At the end of World War II, the Japanese who lost to the sky in the Pacific Ocean were no longer left. The former powerful Japanese Navy Combined Fleet is now only broken ships and broken aircraft carriers, and there are not even one aircraft carrier. It is even more unimaginable to fight against the US Navy. But how could Japanese fascists die? They were determined to let the pilots hit American warships as their dying struggle. The captain of the first Kamikaze Squad, , is even advocated by Japan as the "military god" who voluntarily led the Kamikaze Squad to fight. However, the real Guan Xingnan in history was actually forced to go.
1. The Devil's Suggestions
On October 20, 1944, Japanese Navy Lieutenant General Oshiki Takijiro became the commander of the Japanese Navy's First Air Fleet. If were placed in the past, Takijiro Oshiki would have been laughed at. After all, the First Air Fleet had three aircraft carriers, several land airports and 1,600 various combat aircraft. , but now he really can't enjoy it, because the First Air Fleet now has no aircraft carrier, and the entire army has only 130 combat aircraft, and only 40 can take off. The situation in made Oshiki Takijiro not happy at all. He was just taking over a mess.
What made Oshiki Takijiro even more upset was that his mission was to provide aviation cover for Keno Kurita's fleet in the JI operation. Anyone with some naval knowledge knows that this is impossible. He doesn't have an aircraft carrier, and there are only 40 aircraft. , and his opponent , William Halsey, , has eight aircraft carriers and eight light aircraft carriers , and there are as many as thousands of carrier-based aircraft. Unless his fighter jets are all Zen Star Technology, they will definitely be smashed to pieces by Halsey in an instant. , the base camp's order was to ask him to provide aviation cover, which made him feel sad.
And Takijiro Oshiki's countermeasures are also very simple. He is planning to prescribe the right medicine. The so-called prescription of the right medicine is to directly sank the aircraft carrier. He also estimated that if the plane was hung with ammunition and directly hit the American aircraft carrier, it would probably be possible to sank the American aircraft carrier. If you are lucky, you can almost replace an American aircraft carrier with one aircraft, which will definitely gain air supremacy! So Takijiro Oshiki directly took his idea to the military meeting and summarized this idea as " one machine for another ship, and his reputation is Chiaki ".
This is said to be as good as the bastard, so let Zero fighter mount a bomb to hit the US warship. , not to mention whether it can break through the interception of US carrier-based aircraft, or not be sieve by the dense American air defense firepower, just asking pilots to engage in organized suicide attacks is enough to be a bastard. But at this time the most enthusiastic Japanese militarists were all attending the conference. How could they think of so many things? Everyone applauded Takijiro Oshiki, believing that he should have dealt with the Americans like this long ago. So among these two hundred and five "laughter" groups, the first kamikaze special attack team was established.
2. The first captain of the Kamikaze Special Attack Team
However, Takijiro Oshiki himself was relatively calm. He knew that this was a technical job. If there was no experienced pilot leading it, would probably not be able to find these rookies anywhere in the United States, so he had to find a suitable person to serve as the captain of the Kamikaze Special Attack Team. Oshiki Takijiro looked through the list of pilots at hand, hoping to find a suitable candidate. finally selected an excellent pilot to serve as the captain of the Kamikaze Special Attack Team. This person is the captain of the Japanese Navy Air Force and the captain of the 301st Flying Team - Guan Xingnan.
Guan Xingnan was born in 1921 and was only 23 years old in 1944. At this time, as a navy captain and the captain of the flight team, his military career can be regarded as a success, not to mention that he had just married his long-loved girlfriend a few months ago. At this time, you asked him to engage in suicide attacks. Isn’t this a joke? But Takijiro Oshiki didn't think so. He felt that it was natural for him to be loyal to the emperor as a navy soldier. He immediately called Guan Xingnan. Oshiki Takijiro explained to Guan Xingnan in detail his crazy plan, and then let Guan Xingnan be the captain of the flying team.
