The Last Kamikazes - Japanese Attacks After the Surrender 

I actually knew genuine kamikaze pilot. A Japanese professor visiting Helsinki around 1978 told us that he was already committed, last meal and all, but the war ended quite suddenly. There was some mental problems to continue living normal life, so devoted he was.

Emperor: "Stop fighting, lay down your arms." Admiral defies his Emperor-god and leads Kamikaze attack. Emperor: "I must reward this man."

9:12 My dad makes a quick appearance here. He was a radioman in the USS Detroit, which can be faintly seen on the left center, bearthed near the Missouri because it was a Pearl Harbor veteran. The Detroit and the battleship West Virginia were the only ships present at the attack on Pearl and the surrender in Tokyo Bay.

This parallels German forces fighting well after May 8th surrender in eastern Europe as well. Good stuff, Dr Felton!

Dr. Felton, were any German diplomats still in the Germany embassy in Tokyo when the Japanese surrendered? And is anything known how the Japanese treated the German diplomats after Germany surrendered?

Mark, you briefly mentioned some of the exploits of Dutch submarines. That is not something that one normally hears about when told of WWII history. How about a video discussing the exploits of the Dutch submarine force?

On my trip to Japan I met a relative of Kamikaze pilot. The man I spoke to told me the story of his grandparents who moved to Oregon prior to the war as salmon fisherman, there they had three children(two sons and a daughter). Eventually, they decided their children should be schooled in Japan and returned; though the children never fit in being both too Japanese in the US and not Japanese enough in Japan. The daughter was the mother of the man who recited the story to me. Her younger brother would meet his fate as a kamikaze pilot and ironically because he was born in Oregon was also a US Citizen

>Our emperor is a God and must be obeyed unquestionably! >Emperor: we must surrender >Do not obey that madman!!!!

When we were all young, we didn’t appreciate history class. As we age, our eyes open more and we see how fascinating history is.😊

Never, ever in my wildest imagination would I have come up with this subject. Never ever. You are amazing, Doctor.

My father served aboard the USS Laffey in the 1950’s. He wore the Presidential Unit Citation bc he was assigned to that ship. The USS Laffey was hit by 8 kamakazi and 4 bombs and stayed afloat. It’s now a museum in Charleston SC

Love this video Mark! My paternal grandfather served on the USS Borie DD-704 in the Pacific (not to be confused with the first destroyer that carried the name Borrie in WW2 []DD-215] which was lost after a famous gun battle with a u-boat in the Atlantic). It has the dubious distinction of being the last destroyer (and third to las ship hit overall) hit by a kamikaze which occurred on August 9 1945 while raiding the Japanese home islands. During the attack 4 kamikazes dove for the Borrie; three were shot down but one causing serious casualties (48 killed, 66 wounded). However, the damage suffered was not critical and the Borrie would make it to the West Coast to be repaired. It would serve nearly 4 more decades in the Korean War the Vietnam War, and the Falklands War. After being declared surplus in the 70s it was sold to the Argentinian navy and was renamed Hipólito Bouchard (D-26) and was an escort to the ill-fated General Belgrando during the Falklands War. After this conflict it was broken up for scrap. My grandfather was an amazing guy and Mark if you want any pictures of him or the ship I'd be happy to share. Coincidentally my maternal grandfather was also in the navy in the Pacific and was at Pearl Harbour, so my grandparents service bookended that theatre of WW2. And since I'm on a rant one of my paternal great grandfathers on my served in the trenches in WW1 with the American Expeditionary Force despite being a relatively recent German immigrant... I'm not sure how he fit in the trenches with balls that big. Love your channel! EDIT P.S. It could be a fun video tracing the lineage of the two Borrie destroyers since both had extraordinary WW2 service. Post Korean War it took part in NASA missions recovering monkeys that went to space, after reentry while also continuing traditional military duties like being part of the blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I'm sure there's something to be found for its Vietnam service, as well.

One of the VP's of a Japanese Company that I worked for in the US, was trained as a Kamikaze pilot. In the last days of the War, his aircraft failed to start, and there were no others to fly. He died of a Heart Attack, while waiting for take off, on an airliner, for a business trip, in the late 1980's.

