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Special has been canceled due to tragic incident  in Volgograd


 


Kamikaze (God or Divine Wind) Special Attack Force


 

In the Pacific, Japanese forces considered it a disgrace to surrender; it would be letting down their families, country and their honour. Many chose instead to fight to the death, less than 5% of these warriors actually surrendered.


 

Although the allies were well aware of their enemy's honourable and sacrificial nature, they were not ready for what came happened during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October of 1944. Japanese pilots flew their planes and themselves directly into American warships, causing massive damage. The St. Lo sank with 114 souls aboard, these were the first, but wouldn’t be the last, victims of the kamikazes.


 

Kamikaze pilots were often university students, motivated by obligation and gratitude to family and country. They prepared by holding ceremonials, writing farewell poems, and receiving a "thousand stitch belt" this was made from cloth into which one thousand women had sewn one stitch as a symbolic uniting with the pilot. Then, in planes, with 550 pound bombs attached, they would fly off to die in the human guided missile.


 

By war's end, kamikazes had damaged or sunk more than 300 American ships, with 15,000 casualties. On the eve of the Japanese surrender, Onishi Takijiro (IJN Admiral and instigator of the Kamikaze official stamp of approval) committed suicide, leaving a note apologizing to his dead pilots because their sacrifice had been in vain.


I am pleased to have the honour of having been chosen as a member of a Special Attack Force that is on its way into battle, but I cannot help crying when I think of you, Mum. When I reflect on the hopes you had for my future ... I feel so sad that I am going to die without doing anything to bring you joy.”


Pilot Ichizo Hayashi, last letter home a few days before his final flight. April 1945

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