Likely not coming home

As the title shows, this fuzzy but haunting
photo shows the main Japanese surface fleet
leaving Brunei in Borneo heading for the
biggest naval battle in history at Leyte
Gulf.
I have often wondered about all the sailors
aboard these ships. Were they confident of
victory? Were they scared? Had they written
their goodbye letters to their parents and
wives and sweethearts?
Many, if not most of these young men will
not be coming home. Nor will these mighty
ships come home either.
Their masters sowed the winds of war and
these guys shall reap the whirlwind.

All of the above.

Somber thoughts. I bet that despite the propaganda most of them, at that time, had a pretty good idea the war was lost.

By the time the battle was over I'd say you're right on.

Considering the iron discipline and secrecy of the Japanese military as a whole I think many of those young Japanese sailors had no idea. They had been taught from birth not to question what they were told. I watched an interview with a survivor of the Yamota. He claimed that they did know that fuel was low but were confident that they would succeed. One survivor claimed that before she was sunk he was excited to be finally putting to sea and was looking forward to destroying the American fleet.

Gotta remember that they had a system where someone of lower stature did not openly oppose and or question a superior. Heck when they had shortages they told the people it was because stuff was being diverted to the "glorious military who was busy beating the Americans and Chinese".

Rick

I'm not so sure. Strategic bombing of the home islands started in June of '44. You'd have to be pretty dumb to believe you're winning when you're now being bombed at home.

My dad was on a sea going tug. Sent to the islands to bring back damaged ships. He told me how they captured a Kamikaze pilot. Guy came in waving his wings and making all kinds of odd moves. Hoping no one would shoot at him.

He told them how they were trained. They were taught how to take off and fly. Landing not so much. It was a dishonor to come back. You were not allowed to question the higher up.You had your place and was expected to stay in it.

He had gone home to Japan to see relatives for Christmas 1941. Got trapped in country. Managed to hide out for two years. Before he was turned in. Got thrown jail then was released to join the Kamikaze group.He said many knew the war was lost. But to say anything would bring death to your family. They would let you live to punish you.

Castle Film Slide

Yes the Yamato never even got within spitting distance. Total suicide mission. Everything was from the air. Many multiple hits just trashed it. Broke up as she sank.

I have an excellent book on the Kamikaze's written by a pilot who volunteered as a kamikaze, then was sidetracked into administrative duties and never went on a mission.

We all looked at the kamikazes as hard core, dedicated fanatics. According to this book, that was not necessarily the case. Many were young men who volunteered out of idealism and then had second thoughts but could not back out. Many realized the war was lost before they went on a mission, and adopted the attitude of why should they die for a lost cause. They were on an unbelievable emotional roller coaster. They'd to through an hour long pre-mission ceremony to get psyched up to it, and then the mission would be scrubbed for bad weather. The result was a bunch of drunks and insubordinates, but who would discipline them under the circumstances? One, flying a Zero and out of pure frustration, strafed and shot up his own squadron area as a parting gesture as he left on a mission.

Many secretly questioned the sanity of the high ranking officers who dreamed up and promoted the idea of kamikazes, but in the Japanese hierarchy questioning a superior officer was synonymous with a death sentence.

It's always been a fascinating subject.

Great photo, UD.

Thanks for posting.

Dean

" reap the whirlwind " yes they will !

Japan had (and to some extent still has) a caste system. Many of the lower ranking members of the Japanese military were drawn from the "untouchable" and other lower classes. The emperor, who was said to have divine powers, promised them that if they died on the field of battle they would to straight to heaven and be elevated to the highest caste there. Where have we heard that promise before?
Caste system

OH yes, secretly some questioned what was going on but didn't dare to speak out. We have trouble with that sometimes. Simply because we don't understand a total control system. None of us have ever live anywhere that if you disagreed with your betters openly could see you and your family severely punished or executed.

Ever wonder why we were able to read the Japanese messages? Sure through code breaking. But with code anytime the slightest chance that it's comprised you change the code. And yea, they did change codes but not nearly as often as they should have. Question is why? Pretty simple really. They were not stupid. But when one admitted a mistake or failure they were literally ready to commit suicide to regain their honor. So some Japanese office, rather senior said here is a code system and the non Japanese, because we the Japanese are superior, will never be able to break it. It's too difficult for them.

Now knowing that the Japanese as a people are anything but stupid, and anyone who knows anything about codes, knows that eventually any code can be broken. I'm unable to prove it but I'm willing to bet that some junior officers who themselves were code breakers in the Japanese military were sure the codes were broken but because a superior said it couldn't happen they could not argue. There was no one to go to and report on it. And unless the senior officer was willing to admit they were wrong? Well stuff like that didn't happen.

By the same token many still thought they were still winning. Just like in Nazi Germany, a lot of the people and military, especially the lower ranks, thought that Hitler had something up hi sleeve that would save them at the last minute and make them masters of the world. It's called propaganda and it can be very effective though withholding information and telling the people what they want to hear. Our politicians and the parties do it all the time and the faithful soak it up like a sponge.

Rick

Yes, the picture says many things. And your analogy was spot on. I felt the same things you did.