Kamikaze Special Attack Force (1944)

The KAMIKAZE Special Attack Force Makes a Sortie

Imperial Headquarters Naval Information Deparment

…And so, you who strive day and night on the ramparts of production behind the guns must remember that even one plane more is a sacred plane which rushes to destroy the enemy, when that one plane has aboard the sacred spirit of a member of the KAMIKAZE Force. The young eagles of the KAMIKAZE Special Attack force who dare to dash headlong and happily to the destruction of the enemy are waiting anxiously for that plane to fly to the front lines, saying to themselves, I too shall go. So it is, the brave, ruddy-faced warriors with handkerchiefs tied about their heads at peace in their favorite planes, smiling happily as if gathered to the fond bosom of their mothers and the forms which dash out spiritedly to the attack along a path of assault from which there is no return, do they not appear vividly before us? Increase production! Stand firm! Drive on!

Source: “KAMIKAZE ATTACK FORCE,” USCINCPAC translation dated 5 July 1945 of Japanese Imperial Navy Weekly Report, 8 November 1944.