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THUNDER
GODS AND KAMIKAZES
THE SUICIDE AIR OFFENSIVES OF WORLD WAR
II
 "All right you little gods. You've had the balls to come
this far, now we'll see if you can go all the way! Me, I'm just an ordinary
guy! If you've brought your name cards, you might as well donate them to the
war effort, because your not going to need them! And if you're still virgins,
you better go out and get laid right away!"
Lieutenant-Commander Goro Nonaka |
By Edward
Blanchard
One hot summer afternoon in 1944,
Lieutenant-Commander Tadanao Miki of Japan's Aeronautical Research Laboratory
was called into his commander's office to sit in on a conversation with a
visiting officer. Miki's research section had been struggling with the guidance
problems which plagued the German rocket designs recently transferred to Japan
via submarine. He had already received many useless design recommendations from
well meaning visitors and was quickly tiring of the distractions. On this
particular day, the visitor was Sub-Lieutenant Shioichi Ota, hardly an
encouraging prospect. Miki – who was positive that this man had come to
offer another ill-conceived idea for rocket guidance – sat down to listen.
It was worse than anything he could have imagined. Ota and his superiors had
"eliminated" the guidance problem by placing men on board rocket propelled
bombs. The stunned Lieutenant-Commander quickly pointed out several
shortcomings of such an idea; besides the terrible effect it would have on
morale the short range of the weapons would require that they be carried on
mother ships which themselves would be vulnerable to the enemy's burgeoning
airpower. Miki was indignant that his research team was being implicated in
such a desperate and wasteful plan.
But the decision was already
made. Miki and his team would design an operational flying bomb and
they would begin soon. A year long cycle of increasing desperation had finally
reached the point of no return. Armed forces high command previously resisted
the idea of special attacks because of the dire consequences such
operations would have on discipline. Now they gave in to demands by officers
that something be done to stop the Allies. Grudgingly the formation of the
Thunder Gods Corps was authorized and the way cleared for building of special
sure-hitting attack craft. The first Japanese Kamikaze and Thunder Gods
offensives were soon to become a reality, and for the first time since 1941
Japanese pilots would again begin giving more than they received, but at the
ultimate cost.
The Japanese Kamikaze offensives of late World War Two
have become legendary for their determination and effectiveness. One renowned
victim attributed to the Kamikazes was the American aircraft carrier USS
Franklin. Ironically it was a Japanese dive bomber pilot who successfully
delivered his bombload who actually began the Franklin's saga. It is a
testimony to the devastation wrought by the Kamikazes that virtually all late
war losses are attributed to them.
The First Rumblings The idea for a
kamikaze campaign began not with imperial high command but with lower level
field officers who began reporting acts of spontaneous body crashes by
their pilots and crews. The first officer to officially broach the subject was
Captain Motoharu Okamura. He and his superiors arranged for the first
investigations and reports on the plausibility and designs for premeditated
body-crash attacks. The investigations however, were just convenient methods to
gain more political leverage and they gave the growing number of proponents the
influence they needed. Soon the Thunder Gods program was well underway despite
its relative unpopularity. As the Thunder Gods Corps was officially coming into
existence in October, 1944, Vice-Admiral Takijiro Onishi requested permission
to use bomb-laden fighters in a Kamikaze offensive at his new command in
the Philippines. He received permission with he provision that all participants
be volunteers. The stage was now set for parallel suicide attack programs: the
Thunder Gods and the Kamikazes.
The special attack program was a
divisive issue within Japanese military circles. Many veteran field commanders
thought the idea a huge waste of valuable lives. Certainly they were willing to
sacrifice themselves, but in genuine combat not on one-way missions to certain
death. Lieutenant-Commander Goro Nonaka was openly critical of the rocket bomb
project from the very beginning. He commanded the Betty bombers which were to
act as mother ships for the Thunder God's Ohka rocket planes, and he
anticipated many of the same problems predicted by Tadanao Miki at the research
lab: Namely the short range of the rocket plane and slow speed of the mother
ship. These two factors required Nonaka's Betty bombers to slowly approach
within visual range of an alert American Carrier task force in order to release
the Ohka rocket planes fastened to their fuselages. He saw no way for his
bombers to achieve such missions, and became convinced that the bomber crews
were as doomed as the Ohka pilots. He was to be proven painfully correct.
