With the Possum and the Eagle: The Memoir of a Navigator's War over Germany and Japan

18. The Divine Winds of Heaven

18: The Divine Winds of Heaven The kamikaze suicide attacks against our facilities and personnel on Saipan brought new dimensions to our preparations to bombJapan. We were almost never confronted with suicide attacks by German fighter pilots. The Nazis were brutal fanatics , but I had never encountered German fighter pilots who would sacrifice their lives for religious or cultural reasons, or for devotion to an emperor. The marines told me about the suicides of the Japanese defenders of Saipan and their cries of "Banzai!" as they jumped to their deaths rather than be captured. We were fighting against a foe who gloried in death as "a divine wind of heaven." Japanese history is culturally different from that of any Western nation. During World War II,Japan's military elite was aided by the nation's ancient samurai tradition. The military aristocracy used Japan's warrior tradition to inspire the Japanese people to fight Americans to the death. The Bushido and samurai codes were used to inspire their soldiers, sailors, and pilots to make reckless suicide attacks on our troops, warships, and air bases. Saipan was relatively close to theJapanese home islands, and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo resigned in disgrace after its capture, which was a crushing defeat for the military elite and warrior class that ruledJapan. Saipan was an ideal target for the samurai tradition. The militarists could send kamikazes there to attack the B-29 bombers and crews threatening their homeland. The young pilots were told their sacrifices had been divinely inspired by the emperor, and they believed they were about to ride the winds of heaven to eternal glory. The tempo of kamikaze attacks increased asJapan faced the possibility of defeat on Iwo Jima. Reaction to this fanaticism in part fueled the later decisions to use fire raids and atomic bombs. Our planners knew that an invasion would be resisted by millions offanatical troops and civilians inspired to die for their emperor. The first kamikaze attack on Saipan came on the night of 3 November 1944. At a little before ten that evening, shortly after I re202 The Divine Heaven turned to my tent from headquarters,Japanese twin-engine fighterbombers came roaring down from the north in a bright moonlit sky, strafing the length of our runway. Our few antiaircraft guns opened up on them, but the fightercbombers were flying so low I doubted that our gunners hit any of the attacking aircraft. They dropped bombs, off and made more passes over field, that moved. Al of ils into an aircraft nance killing a mecha dalnaging three B~29s, The most serious kamikaze attack occurred early in the morning before takeoff for the second mission to Tokyo. Apparently this attack was in retaliation for our first Tokyo mission on 24 November. The survivingJapanese troops concealed in the caves ofSaipan probably had given notice to Iwo Jima of our mission preparation by I was in the cOlInnand operations set flight line a short the first planes take I had been the bomb route lead and bombardiers heard the roar of and tire. vVe rushed and saw several bombers flash by flying fifty feet above our runway. They had no trouble locating our B-29s, which were lined up for takeoff on the edge of the airfield. Maintenance crews had set up portable lights by the aircraft, while they made final preparations for the mission. I counted ten fighter-bombers as they made several passes down the airstrip. them dropped a the runway. It engulfed and with tremendous knocking the three the shook my head to saw an unexploded a few feet away. The field telephone inside the Quonset hut began to ring and I rushed to answer it. It was General Hansell. "Nutter, aren't you the officer of the day?" he asked. "vVhat are you doing to stop this attack on our mission?" to I had no idea how I should answer his question. you there?" he answer in the when there tremendous of the blast knocked bomb or a B-29 had 204 WITH THE POSSUM AND THE EAGLE up. I didn't drop the phone. I lay on my back wondering if the unexploded bomb would go off. Without standing up, I yelled to Hansell on the phone, "There's nothing I can do sir!" and hung up. The Japanese attack lasted for about three-quarters of an hour. A few minutes later, Hansell...