My late father-in-law, Joe Hallahan, Served on-board the destroyer escort, USS Jack Miller. He claimed that they had anchored in Tokyo Bay after the war ended. While watching a movie on the fantail of the ship early one evening, he noticed a plane approaching that passed over head and smashed into a ship that was alongside the Miller. I wish that I'd asked him more about the experience.

My dad was on Luzon when the war ended: He told me that at first nobody believed that the Japanese had really surrendered, or would comply with orders to do so no matter who issued them. He added that everyone was concerned that die hards would hold out, which turned out to be true (although thankfully not as many as he feared). My father had accumulated enough points and already had his orders to go home-nobody wanted to be the last casualty.

BEST history channel on this platform. Thank you MFP!

I know someone who witnessed the surrender ceremony from the USS Taylor which was tied up next to the Missouri in recognition of her extraordinary service.

My father was an aerial gunner in the 312th BG, 389th BS at the end of the war. He was slated to transition to the B-32 as the 312th was changing from light to Very Heavy. Love the footage of the relatively unknown Dominator

Admiral ugaki wrote a must-read diary called something like fading victories. He survived being shot down with Yamamoto also.

Fun Fact, My Granfather's Ship, USS Kimberly (DD-521), escorted the Missouri following the surrender signing on the 2nd of September when the Kimberly arrived in Tokyo Harbor on the 4th and set sail back to Pennsylvania on the 6th with the Missouri in her care. She was credited with 4 aircraft kills and 2 assists in her WWII Record. She also was heavily damaged on her aftermost 5 inch/38 mount during an attack mounted by two Aichi D3A "Vals" on the 26th of March 1945 which tragically killed 4 men and wounding 57. For Her Service she would receive 5 battle stars. She would go on to serve in Korea going on to claim another battle star. Temporarily Decommissioned in 1954, she would then be loaned to the Navy of Taiwan starting in 1967 and be renamed An Yang (DD-18). The Ship was Overhauled in 1976 using the Liulong project as a template at the No. 1 Naval Shipyard. This Upgraded her Fire Control and Command System, Her Radar and Sonar Systems. Her Armament was also revised. She retained two of her 5 inch/38 mounts adding an OTO 76mm cannon, retaining only two 40mm twin mount bofors guns of here original 5 mounts, a Mk 10 Hedgehog System was also added along with a Trainable Chaff Rocket Launcher, A Hsiung Feng I Anti-Ship Missile Launcher. Her Depth charge racks were upgraded to a rail based system and her aging 10 (2 quintuple) 21 inch torpedo tubes were replaced with twin triple Mark 32 Torpedo Launchers. Her Hull Number was changed multiple times throughout her service with the ROC Navy. The first change was to DD-979 in 1970, followed by DDG-918 in the mid 1980s. In 1981 her Armament was changed, following the Wujin No. 1 Project which gave her an additional Hsiung Feng I Anti-Ship Missile Batteries, and some Haishu SAM Missile Batteries, effectively turning her into a True Guided Missile Destroyer. Finally, The ship was decommissioned in September 1999, likely due to her aged propulsion machinery, and was sunk as a target ship by the ROCS Hai Lung on the 14th of October 2003.

Its quite impressive after Germany's surrender it was pretty much Japan vs the world

Whole units of the Japanese army refused to surrender and attempted to make their way overland from Burma. My father served in a British unit tasked with finding the headquarters of at least one of those Japanese units; he was wounded by a grenade after the Japanese had officially surrendered.

Good stuff Mark. These documentaries are brilliantly researched and presented.

My "old man" was on the Essex class, aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown (CV-10) towards the end of WWII. Luckily, his ship was never struck by a Kamikaze, though it was hit by a Japanese bomb that exploded a few decks down killing about four or five sailors. He once talked about seeing an attacking Japanese aircraft that was so low and close that he could make out the facial features of the pilot. Upon seeing this he thought to himself on a personal level, "I don't know you and you don't know me, why are we shooting at each other?!!!"

