The Kamikaze
The battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944 introduced the US Navy and its Allies to one of the most terrifying Japanese tactics "The Kamikaze". Named for the "Divine Wind" the ultimate image of Japanese determination and desperation in the war is that of the Kamikaze pilot, a young man sworn to crash his plane directly into an enemy vessel in order to destroy it, Nearly 4000 Kamikaze aircraft managed to sink 83 and damage 350 Allied ships and kill or injure 15,000 sailors.
Prewar Japanese pilots were extraordinarily capable, possibly the best in the world. The problem was there were so few of them. So when they entered the war in 1941 the Japanese were losing pilots faster than they could be replaced. By 1944, Japanese pilots were going into battle with less than 1/3 of the flight training of the Americans thus they were getting shot down at disproportionate numbers. Also US Navy anti-aircraft defense capabilities increased to the point that a pilot attempting to attack a U.S. ship was more or less committing suicide anyway and not likely to do much damage in the process. Given the sacrificial belief of the Japanese military, the Kamikaze corps was a logical step. If the Jap was going to die anyway, why not take the enemy with him.
Actually, Kamikaze attacks were quite effective. They were the only major development in the war that the US Navy brass had not anticipated during prewar planning. They could have been more devastating than was the case. The Japanese could have resorted to Kamikaze tactics earlier in the war when American AA defenses were not as effective. They could have mounted mass attacks during the Philippine invasion rather than the small attacks that they did muster. Had the war lasted longer and the Allies had invaded the Japanese homeland the effects of Kamikaze would certainly have been worse. The Japanese had 9000 aircraft on the homeland, 3000 were set aside to be used for Kamikaze attacks.
Dirty Little Secrets
*During the invasion of Guam in July 1944 one navy destroyer was assigned to fire on Japanese latrines. The men aboard the destroyer were disappointed at being given so lowly an assignment, but all the other targets were already covered. However, the Japs, thinking that the US Navy wouldn't waste ammunition on latrines stored most of their reserve ammo in what looked like outhouses. Gunners on destroyers wondered if they were using a new high explosive round when they would hit a latrine because of the huge explosion. It wasn't a new 5-inch shell but what was hidden in those outhouses.
American planners could ascertain how many gooks were on an island by counting the number of outhouses. The Japanese never learned to camoflage their outhouses.