The Philippines
The
Difference
| There were two basic types of
"special attack" groups. Kamikazes were line pilots who used their own
aircraft, commonly fighters, to crash into enemy shipping. Thunder Gods were
specially trained pilots who used the Ohka, the manned Japanese equivalent to
the German V-1. Once the Ohka's vulnerability became apparent, some Thunder
Gods switched to flying fighter-bombers overloaded with standard ordinance. The
resulting unit was called the Kemmu Squadron, although it remained closely
associated with the Ohka operations. |
Vice-Admiral Onishi arrived at his new Philippine
command in early October, 1944, still determined to use the newly approved
kamikaze tactics against the approaching invasion fleet. His goal was nothing
less than the sinking of all American carriers, which would clear the way for
the main Imperial surface fleet to blast the invading transports into the sea.
Onishi himself ended up announcing the request for volunteers to the first
group of 201st Flying Corps pilots at Mabalacat Air Base. When the pilots and
their officers requested to hear approval for the suicide program from their
own commander – Captain Sakai Yamamoto – Onishi lied to them, saying
that Yamamoto already knew. In reality Captain Yamamoto was hospitalized near
Manila due to an automobile accident and totally unaware of what Onishi was
telling his men. All 23 pilots volunteered.
Within days the first
suicide missions were flown against the Allied fleet at Leyte. The missions had
an immediate effect, causing far more damage to the heavily defended American
ships than traditional air attacks had been able to inflict. An emotional
Admiral Onishi immediately announced the supposed "crushing success" of the new
method and told the combined officer corps of the First and Second Naval
Aviation fleets that the kamikazes would be used to sweep the Allied fleets
from the sea. No further debate or objection would be tolerated.
Meanwhile the first 100 volunteers of the Thunder Gods Corps continued their
training while construction of the first 150 Ohka rocket bombs moved at a
feverish pace. The original Japanese plans were to deploy the Thunder Gods to
the Philippines and Formosa, but American carrier groups and submarines
effectively paralyzed movement south from Japanese ports. The magnitude of the
American effort was driven home when Japan's new super-carrier Shinano
was sunk by the American submarine Archerfish on November 27, 1944.
Crated up in Shinano's holds were the first 50 Ohkas to be completed by
Miki's Aeronautics lab. This loss was severe enough, but when the carrier
Unryu carrying the next 30 Ohkas was sunk en-route to the Philippines a
few weeks later, it became apparent that the Thunder Gods offensive would be
badly delayed.
 |
| The American
aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, damaged and burning on November 25, 1944. Photo
was taken from the fantail of the battleship USS New
Jersey. |
As news of these setbacks spread, discipline of the
Thunder Gods volunteers themselves became more difficult to control. They had
volunteered to kill themselves in the belief that they would be the famous
vanguard of an avenging force. Now the Kamikazes had struck the first blows and
indefinite delays were being declared, causing the men to feel that their lives
were to be squandered. Drinking and insubordination dramatically increased and
men took to sleeping off base without permission. Some officers mercifully
allowed these indiscretions but others felt the need to maintain discipline at
all costs, which in one case triggered a nighttime melee at the Thunder Gods'
home base at Konoike.
As the new year arrived, the Allies continued
their preparations for the Okinawa invasion, which would be the first
large-scale occupation of native Japanese territory. The preparation for this
included massive carrier airstrikes against bases in Southern Japan. It was for
this developing situation which Japanese high command now found itself
ill-prepared.
The First Strike
Enforced Leave
| In mid-January 1945, the men of the
Thunder Gods Corps were encouraged to visit their families. Even
Lieutenant-Commander Nonaka, the flamboyant veteran bomber commander, was
ordered home to visit his family who fortunately lived in the nearby town.
Before he returned to base early the next morning, he walked out into the cold
morning air and suddenly asked his wife to dance. He quietly hummed a Johann
Strauss song as they danced slowly in the shallow morning snow until it was
time for him to leave. |
During the next few weeks the Thunders Gods Corps was
assigned to the newly reorganized Fifth Air Fleet, which was charged with the
defense of Southern Japan including Okinawa. The fleet's new commander was
Admiral Matome Ugaki, a surviving member of Admiral Yamamoto's old staff and
previous commander of Battleship Division One, formerly consisting of the
super-battleships Yamato and Musashi. The Thunder Gods were
merged with the T-attack Corps, made up of Kamikaze pilots flying fighters and
fighter-bombers. Besides conventional aviation – which still accounted for
the majority of combat sorties – a total of 162 Ohkas, 108 T-attack
fighters and several dozen medium bombers were available for the first wave of
special attacks against any American forces which might approach Okinawa.