This reminds me of a story I heard from one of the first WWII troop landings on Japanese soil by a infantry veteran some 25-30 years ago. Not knowing what to expect from the civilians, they were outfited for combat duty. What they found were Japanese civilians greeting them dressed in their Sunday best clothes and waving American/white flags. I thanked him for his service.

Wow…learn something new every time Dr.Mark educate us….👍

I recommend Admiral Ugaki's war diary, entitled 'Fading Victory'. It is unique in that no other diary from such a senior officer survived the war. You get a remarkable insight into the IJN's highest level of command, the decisions they made and why.

I've studied the last several months of the war in detail but focusing on the military and civilian command and the US and Japanese areas of control. I actually didn't realize how long these attacks continued, so a heartfelt tip of the hat in your direction Mark. Many thanks.

Thanks for the video Dr Felton !

I was thinking - where else would I get such mind intriguing details of some mind repelling stuff that actually did take place. Great work.

Two uncles on my mom’s side were a fighter pilot scheduled for a one way mission to Okinawa, to shoot down as many American planes as he could, before crashing into the nearest ship when he ran out of ammunition. The other was assigned as a kamikaze pilot. They were out of fuel at that point, so both survived the war. Another uncle achieved his goal around Iwo Jima. I reflect on them, and the harsh choices they made.

Another great episode Mark.

Not all Japanese fighters had their props removed There is an account by a pilot somewhere on YT that said he made a landing and discovered an entire wing of fighters fuelled, armed and ready to take off - knowing that the surrender had happened but that they'd never received the order to remove the propellers as their phone line was damaged by bombing

Dr Felton gracing us with another banger.

Only if History in schools was this much fun.

Sadly, no B-32 was saved after the war. What the USAF museum would give for one!

After learning of the Japanese Unit 731, I'm surprised that Mark Felton didn't cover this before! I hope he does a detailed video about this human experiments unit.

Mark any chance of a couple of videos on the infamous 57 Defence White Paper? What it was and how it affected each arm of the British military.

3:10 the Japanese engineers sacrificed protecting the fuel tanks for weight reduction. Even small, survivable hits caused planes to burst into flames.

The first most people have heard of Japanese soldiers fighting on after the war is from an episode of Gilligan's Island. Nice to have the details filled in more thoroughly!

If anyone ever visits Japan there is a kamikaze museum near the village of Chiran. It's very good and has a fantastic amount of personal effects left by pilots as well as hardware from the war. It's in Kyushu near Kagoshima so not typically an area where tourists venture but well worth the trip.

Thank you Sir..... 🇺🇸

Show the meaning to General Patton's quote - You don't win a war by dying for your Country. You only win by making them die for their Country. I don't think anyone in the British Empire will Kamikaze for King Charles the III

Excellent work, Mark!

There is a book called Japans Longest day by the Pacific War Research Society that really puts in detail the last days of the Japanese government, like it’s crazy all the accounts they were able to get by high ranking officials after the war, highly recommend.

Keep 'em coming Mark! I didn't know that was why all the propellers were missing!

Ugaki was on the second Betty bomber that was shot down during Operation Vengeance. He survived that crash however Yamamoto did not.

This has always interested me. Wars rarely end so cleanly, after all. Thanks once again for peering over the footnotes and the brim of papers of our textbooks to fill them up more!

Very interesting episode. You don't hear much about the Dutch submarines actions in the pacific theatre.

If only history had greate teachers like Dr. Mark Felton.

When my brother in law's father died, I heard that he had been on the USS MISSOURI during the surrender. I told my brother in law I wish I had known that. He replied, "Me, too!".

Fascinating! This ads a bit of interesting context to the conflict between the Soviets and Japan in WWII.

