The Kamikaze Hunters

The Kamikaze Hunters
Author: Will Iredale
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2016-06-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1681771799
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In May 1945, with victory in Europe established, the war was all but over. But on the other side of the world, the Allies were still engaged in a bitter struggle to control the Pacific. And it was then that the Japanese unleashed a terrible new form of warfare: the suicide pilots, or Kamikaze.Drawing on meticulous research and unique personal access to the remaining survivors, Will Iredale follows a group of young men from the moment they signed up through their initial training to the terrifying reality of fighting against pilots who, in the cruel last summer of the war, chose death rather than risk their country's dishonorable defeat—and deliberately flew their planes into Allied aircraft carriers.

Kamikaze

Kamikaze
Author: Adrian Stewart
Publisher: Pen and Sword Aviation
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2020-07-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1526748061
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In this fascinating book the author examines the Japanese concept of Kamikaze, the deliberate self-sacrifice of life in the cause of victory. This attitude, while incomprehensible to their American and European enemies, has its roots in the samurai tradition of fighting for their master or nation regardless of personal safety. By late 1944 the Japanese had already proved themselves fanatical but the actions of the Kamikaze Corps of pilots from the Leyte Gulf battle onwards took matters to a new level. Allied forces were shocked to find themselves the subject of widespread deliberate suicide attacks by pilots. These continued during the invasion of the Philippines in early 1945 and reached a climax during the Battle of Okinawa from 1 April to June 1945. In total over 1000 kamikaze airmen perished. Graphic description of these suicide attacks and the resulting loss of life and ships litter this revealing and shocking book. The author’s in depth study of the historic and cultural reasons for this seemingly reckless courage is important and illuminating.

Kamikaze

Kamikaze
Author: Steven J. Zaloga
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 95
Release: 2011-09-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1780960816
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The destruction of much of the remainder of the Japanese fleet and its air arm in the later half of 1944 left the Japanese Home Islands vulnerable to attack by US naval and air forces. In desperation, the Imperial Japanese Navy proposed using “special attack” formations, or suicide attacks. These initially consisted of crude improvisations of conventional aircraft fitted with high-explosive bombs that could be crashed into US warships. Called “Divine Wind” (Kamikaze), the special attack formations first saw action in 1944, and became the scourge of the US fleet in the battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945. In view of the success of these attacks, the Japanese armed forces began to develop an entire range of new special attack weapons. This book will begin by examining the initial kamikaze aircraft attacks, but the focus of the book will be on the dedicated special attack weapons developed in 1944. It also covers specialized suicide attack weapons such as anti-tank lunge mines.

Adventures of a Sea Hunter

Adventures of a Sea Hunter
Author: James Delgado
Publisher: D & M Publishers
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2009-07-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1926685601
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As a "Sea Hunter" and host, with novelist Clive Cussler, for the new National Geographic International television series, join Delgado as the team searches for, discovers and explores, among others, the wrecks of RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued Titanic’s survivors; Mary Celeste, the infamous "ghost ship" found sailing alone without a soul aboard, in the mid-Atlantic in 1872; Vrouw Maria, a perfectly preserved Dutch cargo ship of 1771, discovered on the bottom of the Baltic Ocean packed with cargo, including crates of long-lost Old Masters belonging to Empress Catherine the Great of Russia; the lost ships of the Mongol fleet of Kublai Khan that invaded Japan in 1274; and wreck of the USS Mississinewa, the first ship sunk by a Japanese "suicide submarine" in WWII. Stories and personalities of the past are interspersed with visits and voyages around the world - crossing the Atlantic, drifting in a powerless ship at the mercy of gales in the heart of the Pacific, and navigating through the fabled Northwest Passage. The undeniable thrill of being where history was made make "Adventures of a Sea Hunter" a highly entertaining, personal account of the exploration of the sea and the past that rests beneath the waves.