In late February an American task force moved out toward Iwo Jima, part of
another group of islands far to the east of Okinawa, and in conjunction with
massive B-29 raids on Tokyo, stormed and took the island in a protracted and
bloody fight. By March 1, American aircraft began raiding Okinawa, striking
airfields and depots as part of a systematic destruction of the island's
infrastructure. On March 17, American aircraft carriers were spotted moving
north toward the Japanese mainland and Imperial High Command began mobilizing
the Fifth Air Fleet for the final battle. The Americans struck first however,
rushing in and launching air attacks which ravaged many of the very bases at
which the Thunder Gods and Kamikazes were arming. Not only did American seizure
of the initiative disrupt Fifth Fleet's airstrike preparations, but many of the
fighters held in reserve to fly protective cover for the Thunder Gods were
baited into the air – forced to defend their own airfields. This resulted
in the loss of over half of the escorts originally slated to protect Nonaka's
bomber crews on their Thunder God missions. In return, only 45 Jill and Frances
medium bombers got off the ground and into the American fleet before the
attack.
It took two days for Ugaki's Fifth Air Fleet to sort itself
out and launch the first joint air offensive. Overly optimistic intelligence
evaluations helped to support the decision to launch the ill-advised daytime
attack, which included the amazing declaration that American carriers appeared
to have no air cover! This statement was justified by the optimistic belief
that the medium and light bomber suicide missions of the previous days must
have done tremendous damage to the American carriers. In reality the carriers
and their aircraft had suffered little and were steaming south to support the
coming landing on Okinawa.
At 9:45 A.M. on March 21, Admiral Ugaki
gave the order to launch the first joint Thunder Gods assault, even though they
would be unsupported by any other kamikaze sorties. Lieutenant-Commander Nonaka
bluntly ignored his superior's orders to stand aside and after selecting his
best pilots he joined the Fleet commanders in the traditional farewell ceremony
with the Thunder Gods and bomber crews. The 18 Betty bombers of this first
flight only had 60 fighters to escort them, half of whom aborted due to engine
troubles. Once the entire flight disappeared over the horizon, nothing more was
heard until later that evening when two damaged Zeros returned. The main flight
had been intercepted by more than 50 American fighters and broken up while
still 60 miles from the nearest carrier group. The entire formation was
overwhelmed and within ten minutes all the Betty Bombers had either been shot
down or forced to jettison their Ohkas in an attempt to escape. Nonaka was last
seen flying wingtip to wingtip with three other bombers in a steep dive away
from the fight. Nothing more was ever heard from any of the bomber crews or
Nonaka.
There was good cause for the celebrations that night on board the American
carriers. They had decisively defeated a flight of obviously special bombers
carrying some sort of winged "gizmos" lashed to their fuselages. Whatever they
were, the American fleet commanders were glad they had not been allowed near
any of their own aircraft carriers.
Operation Heaven No.1 and
Okinawa The total destruction of the first Thunder Gods assault
triggered a tardy reevaluation of the tactics to be used for special attacks.
The resulting methods were more effective, but even though they managed to
inflict great damage to Allied shipping, Japan had already lost both the
initiative and the logistical base upon which to stage major airstrikes.
Despite the intense pressure, Ugaki's Fifth Air Fleet started
Operation Heaven No. 1 with a joint series of conventional and suicide
attacks against the American fleet. The offensive was begun in earnest on April
6 with Operation Kikusui Number 1 which launched the largest, best
coordinated and best protected suicide mission of the war. Four flights of
fighters swept in over Okinawa early in the morning, challenging the American
Combat Air Patrols while other aircraft dropped foil strips to block radar.
This was closely followed by 60 conventional Navy aircraft and 18
fighter-bombers of the Kemmu Squadron. The curtain of anti-aircraft fire which
was now an integral part of any American fleet defense managed to keep out all
but four planes. Shortly after noon, another 210 aircraft were dispatched, only
half of which were destroyed or turned back by the now fatigued American
fighter cover. The remaining aircraft streamed into the air over the anchorages
and ships immediately offshore, triggering one of the most dramatic and intense
air assaults ever. Over two dozen of the Thunder God's Kemmu Squadron managed
to crash into destroyers, minesweepers, ammunition carriers and other larger
warships. The next day, as the bulk of American carrier aircraft were
distracted by the approaching battleship Yamato and her escort, another
110 aircraft and 12 Kemmu bombers struck, causing more damage.