1:30 I believe I can add some detail in the exact machinations to end the war, which scholars and historians have reconstructed in detail, hour by hour, for the top several dozen face cards in play. I've taken time to study several dozen books both in Japanese and English on the subject (and one in German, which I also speak). The Japanese understood the exposure of the home islands to Soviet affections since before the war even started, and this was their constantly-monitored barometer of safety or ruin. Even in the final weeks they actually had fairly good communications with specific diplomatic contacts in Moscow and elsewhere, and basically knew what was happening and how bad it was. There was one specific diplomat or office, reporting on one frequency at certain times of the day, describing things that they knew the meaning of. In contrast, they didn't have even the faintest idea what had happened out west with the atomic bombs. Domestic communications were already spotty, and were of course knocked out utterly by the bombings. Few people even witnessed the attack and survived, and any given witness's experience wasn't necessarily night and day different from a very near hit in other American missions. No-one in Japan knew it was one bomb from one plane, or that half the city center was gone. People who had seen the wide damage might have supposed a firestorm from incendiary bombs (as killed 5x more on a single night in Tokyo earlier in the year). Even had they gotten a well-informed verbatim report of a huge bomb wiping out the city (and they don't seem to have) imagination simply fails. Huge bomb wiping out the city? OK, is this a 20 ton bomb? 40 ton? Why is Suzuki-san going on about the size of the bomb, we know what a big bomb is. No-one would have supposed, gee, maybe the destructive power of 20,000 tons of TNT aboard a single plane. The militarists and civilian govt were wrong to discount these reports as they did, but that's what they did. The much more minor Soviet incursions were something they understood well enough to react to.

Thanks Dr. Felton!

After VE Day, my Dad in Czechloslovakia was afraid of being sent to the Pacific, but Japan surrendered. Today, his grandson and Japanese wife are living in Tokyo, expecting their first child.

Three years later my father, now 93, completed airborne training with the 11th Airborne Division which stayed in Japan after the war as part of the U.S. Army of Occupation. Then in 1950 he made his first combat jump in Korea with the 187th RCT, 11 Airborne Division.

The first part of this video solidifies the reality of the necessity of the atomic bombs.

Great presentation as usual.

Emperor Hirohito: makes first ever radio broadcast by a Japanese emperor to announce the war is over. Vice-Admiral Ugaki: "Who does this guy think he is? Banzai!"

I have a mixed heritage, and my late Grandfather served in the Japanese armed forces during the war. He recalled the period to me before he passed, mentioning that he worked in communications (morse code operator) right at the tail end of the war. As the struggle grew more desperate, he was tapped on the shoulder one day and told he would have the honour of serving in the Tokkōtai or Kamikaze. He was shipped off to the nearest training facility soon after with a sense of dread of what was to come. Only as the training was started, a few days later, the war ended. He was quite literally saved by the bell. I'll always remember his perspective of the war and it's impact when he said to me (translated), "War makes people stop thinking straight".

Can’t wait to hear your take on the Gujo jiken (the incident on the night of 14 August)

Thank you so much Mark!

As always, you've presented the best history lesson! Thank you, Dr. Felton,

Thank you Dr. Now the story of one Ryuji Nakatsuka is more vivid more than thirty years ago when I first read it.

I dont give a damn what anyone says -- dropping the atom bombs was the right thing to do. 200,000 were killed to save probably 3 or 4 million lives. The Allied invasion of Japan would have seen the most brutal, desperate fighting in all history.

These are the types of videos that i absolutely love, Thank you Mark.

Dad was a destroyer XO on VJ day. They were informed that "the Japanese have surrendered. Any approaching Japanese aircraft are to be shot down in a friendly manner."

Tremendous segment thank you Dr. Felton

I recall Saburo Sakai was part of the squadron that intercepted the B-32

Incredible video as always. Stunning footage you must be sitting on a gold mine of WW2 footage I can only imagine how much you have access to.

In the book 'Samurai' by Zero fighter pilot Saburo Sakai, he mentions the story about himself and his fellow naval aviators flying at night to shoot down a B29 Super fortress after the surrender. This was his last ever combat mission and was carried out at night. He could not bear the thought of surrender. (Although he later said 'Who started that stupid war, it seems that the closer you get to the Emperor, the fuzzier and fuzzier it gets'). This act technically makes him a war criminal. He says in his book that he and his fellow pilots shot at the bomber and followed and watched it descend until it crashed into the sea. Some historians have done extensive research into Saburo Sakai's claims and have found him to be very honest and accurate, only getting the identification of the plane he shot down wrong at least a couple of times. In this particular case the researchers found out that it was a B32 Dominator that he shot down and not a B29.

Awesome video!! Did NOT know that B-32s fought during tail end of the war!!! Learned something new today.

I understand that Larry was told, in confidence, that one of the Kamikaze pilots only "grazed" the ship.

Thank you Mark!!!

Memory is failing now, but when my ship was in a Jap harbour I scored a kamikaze pilot as a taxi driver. The war ended just before he was due to be used ... I had no Japanese language skills, he spoke very little English - but I was a recreational light aircraft pilot and so we got on very well together. He quit driving for night and we went on the tiles; I discovered that sake can be easy to both drink and under estimate ...

Dr Felton you are a marvel, such wonderfully researched and presented historical videos, thank you

If anyone wonders why there was a huge air & naval armada in Tokyo Bay for the surrender, here's the reason. The Allies wanted to absolutely dissuade the Japanese of anymore pointless attacks.

Always interesting! Thanks for making these videos!

Shiden Kai was manufactured by Kawanishi Aircraft Company, not Nakajima Aircraft Company.

Thanks!

Truman after losing 500.000 soldiers conquering Kyushu "My God, my God, this is terrible, what will I say to the nation?" Stalin after losing 500.000 soldiers conquering Hokkaido "someone knows what there is for dinner tonight?"

It’s not surprising that the Kamikaze attacks against the U.S. ships were not effective. They were armed with the VT Fuze and it was highly effective at downing aircraft. Of course the Japanese didn’t know of it’s existence, as it remained Top Secret for many years afterwards.

Mark. Thanks for providing my Wednesday night entertainment!

Dad spoke of another last Kamikaze attack. It involved a B-17 Captured at Clark Field and used in Training Japanese Pilots to attack Flying Fortresses. The Plane also was used in Japanese Propaganda Films. By Wars End it had been laden with Explosives packed into every nook and cranny to be used against Allied Invasion Craft. After the Atomic Bombings and the Surrender the Aircraft sat at an Imperial Japanese Army Air Base, until allowed by American Forces to be used by the Japanese to destroy a dam in China causing massive flooding and thereby protecting the retreat and evacuation of many Japanese Soldiers trying to reach Japan alive. Communist Forces were closing in upon them. Dad saw the Plane land at Atsugi for refueling, along with a single Fighter Escort. The Fighter Pilot Married his Girlfriend there. They had a Tea Ceremony, Sake and received Cherry Blossoms. The B-17 took off afterwards, along with its Fighter Escort … the Fighter Pilot taking his Young Bride with him.

I do not know how you do it so consistently Dr. Felton, all of your videos are always interesting and fascinating…

I'd be more impressed with their "warrior code" if it weren't for the millions of atrocities they committed - all while pretending to value honor.

Another seriously interesting and entertaining broadcast about a piece of WW2 historical detail that is known to few. A triumph Dr Felton.

It was said that right up to the last days the Japanese could put up to 200 aircraft into the sky on any given day

Always interesting, thank you.

After horrors the Japanese committed, they couldn't be less honorable.

You've done it again, surprising me with new information . I've been following WWII history since I was 15 and had never heard of the B32 Plane in 43 years

Good one as always Dr. However, I still have ill feelings about Pearl Harbor, Nan King and the Brutality of the Bataan Death March. Nope, no pity here.

So I guess my grandfathers assertation that the US would have lost a million soldiers to take Japan was not far off.

A fascinating period of the war. TY!

We owe so much to USA for their fight against Nazi Germany and Japan and saving the world

Another amazing and scholarly video. Thanks much.

They committed suicide because they couldn't live with the shame....of the atrocities they committed. A well disciplined and honorable military doesn't disobey orders and sneak attack the enemy...once again. After reading about the rape of Nanking and countless other verified accounts of atrocities committed by the Japanese military in every area the were in, I have a very low regard of their ethics and morals. They had the same low morals as the SS in the death camps.

Thank you, I had no idea.

The Japanese barbarians still refuse to admit to their war crimes!!

This is the best thing I ever saw.