was equipped with retractable landing gear, which improved the aerodynamic parameters of the aircraft. Finally, visibility into the cockpit was also excellent. The aircraft had to be equipped with the latest technology: a full set of radio equipment, including a radio compass, although in reality, of course, the equipment of the aircraft did not always correspond to what was planned (for example, in addition to command vehicles, the Zero was not equipped with radio stations). The first modifications were equipped with two 20-mm cannons and two 7.7-mm machine guns, plus mountings for two bombs weighing 30 or 60 kilograms were provided.

The very first combat missions of the Zero turned out to be a brilliant success for the Japanese air fleet. In 1940, they defeated the Chinese air fleet in a demonstration battle on September 13 (according to unverified data, 99 Chinese fighters were shot down versus 2 from the Japanese, although according to historian Jiro Horikoshi, no more than 27 “Chinese” were killed). In 1941 the Zeros maintained their reputation with a string of victories across vast areas from Hawaii to Ceylon.

However, the Japanese mentality worked against Japan. Although incredibly maneuverable and fast, the Zeros were stripped of all armor, and the proud Japanese pilots refused to wear parachutes. This led to constant losses of qualified personnel. In the pre-war years, the Japanese Navy did not develop a system for mass training of pilots - this career was considered deliberately elitist. According to the memoirs of pilot Sakai Saburo, the flight school in Tsuchiura where he studied - the only one where naval aviation fighters were trained - in 1937 received one and a half thousand applications from potential cadets, selected 70 people for training and ten months later graduated 25 pilots. In subsequent years the numbers were slightly higher, but the annual “production” of fighter pilots was about a hundred people. In addition, with the advent of the light American Grumman F6F Hellcat and Chance Vought F4U Corsair, the Zero began to rapidly become obsolete. Maneuverability no longer helped. Grumman F6F Hellcat: