Kamikaze pilots refers to Japanese military pilots who carried out suicide attacks against Allied ships in the final stages of World War II in the Pacific Theater. In fact, these pilots became especially significant from late 1944 to 1945, when Japan faced growing defeat in the Pacific and turned to special attack tactics in hopes of slowing the United States’ advance toward the Japanese home islands.
KAMIKAZE PILOTS – BACKGROUND
Kamikaze pilots appeared during a desperate phase of the Pacific War for Imperial Japan. By 1944, Japan had lost most of their experienced pilots, large numbers of aircraft and much of its offensive naval strength. In fact, the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June of 1944 was especially damaging because Japan lost so many experienced pilots that it became much harder to defend its positions in the Pacific. At the same time, American forces were moving steadily closer to Japan through the Central and Southwest Pacific, using a strategy called ‘island-hopping’.
The term ‘kamikaze’ is usually translated as ‘divine wind.’ It referred to the typhoons that had helped destroy Mongol invasion fleets in the 13th century. During World War II, the formal Japanese term was closer to ‘special attack units,’ but ‘kamikaze’ became the term most widely used outside Japan for these suicide missions.
KAMIKAZE PILOTS – BEGINNINGS
The first organized kamikaze attacks took place on October 25th, 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. Japanese leaders had concluded that ordinary air attacks were no longer producing enough results against heavily defended Allied fleets. They hoped that pilots deliberately crashing airplanes loaded with explosives into ships could inflict more damage than conventional bombing or torpedo attacks.
In fact, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was a turning point in the war because the United States had just returned to the Philippines, which threatened Japan’s sea routes to vital resources in Southeast Asia. Japanese commanders believed they needed extraordinary measures to overcome this challenge. As a result, historians usually point to this as fact that Japan no longer had the strength to wage the kind of naval and air war it had earlier in World War II.
KAMIKAZE PILOTS – WHO THEY WERE
Some of the kamikaze pilots were actually trained pilots with real combat experience. However, many others were very young men whose training had been shortened due to Japan’s lack of men, resources and time. At the beginning of World War II, Japanese pilots often received hundreds of flight hours before combat. However, by 1944, training levels had fallen dramatically. This meant that many later kamikaze pilots were much less prepared than the pilots who had fought at the start of the war.
There has long been a debate over how voluntary these missions really were. Japanese wartime accounts stressed the ideas of volunteering and self-sacrifice. However, later evidence showed that many young pilots faced intense pressure from the military culture of the time and the Japanese code of honor. As a result, it is generally believed that while some of the pilots were willing participants, many others were also likely pressured into carrying out the missions due to a sense of national duty.
KAMIKAZE PILOTS – METHODS
The goal of the kamikaze pilots was to fly their planes, which were loaded with bombs or other explosives, and try to crash directly into American ships. These attacks were especially dangerous against aircraft carriers, destroyers, radar ships, and other vessels operating close to combat zones. The tactic aimed not only to sink ships but also to destroy flight decks, start fires, kill sailors, and weaken Allied naval operations through shock and repeated losses. Essentially, the Japanese were attempting to destroy the morale of American sailors by showing the lengths by which they would fight to.
The kamikaze threat reached its height during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. There, Japan launched very large waves of suicide pilots against the Allied fleet supporting the invasion. The attacks were especially intense because thousands of ships were gathered near the island and could not easily avoid danger. As a result, the kamikaze pilots inflicted serious losses during this campaign, and Okinawa became the clearest example of how destructive the tactic could be when used on a large scale.
Regardless, this did not stop the Allied advance. In fact, it is believed that only a small number of kamikaze missions actually achieved a direct hit. Even when the attacks were deadly, they did not slow the American advances in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
KAMIKAZE PILOTS – IMPACT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Kamikaze pilots caused real destruction and had a significant impact on the war. In fact, by the end of the war, it is estimated that more than 3,800 kamikaze pilots had died, and their attacks had killed more than 7,000 Allied sailors. Furthermore, they sank several dozen ships and damaged many more.
Also, kamikaze pilots were significant because they displayed the reality of the Japanese war effort in the later stages of World War II. More specifically, Japan had reached the point where it was sacrificing planes and pilots in one-way attacks because it could no longer compete on equal terms in training, fuel, production or naval strength. In that sense, the kamikaze missions represented an Imperial Japan that was weakened and struggling to maintain its defenses.
Regardless, the kamikaze pilots of World War II became a symbol of the brutality and desperation of the Pacific Theater of World War II.
