So How Effective Were Suicide Tactics in WW2? - The TRUE Impact of Suicide Attacks in WW2
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- Опубликовано: 12 июн 2024
- Join us in exploring the dramatic truth behind World War II's lesser-known yet impactful suicide attacks. Delve into the effectiveness and moral complexity of kamikaze tactics employed by Japan and similar desperate missions by other nations during the conflict
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:30 Defining and Understanding Self Sacrificing Tactics
4:09 The Japanese Kamikaze Attacks
7:29 Kamikaze Tactics Deployed by Other Nations
11:24 Analyzing the Tactical Impact
17:10 Psychological Warfare
19:03 Moral Dimensions
21:04 Post-War Perspectives and Legacy
23:31 An Unsustainable Practice
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I remember seeing a quote from a Japanese WW2 vet making the case that putting barely trained young pilots into airplanes and asking them to go up against experienced American pilots and machine gunners was already a suicidal task. So why not try to maximize their sacrifice?
It was a tactic born from desperation. Not saying I agree with him but it does show a different perspective.
I believe you mean Saburo Sakai who wrote of his experience as a Japanese aviator during the war. If I recall one of the reasons he survived was he lost an eye and was taken off flight status.
He was put back on flight status
Was at Iwo until his plane was destroyed on the ground and was one of the last flown out
When the Germans gave the Japanese the schematics for the Me 163 Komet and the rocket propellant formula, the plane itself was so volatile to use that even when the Japanese made their own copy, they outright rejected it as being too dangerous even for kamikaze missons!
Why risk melting your pilots before they can do any damage? Also, most of the pilots the Japanese had left weren't experienced enough to fly the damned things!
Not to mention the reality that even IF the plane was an effective weapon system, Japan was neither industrially, nor materially capable of producing enough of them in numbers to have had them make any real difference. Not to mention, the time and resources it would have taken to train rookie pilots to be comfortable enough to pilot a whole brand new technology to turn the tide of the war.
Well, it won't do them any good if it blows up before they hit their targets.
Didn't they remake it into the Ouka kamikaze vehicle?
It was more so that the Japanese simply didn't have the industrial base left to produce these planes in efficient numbers using the materials necessary. That's why they just opted to use what they had. Simply having the blueprints is only half of the challenge.
It's why many of thier planes didn't have self sealing fuel tanks as the materials needed weren't available in the sufficient quantities and alternatives proved too challenging to produce so they simply gave up. It just wasn't worth the effort.
You could've given 1944 Japan the plans for an atomic bomb and they would find it too dangerous as well and nearly impossible to produce. Even today the schematics for a nuclear reactor and bomb are easily accessible online and it still takes years even decades for entire countries to make.
I think it’s a bit misleading to insinuate that “Japan had a bad reputation following WWII because of Kamikaze attacks”. Japan had a bad reputation after WWII because they had objectively and outright been one of the most criminal, heinous, and thoroughly evil empires and militaries in world history
You’re not wrong.
Right up there with the British and American Empires.
@@joeyartk Not even close, WW2 had the Axis powers acting like the most cartoonishly evil villains in existence, look at the rape of nanking and unit 731, along with the treatment of civilians they conquered. Every. Single. Country. Had insurrectionists and resistance movements fed new recruits by the cruelty of the Japanese
@joeyartk Educate yourself next time before you comment stuff that makes you look ignorant. Britain and America may have done some bad stuff over the centuries, but nothing can compare to the scope and horror of the atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese in a timespan of less than 50 years. Tell the hundreds of thousands of Korean women who were tortured to death as sex slaves to the Imperial Japanese Army that the Americans who put a stop to it were as bad as the Japanese. Tell the Filipinos, of which 1 out of every 20 of them were killed by the Japanese during their occupation, that they were worse off with the Americans. Tell the 10,000 men, women, and children who were brutality tortured and experimented on in the Japanese “science” unit, Unit 731, a place so horrible that no survivors are recorded from it, that they would have had it just as bad with the British. Tell the millions of Chinese civilians who were murdered and raped by the Japanese in countless massacres due to Japan’s “Three Alls Policy” - “kill all, burn all, loot all”, that they could have expected the same treatment from the Americans. Tell the more than 150,000 POWs murdered by the Imperial Japanese that they would have been treated the same way in a British prison. Tell the tens of thousands of Japanese citizens, brainwashed by their evil government into thinking that it was better to kill themselves, rather than witness a Japanese surrender that what they were doing was right and just. Tell all the survivors of Imperial Japanese atrocities that to this day have barely received acknowledgment from the modern Japanese government that the crimes they committed against them even happened, in stark contrast to the endless atonement of Germany, that the Imperial Japanese weren’t all that bad. Find a way to tell every victim of Japanese atrocities all this, all these ridiculous, stupid, unthinkable things, and then come back and tell me that the British and American Empires were as bad as the Empire of Japan.
