However, later in the war, the Japanese started using suicide attack tactics that involved a Japanese "volunteer" who was forced to give up their life and hope to take American lives at the same time. This became widely known as the Kamikaze.
The effects of the Kamikaze were insanely big on the American forces:
- 7,465 Kamikazes flew planes to their deaths
- 120 entire American ships were sunk, with countless more damaged
- 3,048 allied live were taken
- 6,025 were wounded
The kamikaze pilots chose to rather die than fail their leaders, and they took any chance they had to inflict maximum damage. They would target vulnerable areas of the ship, such as planes that were parked together, or the offices where the main controls were.
One sailor recalled seeing a plane crash into a pile of wounded people that the soldiers had gathered. The members on the ship had gathered together a group of wounded people who needed medical help, and a plane flew straight into the pile of bodies, instantly killing multiple people and injuring many more.
Overall, the kamikazes were a very determined part of the Japanese forces. They struck fear into the minds of American sailors who had never seen something like this act of suicide bombing/crashing, and they did an incredible amount of damage to American forces in the water.
3 comments:
Those who volunteered to be kamikaze pilots were incredibly brave and loyal to their country. They succeeded in seriously injuring their enemy. But it is sad to consider the number of kamikaze pilots that may have not wanted to fly to their deaths; instead, they were forced to join by their officers or pressured by their peers.
Interesting. I don't know if it was all bravery, rather cultural persuasion or insanity that would motivate an individual to do such a thing
It would really take a lot of guts to be able to take an action like this. I can't even imagine everything that was put into these pilots head to be able to do such a thing
Post a Comment