Kamikaze Downfall

Kamikaze means divine wind. This divine wind was first called on in the 13th century as many Mongol ships were very close to invade the unprepared and undermanned Japan. However, the Mongol’s plans were thwarted when a big wind out of nowhere rose up and destroyed all of the Mongol’s ships saving Japan from almost certain defeat. (Fahey) Kamikaze was later called on again in the 20th century to try and save Japan from the Allies who were going to invade in World War 2. However, this time the divine wind came in the form of suicide plane and submarine bombing missions. Kamikaze had a cause for happening, had unique weaponry, an uprising, and a downfall.
Kamikaze had causes for it to occur. The first cause of Kamikaze was that the American Navy …show more content…
The first problem that lead to the down fall of Kamikaze was that the planes that carried the Ohkas were slow and were often shot down before the Ohkas would even be in range to get a shot at attacking the enemies ship. The Kaitens had a similar problem to the Ohkas because their ships were slow as well. They were very easy targets for the Allies to attack before the Kaitens could do anything. To try and speed up the process of getting Ohkas in use they started to try and launch them off ramps. However, this only worked if the boats were in striking distance. There was also a problem in the design of the ramps, making them very weak and often breaking. Kaitens also began to become launched from unloading docks. However, due to the lack of navigation tools in them, they were usually unsuccessful because they could not find the target. Another downfall of Kamikaze actually did not happen in Japan, but in Germany. In Germany they were trying to save Berlin from being liberated. They were desperate enough to try Kamikaze in April of 1945. However, they used their Kamikaze to crash into American bomber planes and crucial bridges that the Allies were on and needed to cross to reach Berlin. Nonetheless this was all in vain because the Allies defeated their Kamikaze attacks and liberated Berlin from Nazi reign. The last piece of the downfall of Kamikaze was when in August of 1945 President Truman ordered to bombs to be dropped on Japan. This ended Japan’s Kamikaze, fighting, and also World War Two. (PBS) Many people actually believe that Truman dropped the atomic bombs on Japan because he thought that Kamikaze was unjust war and they needed to stop fighting a battle that was basically already