| On board the damaged US carrier Bunker
Hill |
 |
A view from on board the
American aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill, taken on May 11, 1945. She was badly
damaged during this attack, entitled Operation Kikusui Number 6., when a
heavily laden Japanese fighter-bomber from the Fifth Air Fleet crashed into her
starboard side abreast the number three elevator. Despite reports of massive
U.S. carrier losses, most fleet carriers were returned to service a few weeks
or months after being damaged.
|
On April 9, Admiral Ugaki ordered Operation Kikusui
Number Two. Two days later 60 Navy planes joined 16 Thunder Gods from the
Kemmu Squadron in another attack on American ships off Okinawa. They were
followed the next day by 120 army and navy planes accompanying nine Betty
bombers carrying Ohkas and 19 more Thunder Gods flying fighter-bombers. This
attack was typical in that many of the incoming Betty pilots mistook the
American destroyer pickets for the main fleet. They were by then so hard
pressed by American combat air patrols that they attacked the first ships they
saw, correctly believing that they could ill afford to pick and choose. This
particular mission launched the most effective Ohka attack of the war. Thunder
God Sub-lieutenant Sabura Dohi – who had been keeping himself distracted
with odd jobs around the airbase right up until his departure – crashed
his Ohka into the American destroyer Mannert L. Abele. The destroyer
broke in half and sank along with one-third of her crew. Three other Ohkas
successfully attacked but they only caused moderate damage to their targets.
The effect of these attacks on American morale was immediate and
devastating. Within a week, nine American ships were sunk and 78 had been
damaged by numerous major air assaults and countless small sorties. The
surviving American crews were quickly becoming exhausted from standing 24 hour
watches against potential attacks, and the aircraft complements for the carrier
groups were thinning noticeably. Even the Japanese began noticing the increase
in the number of returning aircraft, whereas previously the American combat air
patrols had efficiently chewed up everything sent their way.
During
the last half of April and the beginning of May, four more operations were
conducted against the fleet operating off Okinawa. The climax occurred with
Operation Kikusui Number Six, when on May 11 the large American carrier
flagship Bunker Hill was struck by a Thunder God from the Kemmu
Squadron. Severely damaged and on fire, the flag was transferred to
Enterprise. Even though the fleet managed a 900 plane counterattack on
the airbases in Southern Japan the very next day – 28 fighter-bombers from
the Kemmu Squadron managed to get into the air, one of which broke through the
ring of steel around the American carrier fleet. This pilot crashed into the
deck of Enterprise near the forward elevator, causing a stunning
explosion and ball of fire which blew the entire elevator hundreds of feet into
the air.
| Damaged Hangar Deck of USS Randolph |
 |
Four more special attack operations were flown through
the rest of May and June. As the American ground troops on Okinawa slowly
cornered the remaining Japanese defenders, the last operation –
Operation Kikusui Number Ten – was a complete failure. Not many
aircraft could be made airworthy and the few attackers who approached the
American fleet were shot down or forced to turn back. That this was the last
official operation mattered little, as the entire special attack system was now
on the verge of collapse. When it became obvious that Okinawa was lost, all
attacks were stopped in preparation for the anticipated attack against the
Japanese mainland.
By August the Thunder Gods Corps had been
redeployed and was awaiting the new improved rocket planes which were to be far
sturdier and longer ranged than the previous models. Since the invaders would
be immediately offshore range was less of an issue anyway. Many of the men were
now almost delirious due to stress. They had already flown missions to sure
death, only to be turned back because of mechanical failure or combat damage to
the Betty bombers in which they rode. Keisuke Yamamura had been dispatched on
three Ohka missions, two of which had him inside the rocket plane itself
awaiting release when the missions aborted. Nevertheless he wore an extra long
head-band declaring his determination to die and follow his friends.