@@ironboy3245 oh yeah baby…that’s it !!!
Oh yeah.
Desperation. There’s a big difference between a last stand, or engaging in a dangerous mission vs deliberate and premeditated “sacrifice”. Those men were murdered by their state, and that’s a whole new level of despicable.
This. Plenty of men in WWII were awarded for actions which resulted in their deaths. But it's one thing to make the decision on your own and/or had the bad luck to get shot dead as you're doing it. It's another when your government creates a literal Suicide Squad program.
Exactly. Battleship Yamato's final mission was to sacrifice herself by running aground and acting as a gun emplacement until she was destroyed. But the plan itself was nothing more than the IJN's top brass attempt to save face when Emperor Hirohito questioned their usefulness in defending Okinawa. The entire force of Yamato, the light cruiser Yahagi, 8 destroyers, and 4,000+ men were served on a platter to US Navy pilots because Japanese admirals got their feelings hurt.
On April 6th, 1945, the super-battleship Yamato sailed for Okinawa on a suicide mission called Operation Ten-Go. It was hoped that it could beach itself there and act as the world's largest artillery platform. It was attacked by hundreds of allied airplanes and sustained dozens of bomb and torpedo hits before blowing up, taking over 3,000 Japanese sailors to the depths with her.
The Japanese knew she would never make it to Okinawa. It was the biggest single suicide mission ever, intended only to save the face of the Japanese Navy in light of the sacrifices the Army was making on Okinawa.
The air formation that attacked her also lost only around 10 aircraft and 12 men, a majority of said aircraft being lost to the ensuing ammunition detonation as she keeled over onto her side.
@@economicallyunviablekitten
While the part about the Americans only losing 10 aircraft is true, the idea Yamato’s turret explosion (which occurred after she was already sinking, rather than being its cause) killed most of them isn’t based on anything. It’s a meme spread by people hearing that some of the aircraft were lost due to that explosion and then somehow assuming that’s what caused the majority of those losses.
Also, obligatory point about Yamato being singled out for being useless when that’s a problem with WWII-era battleships in general at the strategic level. Yamato was useless not because she was worse than her contemporaries but because they all sucked, in that they were capital ships that could not be used as capital ships most of the time thanks to the rise of aviation (and no, being used as the world’s biggest AA cruisers or destroyers when actual cruisers and destroyers could get that done already, or providing shore bombardment when much older pre-existing battleships handled most of that, doesn’t count as justification).
Then what caused the massive explosion that blew her apart
@@tomhenry897After sustaining multiple torpedo and bomb hits, she capsized and her bow magazines blew up as she went down.
imo, the millions of soldiers lost in WW1 "kamikaze" attacks dwarfed those of WW2 Japan. Tens of thousands could be lost in a single day of charging into "no man's land" facing belt feed machine guns and artillery shells.
Kamikaze pilot "Death is as light as a feather but duty is as heavy as a mountain "
There were many cases of American soldiers in World War Two who engaged in suicide attacks, but these were individual acts of desperation and courage, not an official policy of the American military.
One such attack that comes to mind is the B-26 Marauder during the Battle of Midway.
I'm Japanese. I lost 2 uncles in the war, but I'm sure their intention was to come home safely.
Im sure they would have been surprised to survive though.
@@joeyartkhell, I would have been!
The propaganda put out by the Japanese empire was insane, they convinced their population that the Americans coming were going to be worse than they were. If you look back the Japanese were told that the marines on their way were specially collected from prisons and insane asylums for their brutal and murderous instincts. There are stories of women throwing their children off of cliffs because they believed that fate would be better than anything the Americans had in store for them which of course wasn’t true.
Not if suicide pilots
By at least Marianas Turkey Shoot (june 44), Japan was so squeezed for resources, they could no longer afford to fully train pilots. They did not have the planes, the fuel, and most importantly the time to train new pilots. Their experienced pilots were mostly dead. At about the same time the united states was not even bothering to send planes to be rebuilt anymore when they reached their max hours. They were just throwing them overboard, and sending a new plane to replace it.
