Author(s): Steven J. Zaloga

War/Military

With the Japanese Home Islands increasingly vulnerable, the Imperial Japanese Navy proposed using special attack formations, or suicide attacks. 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, and quickly Japan began to develop an entire range of new special attack weapons. This book examines the initial kamikaze aircraft attacks and the dedicated special attack weapons developed in 1944. It also covers specialized suicide attack weapons such as anti-tank lunge mines.