On August 8 a report came in through military headquarters that a raid by a
small number of B-29 bombers had been made upon Hiroshima. It mentioned the
possible use of a new bomb and that an investigation was being conducted. It
soon became clear that the futuristic A-Bomb which had so long been the
topic of speculation had now been used, and that the future itself – both
for the Thunder Gods and Japan – was suddenly unclear. Over the next few
days news of the Nagasaki bombing, the Russian declaration of war and the
negotiations with the Allies trickled into the Thunder God's base. Debate among
officers became open. Many senior ranking officers expected to be consulted by
their superiors in Tokyo, Vice-Admiral Ugaki not the least among them. All of
them expected to continue the war to the last person. Alternatives were not
even considered.
| Ohka "Thunder God" pilots |
 |
When Emperor Hirohito's decision to end the war was
announced, the end did not come quietly. Virtually the entire Fifth Air Fleet
command rebelled. On August 14, Kamikaze program pioneer Admiral Onishi told a
close friend; "It was not I who lost the war, but the Emperor." That evening he
committed ritual suicide. Vice-Admiral Ugaki rebelled against the Imperial
edict by leading a last flight of 11 Judy dive bombers in a fruitless mission
against American shipping near Okinawa. Admiral Ozawa at Naval General
Headquarters was furious with Ugaki, not only for disobeying the Imperial
Mandate but for taking other men with him in the process of killing himself.
Ugaki was denied the posthumous promotion which other suicide mission members
usually received. His replacement, Vice-Admiral Ryunosuke Kusaka, found himself
in charge of a rebellious group of senior officers who were demanding that the
Imperial mandate be ignored. He finally convinced them that Fifth Air Fleet's
Chief-of-Staff be allowed to fly to Tokyo to hear the orders in person. In the
meantime individual men and officers discussed the technical meaning of
surrender, what would happen to them, and whether the Americans would kill
them. Some groups of men planned spontaneous mutinies, but for each group of
mutineers two other groups would refuse to take part, insisting that they wait
for formal orders. As each miniature rebellion fell apart, more of the men came
to rely on their officer's final decisions.
On the evening of August
19, Vice-Admiral Kusaka was able to call a general meeting of the Fifth Air
Fleet's commanders. As he entered the room, it did not escape his notice that
all his officers were in their dress uniforms and armed, hands poised on their
weapons. He fully expected to be killed within minutes. His Chief-of-Staff then
announced that the Emperor had indeed made the decision on his own, and that he
was resolute in his decision to end the war. As he re-read the Emperor's
announcement, the officers in the room broke into a yelling match, Kusaka
strode to the podium and told them "As your commander-in-chief, I came to
Kyushu with the firm intention of dying with all of you. However, whether we
fight or not is absolutely subject to Imperial mandate. If the Emperor says
stop fighting, I must do my utmost to bring the war to an end. I hope you will
understand and cooperate. At the same time, I know some of you feel
differently. But I will have my way as long as I live. If you disagree with
that, kill me before you take any action! I'm ready. Do it immediately!" With
that, he sat down and closed his eyes.
Lessons and
Afterthoughts Vice-Admiral Kusaka was spared by his officers that
evening. Most of them left the room, some weeping in anger and others arguing.
During the following weeks the Fifth Naval Air Fleet was successfully
demobilized and the equipment prepared for handover. Kusaka's men were given
money and then flown to air bases nearest their home towns. Ironically the
methods by which the war ended were second guessed by both sides. Most Japanese
officers considered that they had been betrayed and that the real battle would
have taken place on Japanese soil. More recently some in the United States have
questioned their country's own use of nuclear weapons, thinking with 50 year
hindsight that maybe Japan could have been convinced to surrender otherwise.
Reading the accounts of these Imperial Navy Officers, it is clear that even
with the leverage offered by the hopelessness of the atomic bombs and the
Soviet declaration of war, the Japanese Emperor only barely succeeded in
demobilizing his own officers. Had the situation been less hopeless, the orders
to stop the war might have been summarily ignored by large portions of the
officers corps, triggering an unknown but probably tragic series of events.
As events actually transpired, the last Thunder God and Kamikaze pilots
were quietly sent home. They were pulled from positions of certain death and
returned to their families, left to ponder the very recent deaths of almost
every person they knew. They may not have appreciated their situation at the
time, but the thousands of young American troops and airmen who looked forward
to the invasion of Japan only with foreboding considered the end of the war to
be the greatest life-saver they had known. Today all around the world, former
Allied naval and air crews still meet often to share these crucial years which
nobody else can really understand. The former Thunder Gods still meet too, at
Yasukuni Shrine every March 21; the date of Commander Nonaka's destruction.
Surprisingly, even the Ohka training jet still survives. It now hangs from the
ceiling of the United States Navy Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.. |
|
|
recommended reading
Naito,
H. Thunder Gods, The Kamikaze Pilots Tell Their Story. Kodansha
International, 1982
Ugaki, M.
Fading Victory. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991 [available at Amazon.com]
Ito, M.. The End of the Imperial
Japanese Navy. W.W.Norton & Company, 1956 |
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