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The Americans

USS CABOT
(CVL-28)

USS ESSEX
(CV-9)

USS HANCOCK
(CV-19)

USS INTREPID
(CV-11)

 

The Japanese

The Kamikazes

A6M Zero

D4Y SUISEI

IJN Kumano

IJN Yasoshima

 

Narrated By

Marvin Scott

 

Historical Advisor

Michael Marmé, PH.D.
Fordham University,
New YORK, NY

 

REcommended links

World War II
Multimedia Database

Nine Sisters

 

Professor Michael Marmé

Professor Michael Marmé is an Associate Professor at Fordham University, Lincoln Center. Professor Marmé focuses on East Asian Studies, and teaches courses on China, Korea and Japan. His book Where the Goods of All the Provinces Converge: Suzhou and Its Elites in the Ming Dynasty will be published soon by Stanford University Press. Professor Marmé provided the Japanese perspective for the Day of the Kamikaze.

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IN day of the Kamikaze

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“Ohnishi limited the kamikaze
to one plane, one bomb, one ship.”

Professor Michael Marmé in Day of the Kamikaze

“Most kamikazes were in fact between 17 and 25 years old. So they had come of age against the backdrop of the war in China, and the war in the Pacific. They were far more influenced by concepts of devotion to the Emperor, to the nation, to the Empire, and to values of home and family, than they were under the influence of drugs or other inducements.

“ The kamikaze pilots were poorly trained, and flew aircraft that were crude by comparison to the Americans’ planes. Thousands of young men volunteered anyway.

“ People actually volunteered in greater numbers than there were planes to accommodate them. This reached the point that the decision was made that those with the best grades would get the opportunity to go.

“ Ohnishi limited the kamikaze to one plane, one bomb, one ship. This did limit the effectiveness of the technique. Initially however, they were accompanied by air cover and a reconnaissance plane. It was a desperation tactic, and through 1945, as both the Army and the Navy came to rely on the technique more and more, planes were sent off without cover, indeed with simply enough fuel to complete their mission.”