Figure 1.--The Battle of the Philippines Sea, part of the Marianas Campaign showed that the Japanese air capability was no longer effective. The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot shocked the Japanese. It meant that existing air and naval tactics could not stop the Americans. This led to the birth of the the Kamikazes which seemed mad to the Americans, but by 1945, the only successes achieved by the Japanese were ships sunk by Kamikazes. And naval and land tactics were not unlike the Kamikazes. Notice the Kamikaze here is attacking horizontally. This was the pattern for most Kamikaze attacks even though it exposed the pilots to the the concentrated American anti-aircraft fire. The most effective attack pattern is a vertical dive from alditude. This, however, was not something the barely trained Kamikaze pilots were incapable of executing.

The loss of the Marianas and Philippines transformed the Pacific War (1944). Possession of the Marianas mean that the Americans could bomb the Home Islands. Possession of the Philippines meant that the Americans had cut Japan off from the Southern Resource Zone (SRZ). This was already being done by the American submarine campaign. Possession of the Philippines meant that virtually no raw materials were getting through to the war factories on the Home Islands. Remember, it was the American Philippines that meant that the Japanese could not just seize the British and Dutch colonies in the SRZ in 1941. They had to destroy the United States Pacific Fleet. In addition, the Battle of the Philippines Sea, part of the Marianas Campaign showed that the Japanese air capability was no longer effective. The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot shocked the Japanese. It meant that existing air and naval tactics could not stop the Americans. This led to the birth of the the Kamikazes which seemed mad to the Americans, but by 1945, the only successes achieved by the Japanese were ships sunk by Kamikazes. And naval and land tactics were not unlike the Kamikazes. Japanese tactics in the Battle of Leyte Gulf were essentially a naval Kamikaze attack. Failure at Leyte meant ghat there would be no Kantai Kerssen. This lead to a radical change in Japanese tactics and strategy. It was now clear even to the the fiercely committed Japanese military that they could not win the war. The War was continued with the hope that they could avoid losing the war disastrously and most importantly prevent the occupation of Japan. Japanese strategy became very simple--kill as many Americans as possible, hoping this would dissuade the United States from pursuing the War. Japanese defended positions like Iwo and Okinawa were designed not to hold the island, but to kill as many Americans as possible. And the final voyage of the great Yamato was essentially a Kamikaze attack. At the end of the War, the Japanese defense of Kyushu was to blood the Americans even more than had been the case on Okinawa.

Created: 6:42 AM 12/24/2023
Last updated: 3:33 PM 12/24/2023