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Final Kamikaze Mission of WW2 | The Last Kamikaze Pilot

On the 15th of August 1945, the Japanese Emperor Hirohito gave a speech on the radio in which he announced the unconditional surrender of Japan to the Allied powers. Among many nationalistic Japanese, this Jewel Voice Broadcast caused quite the uproar. Seppuku, ritual suicide was ingrained in Japanese culture as an honourable course of action. Following Japan’s surrender, hundreds of high- and lower-ranking Japanese officers and soldiers took their own lives in one final act of patriotism to the Empire. A more novel way of sacrificing oneself for the empire was kamikaze, a tactic that was only officially endorsed in October 1944 after the dire situation of Japan’s war effort became clear to the Japanese people and army. ►Consider Supporting HoH: https://www.patreon.com/HouseofHistory ►My Twitter:https://twitter.com/Oscar_HoH My videos tend to get arbitrarily demonetized. That is why I decided to open up a Patreon where people can support the channel. If you decide to pledge as little as 1$/month you will gain access to a monthly series exclusive to my Patrons! Chapters: 0:00 The Last Kamikaze Watch my documentary series: ►History of Prussia playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLazn7eofVtjJjSlui3iOOz0P3KI7-v3o5 ►End of Empire - Downfall of the Qing Dynasty playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLazn7eofVtjLnVJY6NyQX8JlVApf40DLs ►World War 2 playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLazn7eofVtjLYTXde713nRftdAPj7YW_a ►Hitler's Spies playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLazn7eofVtjJGQ4c1q7mQhTh5vM54_17o The content of this video covers events, people or concepts via a lecture-style presentation that is educational and historical in nature. Every video is original content by House of History. The events relating to conflict in this video are portrayed in their historical context without either value judgment or an ideological message attached to it. There is no intent to shock, upset or disgust. The goal of my channel is to make interesting lecture-style videos, no more, no less. Thank you for taking the time to check out House of History, I hope you will find the films informative, interesting and enjoyable! Admiral Takijiro Onishi, who had the dubious title ‘father of the kamikaze’ as he was the creator and propagator of the tactic, took his own life through ritual suicide the day after the Jewel Voice Broadcast was aired. In a letter he left, he apologised for the approximately 4000 young men he sent off to die in kamikaze attacks. On the Japanese mainland, commanders disarmed their soldiers and removed the propellors from aircraft to prevent anyone from using them in an illegitimate kamikaze attack. Yet on Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost island, there was a commander on an airbase that listened to the broadcast and did not consider disarming his troops or removing propellors. In fact, he did quite the opposite. The news of Japan’s unconditional surrender reached an admiral of the Japanese 5th Air Fleet, Admiral Matome Ugaki. Now we actually know Admiral Ugaki very well because he wrote an extensive set of diaries during the war which reveals both personal motives, emotions and the general war-mindset. That day, Ugaki wrote that due to the static on the radio, he could not correctly hear the Emperor but could guess most of what was being said. “I’ve never been so ashamed of myself.” was his closing sentence that day. Already before the surrender, Ugaki had decided h e himself would not give himself up but embark on one final kamikaze mission. He wanted to “ram enemy vessels at Okinawa”. Now, officially Ugaki had not received a ceasefire order, so he figured he was not guilty of insubordination. That afternoon Ugaki stripped himself of any military rank epaulettes and his medals, leaving him with a regular dark green uniform. The only item he kept was the short sword that was given to him by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, one of his former superiors. He then drank a toast with his staff who took a photograph of him in front of the bomber that was going to be used as kamikaze aircraft. The photo you’re seeing right now was taken moments before Ugaki, and his crew took off on their mission. At the airfield, 11 Yokosuka D4Y Suisei dive bombers stood ready for the unit. If you have any feedback, questions or criticism feel free to leave a comment. Your opinion truly aids me in improving the content of the channel! If you have a question, feel free to leave a comment and I will either write a reply, answer your question in a Q&A video, or make an entire video about it! Sources: http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/kamikaze/books/general/hoyt1/ https://www.historynet.com/the-last-kamikaze.htm http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/kamikaze/writings/books/ugaki/ Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons #HouseofHistory #History #WW2