What was the importance of kamikaze in Japanese history?
The word kamikaze literally means "divine wind". The term originates from the unsucessful Mongol Invasion of 1274, when Ghenghis Khan’s grandson, Kublai Khan launched an all out assault on the isolated Japanese with the intent to make Japan part of the Yuan Dynasty in China. However, during the invasion, Kublai Khan’s ships sailed into a raging typhoon. This typhoon may have been a sign that the Japanese had the backing of the gods. Later on, during World War II, the Imperial Japanese hoped that they could drive back the advancing Allies (especially American Marines and the United States Navy) by purposely flying aircraft packed with high explosives into Allied warships. It was hoped that by inflicting heavy losses on the Allies, the Allies would see the futility of fighting the Japanese and retreat. The first ever kamikaze mission to take place was on October 25th, 1944. At around 10:00 in the morning, four A6M Zeroes carring high explosives went straight for the heart of the US Navy’s 7th Fleet (specifically a detachment called Taffy 3). Among the first victims of the kamikaze strikes was the escort carrier USS St. Lo (CVE-63). Within minutes of a kamikaze strike, the St. Lo went down with 113 men aboard. However, the most vicious kamikaze attack happened on April 16th, 1945. On that day the USS Laffey (DD-724) endured a hellish beating of four bomb hits, six kamikaze strikes and thanks to Japanese pilots strafing the Laffey, the ship lost 32 men and 71 more were wounded. In all, the kamikaze attacks were a total failure. The Allies continued to fight the Japanese, until the Americans unleashed a devastating new weapon on the unsuspecting city of Hiroshima. The date? August 6th, 1945. You may have heard of the new superweapon: it was called "Little Boy". On August 9th of that same year, the Americans dropped "Fat Man" on Nagasaki. Later, on September 2nd, 1945; the Japanese surrendered.