I am glad that you mentioned the Japanese fuel shortage. The Japanese trained their pilots to fight in a formation style, which took longer to training.
When all the Kamikaze attacks started, did that put an end to conventional fighter and bomber attacks? I think I remember reading or hearing somewhere that sometimes kamikazes were used as distractions/diversions/cover for conventional torpedo and dive bomber attacks by the remaining experienced units. Is this true? It's not something you hear about.
Thank You to whoever just liked 👍 my comment! 😏🏳️🌈❤️
IIRC Japan was still bombing as normal. The kamikazes were meant for guaranteed hits.
@@SEAZNDragon you seems very knowledgeable cutie! 😉❤️🏳️🌈
Sometimes
i see forgotten weapons is not only channel infected by bots... thats fricking cruel...
Hence why we do our best to report them, no matter what.
Along with suicide planes there were suicide torpedoes used by Japan for optimal targeting. just like the pilots there waa no return because there was no way to turn back. every piloted torpedo that missed its mark just sank to the bottom, the person inside essentially sealed in their torpedo coffin at the bottom if the pacific.
I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
A single desperate act to save a situation is heroic and unselfish, however a group specifically set up for such attacks will fail unless they can come up with a vehicle that can't be shot down, only a small percentage actually made contact with ships, the rest were wasted, killed prematurely, without forced enrollment you will run out of pilots.
@@funsky40 WTF does this stupid comment mean
Nice information on construction of suicide-attack craft.
The Kamikazes were a lot more calculated than they get credit for. They really became a thing after Phillipine sea, when conventional Japanese air attacks on the American carrier force were annihilated. This was after Japan spent 18 months rebuilding its carrier forces after the battles of 1942. Phillipine sea demonstrated no matter what the Japanese do, attacking a late war American carrier force is tantamount to suicide. If a pilot is most likely going to die anyway, they might as well accomplish something.
Most were shot down or missed the ship
VT (proximity)-fused 127mm AAA more or less made Japanese conventional air attacks suicide missions, so their "special attack" tactics make only slightly less sense than simply surrendering. It improved their odds of taking some of their enemies with them ~5-fold.
wooden aircraft exist*
@@yoseipilot True, but 4/5 AAA shells the USN were firing at the time had conventional ranged time fuzes. After all, the USN didn't want to show their VT fuze card to the Japanese.
@@PeterOConnell-pq6io The proximity fuze shells wouldn’t explode at wooden aircraft, even radar couldn’t detect them earlier.
@@yoseipilot Sorry if I wasn't clear you seem to have misunderstood. Four out of every five AAA shells fired had conventional time fuses preset to explode at the estimated range of the targets, regardless of what the targets were made of. The 20% of VT fuzed shells fired were the only ones that required metal reflected radio return signals to detonate once those signals began to diminish (most aircraft at the time did contain metal) the other 80% would detonate at their pre-set range no matter what.
They thought of everything, it was war.
One factor that I have never seen mentioned was that the Japanese had a chronic fuel shortage. It took less fuel for a one way kamikaze mission than a round trip back to Japan. 😢
I hope this guy read the us naval report about Kamikaze hit rates by the US war department. Showing that yes it would increase hitrate to a degree but the loss of plane and man would not be worth it, also that many new pilots were very easy to track and shot down.
Suicide attacks are never a sign of a winning army. They're acts of desperation.
Cool video, what are your sources?
By late 1944 the chances of returning from a conventional torpedo/bombing attack on American naval TF's were only 15-20% for a skilled, experienced pilot. If you're more than likely not coming home, why not make sure you do as much damage as possible? I'm not saying I agree with it, but you can see why a desperate nation would resort to such tactics.
That’s the success rate of the suicide pilots
@@tomhenry897 no, that was the chance you had to return from a conventional attack. Didn't you read the comment?
All those brave young Japanese men who didnt live to see the GODZILLA movies 😢
Guess every cloud has a silver lining.
Thank the Germans for creating if not improving on rockets and missiles so to render the "Baka Bombs" redundant (and that's despite their Sonderkommando nonsense), and thank Hedy Lamarr and co. for developing the torpedo guidance system so to render the Kaiten obsolete (explains why Kleiner's Headcrab is named after her, to anyone who is a Half-Life enjoyer).
Thanks.
