The Japanese Suicide Attacks of World War 2

Kamikaze!

Kamikaze Pilots being saluted before going to their final attack

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.

USS Texas Know to be the most heavily weaponized anti-aircraft battleship

This suicidal attack was named “Kamikaze” which translates to the divine wind or spirit wind. This attack was mostly used in 1945, the…