kamikaze

kamikaze [Jap.,=divine wind], the typhoon that destroyed Kublai Khan's fleet, foiling his invasion of Japan in 1281. In World War II the term was used for a Japanese suicide air force composed of fliers who crashed their bomb-laden planes into their targets, usually ships. The kamikaze was first used extensively at Leyte Gulf and was especially active at Okinawa.

kamikaze (Jap. ‘divine wind’) Name given to crews or their explosive-laden aircraft used by the Japanese during World War II. Their suicidal method of attack was to dive into ships of the enemy fleet. Serious losses were inflicted on the US Navy.

kamikaze (Japanese, ‘Divine Wind’) Originally the fierce storms that twice saved Japan from Mongol invasion (in 1274 and 1281). In World War II a kamikaze was an aircraft laden with explosives and suicidally crashed by the pilot into an enemy ship. The Japanese naval command resorted to these desperate measures in 1944 in an attempt to halt the Allied advance across the Pacific. At first volunteers were used, but the practice soon became compulsory. Off Okinawa in 1945 over 300 kamikaze pilots died in one action.