Hello everyone!
Today we will look at the Japanese Army's Special Attack Force.
Special attack units come in a variety of forms and definitions.
The term originated from the coined term "special attack force" named for the unit of the special submarine "Kou-target" organized by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the early stages of the Pacific War, which was a decisive operation with a method of survival in mind.
Others take it to mean a unit tasked with a special attack on the premise of an organized death-in-action, and consider the Kamikaze Special Attack Force, organized on October 20, 1944, by order of Rear lieutenant general Takijiro Onishi (Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Air Fleet), to be the first.
Kamikaze attacks are also called "physical attacks. Suicide attacks by aircraft are called "air suicide attacks," and those by suicide weapons such as the Kaiten and Shinyo are sometimes called "underwater suicide attacks" or "overwater suicide attacks. The waterborne units that conducted raids into enemy territory in Okinawa were named "sea suicide squadrons.
Airborne units that force-land on enemy bases to destroy bombers and kill their crews are called "airborne suicide squadrons.
In some cases, even an attack that was not originally planned as an organized suicide attack, would be recognized as such, when members of the unit chose to go after targets of opportunity and did not return home.
In the case of shinpu (kamikaze) special attack units, which were defined by the Imperial Japanese Navy, the term "shinpu" refers to attack units that included troops who were supposed to be killed in action, as well as those who provided cover and confirmed the results of their actions.（Excerpt from Wikipedia）
万朶隊（Banda-tai)
Bandatai was the first special attack unit of the Japanese Army Air Corps, and was organized on October 21, 1944, by the Hokota Instructional Flying Division. The aircraft used were Kawasaki Ki-48, lead by Captain Masumi Iwamoto, 53rd class of the Army Air Cadet Corps, along with 15 other pilots.
Kawasaki Ki-48 with 800 kg bomb.
A long fuse attached to the nose of the plane.
富獄隊（Fugaku-tai)
Fugakutai was organized by the Hamamatsu Instructional Flying Division, and was dispatched to the south as a special mission personnel from October 24, 1944.
The aircraft used were Mitsubishi Ki-67. They were lead by Major Tsunesaburo Nishio, a 50th Army Air Cadet School graduate, along with 25 other pilots.
A picture of Mt. Fuji painted on the tail of a Mitsubishi Ki-67, a Type 4 heavy bomber belonging to the Fugakutai.
Before the Bandatai could fly their first sortie, Squadron Leader Captain Iwamoto and five others were shot down and killed by U.S. fighters, while on enroute to an operational meeting.
Fugakutai arrived in the Philippines and launched its first sortie in the early morning of November 7. However, this sortie ended in failure, and Lieutenant Yamamoto's plane did not return.
On November 13, Fugakutai's commander, Major Tsunesaburo Nishio, and six others were killed in action when they plunged into a U.S. task force.
The remaining Fugakutai and Bandatai sortied out in sequence.
Before their first sortie, the Bandatai members were served sake.
A white wooden box containing the remains of a member who was killed in action earlier is hung around his neck.
Army Special Strike Groups continued to be organized for special attacks in the Philippine area.
The next group, the Hakkotai, was a suicide squadron flying the Nakajima Ki-43, which was more maneuverable than the bombers that had been used in the past.
The HAKKOTAI was organized from the 1st to the 12th.
八紘隊（Hakko-tai）
After the defeat of the Philippine Island campaign, the U.S. invasion of Okinawa made U.S. ships in the Okinawan waters the target of special attacks.
The center of the Army's special attack was Chiran in Kagoshima Prefecture.
During this period, boy airmen and student airmen who had just finished learning to fly became the core of the special attack force.
振部隊（Shinbu-tai）
Shinbutai is the generic name for the special attack flying units of the Army's 6th Air Force during the Battle of Okinawa, which began on March 26, 1945.
Each unit bears a unique number, which is a sequential number from "Hakkotai" in the Philippines, but there are some missing numbers.
On April 12, 1945, the Ki-43 of 2nd Lieutenant Toshio Anazawa of the 20th Shinbutai of the Army, carrying a 250 kg bomb, began its run toward Okinawa.
In the foreground are female students of Chiran High School waving twigs of cherry blossoms to send off the suicide pilots to their deaths.
Ensign Anazawa, 23, responds with a raised hand. It was an eternal farewell to their homeland and loved ones.
In all, more than 4,900 Army and Navy pilots and aircrew fell. ...scattered over the skies and in the water around Leyte and Okinawa.
That's all for today.
See you soon.
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