Journals
Monday,Jan 5 2009, 01:45:46 PMThe Mind Of The Kamikaze
Many articles and writings left by the deceased who gave their lives for Japan during the final moments of World War II . the last battle took place at Okinawa. the soldiers represented in our museum are those who died as army Kamizake Pilots. they numbered 1,036 soldiers those Pilots and to exposed the tragic loss of their lives so that we all might better understand the need for everlasting peace and hopefully to ensure such tragedies are never repeated.
The Kamizake operation was done between March 26 to July 19. there are namy air force based in Kyushu area and Taiwan area. the Kamikaze was done from both side. however about half of them, 439 Pilots took off from Chiran airbase because it lies most Southern area in Japan. originally Chiran was a quiet town prospered as a castle town.
Chiran air base was set up on December 1941 as the branch of Tachiarai Military Pilots school and it changed to the military air base for Kamikaze on March 1945. now the many Samorai Houses are left in a corner of Chiran town as the remains of castle town.
The attact on Pearl Harbor happened on December 8 in 1941, December 7, US time. this was the beginning of the war between Japan and the allied Power which initiative was in the United States. we called it the "GREAT EAST WAR" at that time. the aim of the war was to liberate from the great Powers of the wrld. now it called it is the "PACIFIC WAR" in Japan.
after the Pearl Harbor attack, Japanese forces invaded countries in Southeast Asia to obtain much needed atrategic materials such as oil and minerals of which Japan Had virtually none in Japan. it was not so hard to occupy those countries because at that time,they were colonies of the Unoted States, England, France, and Holland and only lightly defended by small numbers of troops.
during the first 6 months, Japanese forces had advantage and advanced close to the northern line of Australia. However the US Forces began counterattacking and the Japanese forces fell back to a defensive position.
3 years after the outbreak of the war ,the Okinawa campaign took place from March 26 to July 19of 1945. The day March 26 was the day when US forces landed in Kerama Archipelago , in the west of Okinawa. most Japanese military leaders felt they would lose Okinawa battle. but the Japanese government thought that they must defend Oinawa at all cost because Okinawa was vital to defense of Japan.
They decided to attack the US Forces warships using airplain to crash into ship and aircrafts carrier. these planes and pilots were called "Kamikaze" or "Divine wind". finally, this battle became the material strength of the US Forces and the spiritual strength of Japan.
Japan was very poor in material ability, so Japanese forces had to depend only on spiritual ability. It was the Japanese government's hope that Japanese people would fight to the last soldier and citizen, the US government might grow weary of the war and the Japanese government could negotiate a peace treaty with more favorable condition than unconditional surrender.
there were many airbases for Kamikaze pilots in the Kyushu area and Taiwan area. The Kamikaze flew to Okinawa from both sides. about half the army pilots. 439 pilots. tooks off from Chiran airbase and closed to Okinawa. It was because Chiran airbase was most southern point in Japan. It covered about 80 acres and was about 1.2 times larger than Civil Kagoshima airport in Mizobe town .
the name "Kamikaze" was a name given to a great typhoon that saved Japan. the date was 1281. Under the command of Kublai Khan, the emperor of Monolia, who a guge armada set sail from China to invade and conquer Japan, who at that time was poorly equipped to defend herself. As the enemy approched by sea, the typhoon struck, destroying their ship and soldiers. the Japanese people grew typhoon would come to their rescue it ever Japan faced such a crisis again. The word " Kamikaze" means Divine Wind" in English.
The Kamikaze aircraft carried a 550 pound bomb under the right wings and fuel tank of almost the same weight under the letf wing. The aircraft flew from each airbase to Okinawa. when they attacked, the airplane, the bomb and the pilot became one. when the took off, he was heading to certain death. at the time, the US air-force had command of the air. many kamikaze airplanes were shot down on their way to Okinawa. The didtance between Chiran and Onkinawa was about 600 km. It would take about s and a half hour to reach their target. Soon after the Kamikaze aircraft took off and gathered formation, that infotmation was detected by US Radar in stations and US Fighters rose up to meet them. Several times on the way to Okinawa, US fighters attacked. I do not know with certainly how many Kamikaze pilots crashed into US war ships.
However, based on my analysis, I think the percent of successive attacks was 30 percent at most. according to the US analysis, it was only 10 percent. I think the numbers of Kamikaze who reached Okinawa were more 50 percent. those who reached Okinawa crached into US war ships. In those days many types of aircraft were used as Kamikaze airplane. However, the most common Kamikaze from Chiran air base was the Nakajima Ki 27 which in Japan was called type 97, an obsolete fighter of late 1930.
432 aircrafts took off from Chiran airbase. 172 of them were type Ki27. they were more than 40 percent the Ki 27 was first produced in 1937 and was an excellent airplane in its day. when it was used in 1945, it was 8 years old. We can see the Nakajima Ki 84, which japanese was called type 4 . It was produced in August 1944 and was the newest type in those days. conceptually it was one of the world's most advanced airplanes.
At the beginning of Kamikaze operation, well served aircraft were used as Kamikaze aircraft. Hoever, in the final Months of the war, Japan was very poor in manufacturing capability so, it was very difficult to get parts materials. At Chiran, there were many facilities for maintenance hidden in the woods near the airbase. however, in those final days, it was air attack anter airattack all day in chiran. The US air-forces dropped bombs at random anywhere in the area and many facilities were destroyed. then the aircraft could not be maintained properly. The systematic battle at Okinawa ended on June 23,1945. but Kamakaze attacks continued till July 19, 1945. however, the airbase in chiran ceased the operation on July 11,1945. It was more than one month earlier than all other Kamikaze attack.
A Kamikaze pilot wrote his last words as follows:
"I want to attack with an airraft in perfect condition" he must have taken off with lonesome and sorrowful. he wrote May 1,1945. there are young people they did not hesitate to became a Kamikaze airforce pilot . during that time the men age 14 they were joined the airforce training for 3 years . ( to be continue)