Formidable

Formidable
Author: Terry Crowdy
Publisher: Pen and Sword Maritime
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2023-04-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 139908769X
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“It's all well-written and well-illustrated with 208 black and white photos and two black and white maps.” — Historical Miniatures Gaming Society HMS Formidable was a British aircraft carrier during the Second World War. One of four Illustrious-class carriers, Formidable was an armored carrier, able to withstand air attacks, guarding its precious aircraft hangar with an armor-plated flight-deck. As well as its squadrons of fighters and torpedo bombers, Formidable was armed with sixteen 4.5-inch dual-purpose guns, mounted in eight turrets. When action stations sounded, in one of these turrets, sweating in the tropical heat due to heavy asbestos anti-flash gear, lifting shells from the hoist to the gunner, while frantically turning the air into a ‘plum pudding’ of smoke and flame to smash the enemy kamikaze from the sky, was the author’s grandfather, Arthur Flint. Illustrated with almost 200 contemporary photographs throughout, Formidable is a memorial to the voyages and service of Arthur Flint and his shipmates during the war, from the Battle of Matapan, the landings in North Africa, Sicily and Salerno, to the arctic hunt for Tirpitz, before Formidable steamed east to Sydney in 1945 and joined the British Pacific Fleet, fighting alongside the Americans at Okinawa and the final assault against Japan.

The Pathfinders

The Pathfinders
Author: Will Iredale
Publisher: W H Allen
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780753557822
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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER! Military History Matters Book of the Year Bronze Award Winner 'Compelling... sensitive, colourful and moving' -- Saul David, Telegraph 'Fascinating and utterly gripping' -- James Holland 'Absorbing' -- Daily Mail Book of the Week The incredible story of the crack team of men and women who transformed RAF Bomber Command and helped the Allies deliver decisive victory over Nazi Germany. The Pathfinders were ordinary men and women from a range of nations who revolutionised the efficiency of the Allies' air campaign over mainland Europe. They elevated Bomber Command - initially the only part of the Allied war effort capable of attacking the heart of Nazi Germany - from an impotent force on the cusp of disintegration in 1942 to one capable of razing whole German cities to the ground in a single night, striking with devastating accuracy, inspiring fear and loathing in Hitler's senior command. With exclusive interviews with remaining survivors, personal diaries, previously classified records and never-before seen photographs, The Pathfinders brings to life the characters of the airmen and women - many barely out of their teens - who took to the skies in legendary British aircraft such as the Lancaster and the Mosquito, facing almost unimaginable levels of violence from enemy fighter planes to strike at the heart of the Nazi war machine.

Widowmaker

Widowmaker
Author: Tim Hillier-Graves
Publisher: Casemate
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2020-08-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612009131
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The dramatic history behind one of WWII’s most powerful—and dangerous—planes, “spiced with many first-hand accounts, American and British” (Aeroplane). Despite everything, I felt very lucky to have flown Corsairs. They were the best, you know, even though it took me some time to realize this when so many friends died flying them. —Colin Facer, Corsair pilot, HMS Illustrious The Vought-Sikorsky Corsair was one of the most potent fighters of WWII—and one of the most flawed. Conceived by Rex Beisel, Vought’s Chief Designer in 1938, it was condemned by the US Navy as too dangerous for carrier operations and wasn’t certified for use at sea. With British companies unable to build fighters with sufficient range and potency for carrier use, the Admiralty sought alternatives, and due to Roosevelt’s Lend Lease program, they could acquire weapons from American factories. In practice, this meant standing in line behind the US military for service, but it still opened up new opportunities. So with newly built Corsairs being stockpiled and the promise of an improved version to come, the Royal Navy saw an opening worthy of development and exploited it. By the end of the war, the Fleet Air Arm had acquired more than 2,000 Corsairs to equip its squadrons. But the risks identified by the USN were largely ignored by the Royal Navy and far too many men and aircraft were lost in accidents as a result. Yet in the hands of experienced carrier pilots, its virtues were only too apparent and, in due course, they achieved great things. Eventually, the US Navy noted this “success” and certified the Corsair for use on their carriers too, but the aircraft never entirely lost its reputation as a “widowmaker.” This book, with photos included, describes the Corsair’s development and tells the sad but inspiring story of the young men who struggled and suffered to make the Corsair a going concern in the most vicious, unforgiving war one can imagine. The author met and corresponded with almost a hundred veterans from America, Britain, New Zealand, and Canada. Their recollections made this book possible—and through their vivid memories we can experience what it felt like to be barely of age, a civilian called to arms, and a fighter pilot.

