Suicide Squads: The Men and Machines of World War II Special Operations
by Richard O'Neill
Originally published in 1981
Salamander Books, 1999, 272 pages
Although most people associate Japan's suicide attacks in
World War II with kamikaze planes, the Japanese Navy and Army used many more
types of suicide attack weapons. The military deployed kaiten (manned
torpedoes), explosive motorboats, ōka (piloted glider bombs), and midget
submarines. At war's end, the military had plans to use other types of suicide
attacks in defense of the home islands, such as suicide frogmen (fukuryū) who
were to destroy landing craft with an explosive charge mounted on top of a
bamboo pole. Suicide Squads provides details regarding the various types
of special attack or suicide weapons developed by Japan. In addition, about one
third of the book covers suicidal and semi-suicidal weapons used by countries
other than Japan in World War II.
This thoroughly researched book has several sections that
provide fascinating facts about weapons not covered in detail by most other
books on Japan's kamikaze operations and other suicidal weapons. For example,
the 25 pages devoted to Japan's explosive motorboats, the Navy's shin'yō
("ocean shaker") and the Army's maru-ni ("capacious boat"),
provide a detailed history of this suicidal weapon little known to most
readers. Although the hundreds of explosive motorboats deployed by Japan scored
some limited successes, they encountered heavy gunfire from Allied ships that
stopped most of them. Others met with accidents, such as when one boat's engine
caught fire, which led to explosions that wiped out the other boats tightly
packed together in a cave and killed most of the pilots (see
Kuroshio summer: Last shin'yō
special attack for details).
Even though this book has some interesting parts, most
readers will have a very difficult time making it through the many facts, such
as weapon sizes, weights, speeds, propulsion methods, explosives, and numbers
produced. The many details make this a great reference work, but they will
thwart most readers from reading it from cover to cover.
O'Neill explains in the Preface that Suicide Squads
deals with weapons purposely designed to be suicidal or semi-suicidal, which
means that the chance of survival of the person making the attack with the weapon
was extremely small. No country other than Japan acknowledged a military policy
espousing the use of suicidal weapons. Many of the German, Italian, and British
weapons introduced in this book have similarities to Japanese suicidal weapons,
but they were not deployed officially as suicidal weapons. Most of these non-Japanese
weapons, such as midget submarines, explosive motorboats, and manned torpedoes,
never got past the development or testing stage.
The chapter on aerial weapons covers the evolution of
Japan's kamikaze operations, but O'Neill refers readers to other books (e.g., The
Divine Wind by Inoguchi and Nakajima published in English translation in
1958) that cover kamikaze history in more
detail. The book Suicide Squads focuses on the variety of suicidal
weapons used by Japan and other countries rather than providing an in-depth
history of Japan's aerial kamikaze attacks. Also, the book concentrates on
military details and includes few personal stories.
1984 Ballantine Books edition
This well-researched study makes an excellent reference.
O'Neill's objective presentation and insightful comments will greatly assist
readers who want to understand Japan's suicide attacks in World War II.
Although O'Neill does not include any Japanese sources in the Bibliography, he
mentions in the Acknowledgements section that he received assistance and
information from several former officers in Japan's special attack forces.
Although he presents the material in an unbiased manner, the Acknowledgements
section has a very controversial recommendation, ". . . I respectfully
urge the Government of Japan to restore state support to Yasukuni Shrine, where
the men to whom Japan owes so great a debt are honoured" (p. 9). Yasukuni
has become of symbol of Japanese wartime aggression and atrocities to many
Chinese, Koreans, and other Asians, and many people question why several war
criminals are enshrined there.
2001 Lyons Press edition
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