Blossoms in the Wind: Human Legacies of the Kamikaze by M. G. Sheftall
Authors: M. G. Sheftall
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could have imagined, but still, two carriers for two Zeros. That was not bad. Not bad at all. He skimmed halfheartedly over the Davao administrative details to get to the Shikishima report.
The name at the top of the escort/witness action report – Warrant Officer Hiroyoshi Nishizawa – made the admiral sit up and take notice, and for an instant, a mean red jag of anger flashed through his head. What were they doing risking national heroes on tokkō escort missions for!? [52]
But then again, this hadn’t just been any tokkō mission. It had been the tokkō mission. The national will galvanizer. The one a proud and grateful populace would hear about the following morning.
The admiral read on.
Apparently, Shikishima Flight had not been able to sneak in the back door quite as successfully as the Davao boys had. Although they managed to get under the radar umbrella, the American CAP made visual contact and vectored in on them less than a minute out, forcing Nishizawa and the escorts to fight a hole through the Hellcat screen for Seki and the other strikers to exploit. In the ensuing dogfight, Flight Officer Sugawa’s Zero was hit by AA and exploded. Nishizawa accounted for two Hellcat kills [53] as the Shikishima strikers went into their final dives.
As the escorts had not exactly been in a position to observe at their leisure the events unfolding, there was no clear picture of what happened next. Under the circumstances, however, Nishizawa had done a reasonable job of relating what he could. Patching together various snippets and pieces of information from the other escort pilots upon their arrival at Cebu after the mission, he determined that one of the strikers had been downed by AA, but that at least four of the American carriers were hit, with one or two of them definitely damaged badly enough to be considered write-offs. There was no way to confirm how many of the stricken escort carriers had been sunk, but in keeping with Combined Fleet policy of late, it would not be untoward to report that all of them had gone down.
“ Yoshi, kore de nantoka naru ” (“Okay. Now things will start rolling.”) the admiral muttered, leaning back in his chair. [54] He massaged his temples and let out a long sigh that was fatigue and relief in equal parts.
Four confirmed hits. In writing. Right there on the paper, and signed by a living legend, no less. That was good enough for anyone. Four escort carriers by Shikishima Flight, another two by Kikusui Flight this morning. Scratch six flattops. Declare another national day of celebration. The Emperor and the nation needed some good news right now and 1st Air Fleet had just provided some.
*****
Twelve hours later, after all-night negotiations w ith Fukudome to create a large combined naval air command and greatly expanded tokkō force in the Philippines, the sobering statistics of losses from Operation Shō were still being tallied. The numbers were devastating: four aircraft carriers; three battleships, including the Musashi , which along with her superbattleship sister Yamato had been an icon of national pride; six heavy cruisers; four light cruisers; twelve destroyers; four subs; and, counting the planes on Ozawa’s carriers along with numerous land-based units destroyed in the air and on the ground by Task Force 38, Seventh Fleet’s escort carrier planes and the US Army Air Force, the greater part of the aviation strength of the Japanese Navy. Leyte Gulf had indeed turned out to be another Actium, but victory had gone to the Americans.
The Japanese Navy was all but finished as a conventional seagoing fighting force. Tokkō, which had provided the only glimmers of good news during the entire dismal Shō fiasco, was looking more and more like the only viable weapon left in the Navy’s arsenal. Vice Admiral Ōnishi was determined to do everything in his power to see that this was how the situation would eventually be explained to His Majesty. First the Navy, then the
The name at the top of the escort/witness action report – Warrant Officer Hiroyoshi Nishizawa – made the admiral sit up and take notice, and for an instant, a mean red jag of anger flashed through his head. What were they doing risking national heroes on tokkō escort missions for!? [52]
But then again, this hadn’t just been any tokkō mission. It had been the tokkō mission. The national will galvanizer. The one a proud and grateful populace would hear about the following morning.
The admiral read on.
Apparently, Shikishima Flight had not been able to sneak in the back door quite as successfully as the Davao boys had. Although they managed to get under the radar umbrella, the American CAP made visual contact and vectored in on them less than a minute out, forcing Nishizawa and the escorts to fight a hole through the Hellcat screen for Seki and the other strikers to exploit. In the ensuing dogfight, Flight Officer Sugawa’s Zero was hit by AA and exploded. Nishizawa accounted for two Hellcat kills [53] as the Shikishima strikers went into their final dives.
As the escorts had not exactly been in a position to observe at their leisure the events unfolding, there was no clear picture of what happened next. Under the circumstances, however, Nishizawa had done a reasonable job of relating what he could. Patching together various snippets and pieces of information from the other escort pilots upon their arrival at Cebu after the mission, he determined that one of the strikers had been downed by AA, but that at least four of the American carriers were hit, with one or two of them definitely damaged badly enough to be considered write-offs. There was no way to confirm how many of the stricken escort carriers had been sunk, but in keeping with Combined Fleet policy of late, it would not be untoward to report that all of them had gone down.
“ Yoshi, kore de nantoka naru ” (“Okay. Now things will start rolling.”) the admiral muttered, leaning back in his chair. [54] He massaged his temples and let out a long sigh that was fatigue and relief in equal parts.
Four confirmed hits. In writing. Right there on the paper, and signed by a living legend, no less. That was good enough for anyone. Four escort carriers by Shikishima Flight, another two by Kikusui Flight this morning. Scratch six flattops. Declare another national day of celebration. The Emperor and the nation needed some good news right now and 1st Air Fleet had just provided some.
*****
Twelve hours later, after all-night negotiations w ith Fukudome to create a large combined naval air command and greatly expanded tokkō force in the Philippines, the sobering statistics of losses from Operation Shō were still being tallied. The numbers were devastating: four aircraft carriers; three battleships, including the Musashi , which along with her superbattleship sister Yamato had been an icon of national pride; six heavy cruisers; four light cruisers; twelve destroyers; four subs; and, counting the planes on Ozawa’s carriers along with numerous land-based units destroyed in the air and on the ground by Task Force 38, Seventh Fleet’s escort carrier planes and the US Army Air Force, the greater part of the aviation strength of the Japanese Navy. Leyte Gulf had indeed turned out to be another Actium, but victory had gone to the Americans.
The Japanese Navy was all but finished as a conventional seagoing fighting force. Tokkō, which had provided the only glimmers of good news during the entire dismal Shō fiasco, was looking more and more like the only viable weapon left in the Navy’s arsenal. Vice Admiral Ōnishi was determined to do everything in his power to see that this was how the situation would eventually be explained to His Majesty. First the Navy, then the
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