There were no good options left for the Japanese, just various poor ones. The kamikaze attacks presented the Japanese population with an example of selfless sacrifice that they were expected to emulate when the Home Islands were invaded. Thank God that they heeded the Emperor's call to "endure the unendurable."
I have read that part of the command reason for the devind wind strategy revolved around causing so much damage the American public would lose heart in fighting a continuous war, they would force the govt to accept acmore favorable peace treaty for Japan. Of course, this was fantasy thinking, but if true, it speaks to the desperation of the Japanese military command to end the war on their terms. By the fall of 1944, no one in military command really thought that the decisive battle doctrine would ever play out in Japans favor. The battle of the Philippine Sea sealed the fate for Japan. Even the Emporer was talking about ending the war. There where sub plots by certain military officials of silancing the Emperor and the cabinet, replacing them with pro war cabinet members. The real question was how to end the war in Japans favor. The doctrine of mass attrition practiced by Army forces since 1943 was still very popular by high command in Tokyo. This carried over into the Navy, or what was left of it. I think on a command level, kamikaze made perfect sense. Mass attrition on such a level as to create fear in the hearts of your enemy, causing them to hesitate to do battle. Such pie in the sky, thinking, never really works except in comic books. But the real tragedy is how those young men barely able to fly were ordered, cajoled, and shamed into believing they special for throwing their lives away of emperor and country. Even though some of them did not buy into it, they had no choice but to go.
And we used it as a reason to drop A bombs
These pilots could also be described in the way Germans described British ground attacks in the First World War: they were like “lions led by donkeys.”
Some special operations have the potential for great gain but also great loss. This does not make the deliberately suicidal. Dieppe would be an example. Likewise heroically attempting to take out an MG position to save your colleagues is not intentionally suicidal.
YES , A BRITISH OFFICER ONCE SAID IN A DOCUMENTARY " FOR EVERY MAN THAT DIED IN DIEPPE, SCORES WERE LATER SAVED IN NORMANDY"
So the Kamikaze Attacks were nothing short of a tragic waste of life that caused terrible PTSD in all who survived such attacks. Yeah makes sense.
Quite frankly the Japanese were overwhelmed
Godzilla minus one is a very interesting movie to see a kamikaze shame if he didn't do the attack.
These tactics weren't very effect in terms of damage but they messed with the enemy psychologically speaking.
this was the only time that american bombers and fighters shot as german parachutes
25 safe missions and you got to go home 🤔🤕
😂😂😂
It seems that Japanese kamikaze attacks aren't really any different than Soviet or Chinese mass wave attacks during WWII and Korea.
Oof. The algorithm doesn’t seem to like that title very much
Algorithms does seems to love US 🏳️🌈👨❤️💋👨❤️🙂
They could have easily successfully, just simply design their aircraft for speed instead of maneuver.
The Japanese can still strike back at Marianas Island (B-29 base) with P1Y twin engine Bomber.
Desperation indeed. I think I heard about a Kamikaze pilot who went on 9 missions without success, after the 9th mission he was shot. Talking about Kamikazes how about British Bomber Command, they apparently had a higher loss rate than Kamikazes as their chance of surviving 30 ops was infinitesimal and a number of Kamikaze missions were aborted due to various operational problems. Not justified, usually a last attempt to stave off defeat. If you weren't losing you wouldn't use these tactics. Although as I said above, the British and US bombing campaign were more costly to the Allies though they could afford the cost both monetary and in lives (Morally I can't comment).
To me the suicide pilots and plans were a act of desperation. My father served in the navy during WW2 on the aircraft carrier the Franklin. He told me that a few of the pilots were chained in their airplanes. That seems kind of sad to me.
Sadly i need to disagree. The japanese losses in the air were devastating. If you compare how many planes the japanese lost to achieve one bomb hit - Kamikaze paid out. About 9000 allied soldiers died by their hands. This is the sad reality of war .