According to the report of the Japanese Navy at that time, after hearing the words of Takijiro Oshiki, Guan Xingnan was silent and said firmly: "Please make sure I do it." means that Guan Xingnan took the initiative to ask for loyalty to the Emperor, and he volunteered to participate. But as long as people with normal minds think about it, they will know that it is a completely lie. is also young and promising, and has just married a newlywed wife. How could it be that they should take the initiative to lead such a suicide attack? looks like the Japanese military's boast and distortion of the facts. So what is the real situation?
According to the records of the Navy Reporting Staff of the Japan Alliance Club who was present at the time, Guan Xingnan's reaction can be said to be very subtle after hearing Takijiro Oshiki's words. The man in the Xingnan was silent for a full ten minutes. No one knew what he was thinking. Ten minutes later, he said "Abide by the order". The record of is very different from the above, but it reflects Guan Xingnan's true thoughts, despair, unwillingness, pain and helplessness. This is probably the common feature of the members of the Kamikaze Special Attack Team at that time. And after this, what did Guan Xingnan feel?
3. The helpless Guan Xingnan
In fact, after Guan Xingnan left Takijiro Oshiki's office, Onoda Masato secretly found Guan Xingnan for an interview. Guan Xingnan's reaction at this time slapped those who advocated the Kamikaze Special Attack Team in the face. He complained to Onoda Masato: "I think Japan is going to be over! Even an excellent pilot like me is forced to die!" At this time, Guan Xingnan was very angry and complained: "Just with my ability, I don't need to use an airplane to hit it, and I can throw a 500-kilogram bomb on the deck of the opponent's aircraft carrier!"
After a moment, Guan Xingnan suddenly lamented: "If you have an order, you can't help yourself!" Guan Xingnan's lament can make people feel helpless even through the words: "I didn't die for His Majesty the Emperor! Not for Japan! But for my wife and family!" The above records of are recorded in the "Secret Words on the Birth of the Kamikaze Special Attack Team" written by Masato Onoda after the war. From here we can find a key point. Guan Xingnan agreed to participate in the suicide attack not because of other reasons, but for his wife and family. implied that if he didn't go, his family and wife would be persecuted.
This was a very common situation in Japan at that time. Some people who did things different from the mainstream society's ideas, or those who did not complete the tasks arranged by the army, would be regarded as non-nationals. The situation of , rather than a citizen, is also very miserable. It is the least likely to be bullied, and in severe cases, it is even in danger of life. It was precisely in order to avoid his family from suffering such a terrible fate that Guan Xingnan agreed to lead the Kamikaze Special Attack Team. shows that Oshiki Takijiro did not regard the man as a human, but just as a consumable.
On October 21, 1944, Guan Xingnan led the first Kamikaze special attack team, Fujima Team, to attack, but this attack was very unsuccessful. The US fleet was not found due to weather reasons. He led the team to attack twice since then, but he was unable to find the position of the US military. The result of made Takijiro Oshiki very angry, and some even ordered Guan Xingnan to tell him, "I will definitely not come back next time I attack!"This is actually telling Guan Xingnan that he must die outside next time! On October 25, Guan Xingnan led the Fujima team to attack for the fourth time. This time he successfully found the "Tafe III" of the United States' escort aircraft carrier. Guan Xingnan, who used this as a relief, immediately led the Fujima team to the "Tafe III" escort aircraft carrier.
Conclusion
The suicide attacks of Guan Xingnan and the Shikishima team caused heavy losses to the US Navy, and Guan Xingnan and others were also touted by Japanese militarists as "military gods". But what value does such honor have to Guan Xingnan? His life came to an end with the orders of militarists. In the future, thousands of Japanese young people were forced to become special attackers by militarists, all of which was just because of the madness of militarists. Guan Xingnan and many young people with the same idea as him were excluded and treated "non-national" by Japanese society after the war because they participated in the Kamikaze Special Attack Team. This has to be said to be the tragedy of Japanese young people like Guan Xingnan at that time.
References: "The Secret Words on the Birth of the Kanyu Special Attack Team"
"The Last Words of the Special Attack"
