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N0KFQ > TODAY 25.10.15 16:01l 46 Lines 1823 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 71131_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Oct 25
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<I0OJJ<N6RME<CX2SA<N9PMO<NS2B<N0KFQ
Sent: 151025/1358Z 71131@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.64
1944
First kamikaze attack of the war begins
On this day in 1944, during the Battle of the Leyte Gulf, the
Japanese deploy kamikaze ("divine wind") suicide bombers against
American warships for the first time. It will prove costly-to
both sides.
This decision to employ suicide bombers against the American
fleet at Leyte, an island of the Philippines, was based on the
failure of conventional naval and aerial engagements to stop the
American offensive. Declared Japanese naval Capt. Motoharu
Okamura: "I firmly believe that the only way to swing the war in
our favor is to resort to crash-dive attacks with our planes_.
There will be more than enough volunteers for this chance to save
our country."
The first kamikaze force was in fact composed of 24 volunteer
pilots from Japan's 201st Navy Air Group. The targets were U.S.
escort carriers; one, the St. Lo, was struck by a A6M Zero
fighter and sunk in less than an hour, killing 100 Americans.
More than 5,000 kamikaze pilots died in the gulf battle-taking
down 34 ships.
For their kamikaze raids, the Japanese employed both conventional
aircraft and specially designed planes, called Ohka ("cherry
blossom") by the Japanese, but Baka ("fool") by the Americans,
who saw them as acts of desperation. The Baka was a
rocket-powered plane that was carried toward its target attached
to the belly of a bomber.
All told, more than 1,321 Japanese aircraft crash-dived their
planes into Allied warships during the war, desperate efforts to
reverse the growing Allied advantage in the Pacific. While
approximately 3,000 Americans and Brits died because of these
attacks, the damage done did not prevent the Allied capture of
the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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