I believe that the Japanese Kamikaze attacks, probably had a much more volatile effect than anyone else during the war. But not for the reasons one might think. As the old saying goes: "Location, location, location." Unlike all the other combatants in the war, the conflict between the IJN and the US Naval Battle Groups could have had MUCH higher significance, because the US was out in the middle of the Pacific.nNo front. No rear. No ground. No kidding. It is because of this isolation that made the IJN Kamikaze attacks that much more effective. But only to a point. As the Americans had shown since the attack at Pearl Harbor; yes. American troops and civilians COULD be shaken. But ultimately, not detered. In this way, the Kamikaze attacks were doomed to fail from the beginning. As if to make a prophet of Admiral Yamamoto, Japan's Pearl Harbor strike HAD in fact awoken a "sleeping giant." By the time the Kamikaze attacks began to happen, it was far too late to hope of putting that genie back in the bottle. As you pointed out, not only had America's industrial economy and production made that idea preposterous. But the actual resolve of the American people had become steeled against such psychological damage IN THE MOMENT. At that time of America's history, the people were unified under one goal and one purpose as to the cost of victory in WWII (unlike the war approximately 20 yrs later).
As for the "morality" or "effectiveness" of suicide attacks. I believe this is a question best left unasked. Mainly because, the answer is based on perspective. The winning Army vs those asked to do it. For the winners, it's a question they shouldn't try to answer. As their overall victory places them in the envious position of not HAVING to know whether these desperate measures were necessary. For the "Losing" side, it's a question that can't properly be answered. As it leaves too many "what ifs." It also places the survivors in a position of questioning those who gave their all, only to ultimately fail. Which is a truly disrespectful way of honoring their sacrifice.
🫢👍
Tactically effective, strategically not effective, like the V1 and V2...
There is one thing that is universal amongst brave men throughout history:
That is the belief that Death on your feet is better than submission on your knees.
I had read tales of kamikazes and other suicide attackers since I was a kid. John Brown was relatable to me. I went out of my way to study them as I grew older.
I was unsurprised by the 9/11 attacks and yet I was impressed by their dedication given that they acted as teams pursuing a unified purpose. Some of those who believe they are being oppressed will adopt any tactic that they believe will best serve their goals, and to such people death is but a little thing.
What about death because 2 grown men on either side of a conflict can’t sit down like reasonable people and not resort to war. I have feel no need to go and die for such men
@@mbryson2899 They were Saudis and hardly oppressed. Think though you are on a plane with men, women and children and you and your mates are going to kill all of them.
what do any western suicidal warriors have to do with anything japanese in any capacity? need a new writer who maybe knows a little bit about how history works.
Next do: 'So How Effective Was Instant Rice Krispies in WW2? - The TRUE Impact of _Enola Gay_ and _Bockscar_ in WW2'
Pure pragmatism. Conventional tactics were not going to work. All the planes and their pilots would be lost. "So many eggs thrown against a wall". Tokko tactics gave a much better chance of sinking or damaging a ship. A simple matter of percentages, that the Japanese, pilot and command, were willing to understand.
There is another legacy of the Kamikaze.
The Soviet Navy, after WW2 lined up to oppose the navies of the Western powers. Stalin wanted a big oceangoing fleet after the war, and Soviet naval planners planned accordingly. They were talking nonsense. There was no symmetrical contest between the USSR and the West at sea. Soviet shipbuilding, and industry would never catch up, no matter how many "Five Year Plans" they tried. Stalin's death put paid to that. Instead, the Soviets took their naval lessons from WW2's losers. The Soviet's saw two flaws in the Kamikaze as an anti-shipping weapon. First, a lack of hitting power. That was resolved by going nuclear. The second flaw was the obvious flaw in the "guidance system." Various effective solutions were employed. This gave the Soviets a highly effective weapon against US aircraft carrier groups.
The modern equivalent of the Kamikaze is the anti-ship cruise missile. In respect of the psychological impact. I'd certainly concede that conventional missiles do not have the same impact. The impact of a nuclear anti-ship missile on the survivors will be at least as significant as that of the Kamikaze.
The Soviets copied us
It is a mistake to treat suicide bombings as the same as kamikaze attacks. Kamikaze attacks were carried out by planes emblazoned with the Japanese flag against fleets engaged in combat operations.
These Japanese pilots got next level guts to willingly blow themselves upp just to take down others
Guts? LMAO, insanity.
Did the Kamikaze attacks stop the invasion of Okinawa? Did it stop the B29 bombings of Japanese cities? Did the Kamikaze attacks destroy our Navy. No it did not! For who won the Pacific War kid?
@@11B30Inf chill man , why you gotta be so defensive?
I ain't saying they won the war but you're a fool if you don't give those men the credit they deserve.
It doesn't matter which side they fought for , they believed in their nation and gave their lives for it nothing wrong with that.
Im just appreciating their guts
@@11B30Inf Japan could definitely win the war, if they didn’t off guarding mistake from inevitable events.