Flying against Fate

Flying against Fate
Author: S. P. MacKenzie
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2017-08-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0700624694
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During World War II, Allied casualty rates in the air were high. Of the roughly 125,000 who served as aircrew with Bomber Command, 59,423 were killed or missing and presumed killed—a fatality rate of 45.5%. With odds like that, it would be no surprise if there were as few atheists in cockpits as there were in foxholes; and indeed, many airmen faced their dangerous missions with beliefs and rituals ranging from the traditional to the outlandish. Military historian S. P. MacKenzie considers this phenomenon in Flying against Fate, a pioneering study of the important role that superstition played in combat flier morale among the Allies in World War II. Mining a wealth of documents as well as a trove of published and unpublished memoirs and diaries, MacKenzie examines the myriad forms combat fliers' superstitions assumed, from jinxes to premonitions. Most commonly, airmen carried amulets or talismans—lucky boots or a stuffed toy; a coin whose year numbers added up to thirteen; counterintuitively, a boomerang. Some performed rituals or avoided other acts, e.g., having a photo taken before a flight. Whatever seemed to work was worth sticking with, and a heightened risk often meant an upsurge in superstitious thought and behavior. MacKenzie delves into behavior analysis studies to help explain the psychology behind much of the behavior he documents—not slighting the large cohort of crew members and commanders who demurred. He also looks into the ways in which superstitious behavior was tolerated or even encouraged by those in command who saw it as a means of buttressing morale. The first in-depth exploration of just how varied and deeply felt superstitious beliefs were to tens of thousands of combat fliers, Flying against Fate expands our understanding of a major aspect of the psychology of war in the air and of World War II.

Historical Dictionary of World War II

Historical Dictionary of World War II
Author: Anne Sharp Wells
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 521
Release: 2023-12-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1538102560
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World War II was the largest and most costly conflict in history, the first true global war. Fought on land, on sea, and in the air, it involved numerous countries and killed, maimed, or displaced millions of people, both civilian and military, around the world. In spite of the alliances that bound many of the same participants, the war was essentially two separate but simultaneous conflicts: one involved Japan as the major antagonist and took place mostly in Asia and the Pacific; and the other, initiated by Germany and Italy, was contested mainly in Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic. This book focuses on the lesser known war, the war with Japan. It begins with Japan’s seizure of Manchuria from China in 1931 and covers Japan’s ambitious attacks on Pearl Harbor and other territories ten years later, the use of atomic bombs on Japan’s cities, and the end of the Allied occupation of Japan in 1952. Although Japan renounced war in its 1947 constitution, conflict continued across Asia, as former colonies fought for independence and civil war engulfed other areas. Historical Dictionary of World War II: The War Against Japan, Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 500 cross-referenced entries on the military, diplomatic, political, social, economic, and scientific aspects of the war, in addition to the lives of the people who participated in and directed the war. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the war against Japan during World War II.

Forgotten Casualties

Forgotten Casualties
Author: Kevin T Hall
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2023-08-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1531502881
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Sheds new light on the mistreatment of downed airmen during World War II and the overall relationship between the air war and state-sponsored violence. Throughout the vast expanse of the Pacific, the remoteness of Southeast Asia, and the rural and urban communities in Nazi-occupied Europe, more than 120,000 American airmen were shot down over enemy territory during World War II, thousands of whom were mistreated and executed. The perpetrators were not just solely fanatical soldiers or Nazi zealots but also ordinary civilians triggered by the death and devastation inflicted by the war. In Forgotten Casualties, author Kevin T Hall examines Axis violence inflicted on downed Allied airmen during this global war. Compared with all other armed conflicts, World War II exhibited the most widespread and ruthless violence committed against airmen. Flyers were deemed guilty because of their association with the Allied air forces, and their fate remained in the hands of their often-hostile captors. Axis citizens angered by the devastation inflicted by the war, along with the regimes’ consent and often encouragement of citizens to take matters into their own hands, resulted in thousands of Allied flyers’ being mistreated and executed by enraged civilians. Written to help advance the relatively limited discourse on the mistreatment against flyers in World War II, Forgotten Casualties is the first book to analyze the Axis violence committed against Allied airmen in a comparative, international perspective. Effectively comparing and contrasting the treatment of POWs in Germany with that of their counterparts in Japan, Hall’s thorough analysis of rarely seen primary and secondary sources sheds new light on the largely overlooked complex relationship among the air war, propaganda, the role of civilians, and state-sponsored terror during the radicalized conflict. Sources include postwar trial testimonies, Missing Air Crew Reports (MACR), Escape and Evasion reports, perpetrators’ explanations and rationalizations for their actions, extensive judicial sources, transcripts of court proceedings, autopsy reports, appeals for clemency, and justifications for verdicts. Drawing heavily on airmen’s personal accounts and the testimonies of both witnesses and perpetrators from the postwar crimes trials, Forgotten Casualties offers a new narrative of this largely overlooked aspect of Axis violence.