Kamikaze--Japan's Suicide Samurai

by Raymond Lamont-Brown

Japan's kamikaze pilots sacrificed their lives to destroy the enemy's vessels, and offered the last, best hope in a war they had begun to lose. A major expert on Japanese culture uncovers the psychology, myth, and reality of this deadly strategy. Original records and personal testimonies describe the organization and operation of the kamikaze on every front. Here is incomparable insight into understanding these incredible, determined troops. 192 pages, 37 b/w illus., 6 X 9.

Genres: History, War, Japan, Nonfiction, World War II, Military Fiction

First published December 12, 1961

Reviews

[Russ Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

could have been a lot better, but decided to stick to a simple retelling of history rather than a more indepth examination of why so many decided to sacrifice their lives for a lost cause

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kamikaze is a history of Japan’s suicide warriors during the latter stages of the Second World War. Most often associated with the pilots of planes who deliberately tried to crash into allied shipping (there were 2,940 such attempts between Oct 1944 and Aug 1945, the vast majority of which failed in their mission), kamikaze’s also included mini-submarines and also entire ships (for example, the battleship Yamato sailed toward the US fleet in April 1945 with only enough fuel for a one way trip – it never made contact being sunk by US planes with the loss of 3,063 men). Given that the protagonists died and left little in the way of records, the paucity of Japanese material, and the US military’s blackout of kamikaze tactics during the war, Lamont-Brown does a reasonable job of pulling together the relatively limited material available. The narrative is a little dry in places, becoming quite list-like and lacking in personal testimony or stories, and the structure is a little jumbled, but nevertheless I found the book fascinating.

In Admiral Halsey’s words, ‘American’s who fight to live, find it hard to realise that another people will fight to die.’ And this was certainly a point I kept reflecting on – the willingness of some Japanese fighters to selflessly give up their lives in what were quite clearly futile attacks for the greater good of Japan and the Emperor. The logic of the attacks was to discourage the American advance, and in particular the invasion of Japanese territory, by demonstrating how bloody and costly the battle would be. And whilst the American’s quite clearly feared and were distressed by such attacks, they quickly worked out how to deal with them, although a number of ships were hit and some sunk (for example, between 17 Feb and 30 July in Iwo Jima and Okinawa theatres 146 allied vessels received some significant level of damage from kamikaze attacks, of which 48 were scrapped or sunk). Perhaps the Indianapolis was the most significant ship to be sunk, attacked by either a mini-sub or conventional torpedo on July 29, 1945. In his memoirs, Truman admitted that the vessel carried a third atomic bomb intended for Niigata.

[Tim Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really good and readable overview of a topic that is often misunderstood and misinterperated in the West. The repeated names and ranks bogs the book down a tiny bit for the layman, but other than that a really enjoyable read.

[Stephen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Way too technical, author focuses more on getting dates and serial numbers correct, than anything emotional to hold the reader, better off sticking to Chang's Rape of Nanjing which covers the Kamikaze

[Genevieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a relatively short book of 174 pages, this offering does a pretty good job of laying out the bare statistics of this warfare technique and also briefly touches on the related cultural mindset. WWII study is one of my treasured passions, so I was eager to dive straight into it. What I discovered was a collection of historical facts without a really strong backbone to turn this book into an engaging page-turner. Overall, it’s a bit on the dry side admittedly and was not the kind of book that you just cannot wait to pick up again.

[Karl Vicente · Rating 4 out of 5]

-Apparently there was a third atomic bomb aboard the USS Indianapolis according to Harry S. Truman's memoirs

-Six lives, the only American mainland casualties in the war, were lost to a Japanese bomb balloon (a small fraction of which were manned)

-Covers kamikaze aircraft, ships, submarines, boats, soldiers and balloons

-There was a coup d'état and attempted assassinations by a Japanese military cadre and officers during the surrender of Japan

[Pei-jean Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was expecting much more than what was delivered. Trying to condense the psychology behind the Kamikaze as well as its implementation wasn’t at all successful in my view. Good if you would like a quick overview, but not if you were hoping for something more informative and in depth

[Martin Willoughby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting overview of the kamikaze attacks of WW2. Not all is as simple as some history shows it.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author starts right off comparing the kamikaze to today's suicide bombers. (The author does not seem to note the major difference; though. The kamikaze were trying to destroy military targets filled with military people. Today's suicide bombers often kill civilians. The ones in Iraq and like areas usually target military people, but many other attacks kill common people who have virtually nothing to do with what the bombers really want. That's quite different from the kamikaze.)

He says the kamikaze were recruited from four groups: patriotic crusaders, nation's face savers, young rationalists, and appointed daredevils.

He has an interesting thing to say in relation to the lack of cooperation between the Army and the Navy in Japan. They did not actually start to cooperate with each other until the attack on Okinawa.

A good example of how the fortunes changed for Japan was the length of pilot training, which was three and a half years at the start of the war, and three months near the end, the training dropping combat techniques entirely.

He notes how propaganda films in Japanese theaters extols the virtues and courage of the kamikaze.

Japan had hoped that the kamikaze would unnerve the Americans and cause them to maybe think twice about an actual invasion of the homeland, but things didn't work out that way. The Americans dealt with the kamikaze as a dangerous weapon of war, but they kept doing what they needed to do no matter what.

From October 1944 to January 15, 1945, kamikaze sunk two carriers, three destroyers, five transports and six other craft, and damaged 87 ships. The kamikaze lost 1,198 lives in the effort. That's 16 vessels sunk and 87 damaged for 1,198 lives. That amounts to 75 pilots dead per ship sunk, making the assume that the ones that were damaged were repaired and reentered service.

He also has a short chapter on the sinking of the Yamato, and later discusses the use of ships and people as kamikaze. He even has a chapter on the use of the balloon bombs, paper balloons launched from Japan whose purpose was to drift to the U.S. and drop explosives, starting forest fires and instilling panic in the country. (That program was pretty much a miserable failure.)

This is a good book that examines the multiple facets of the kamikaze which were not just planes but included a wide variety of other approaches.

[Frank Pellecchia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historian examines the psychology, myths, and reality of the Japanese kamikaze program. Includes detailed accounts of training, weapons, and actual attacks.