Okinawa '45: Death Of The Yamato

Summary

Podcast Title: WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk
Episode: Okinawa '45: Death Of The Yamato
Release Date: June 18, 2025
Hosts: Comedian Al Murray and Historian James Holland

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Overview

In the second episode of the "Okinawa" series, hosted by Al Murray and historian James Holland, "Death Of The Yamato," the discussion delves deep into one of the most dramatic naval engagements of World War II—the final mission of the Imperial Japanese battleship Yamato during the Battle of Okinawa. The episode intricately weaves historical facts with personal anecdotes, providing a comprehensive look at the strategies, human experiences, and technological aspects that defined this pivotal moment in the Pacific Theatre.

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Operation Iceberg and the Onset of the Battle of Okinawa

The episode begins with an introduction to Operation Iceberg, the American offensive aimed at securing Okinawa. Al Murray humorously refers to the naval aspects of the battle as “a sort of salad drink,” highlighting the blend of naval and ground operations. James Holland expands on this by explaining the logistical complexities, noting:

James Holland [02:32]: “Okinawa might be 60 miles long and intermittently 3 and 15 miles wide, but it is absolutely in the middle of the Pacific.”

Operation Iceberg commenced on April 1, 1945, with the landings on Okinawa dubbed "Love Day" to avoid confusion with the infamous D-Day. Contrary to the high casualty expectations, the initial landings were surprisingly successful, with over 50,000 American troops ashore and minimal casualties:

James Holland [13:00]: “By sunset on Love Day... 50,000 men ashore and just 28 killed in action, 104 wounded and 27 missing.”

This discrepancy between expectation and reality set the stage for the fierce resistance that would follow.

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The Kamikaze Strategy: Evolution and Human Stories

A significant portion of the episode focuses on the kamikaze tactics employed by the Japanese. Initially introduced in the latter half of 1944, kamikaze missions intensified by 1945 due to dwindling resources. Al Murray and James Holland discuss the psychological and cultural underpinnings of these suicide missions:

Al Murray [04:43]: “The sort of murderous cynicism at the core of so many of these Japanese decisions is... just plain in view in the kamikaze project.”

James Holland provides poignant personal stories, such as that of Tadao Hayashi, a Kyoto University cadet who denounced the war yet chose to die for his country, and Ichizo Hayashi, a Christian pilot who took personal items to leave behind for his family, showcasing the complex motivations behind the kamikaze pilots:

James Holland [11:11]: “Tadao Hayashi... denounced the war aims and holds that Japan's defeat is desirable and necessary, but at the same time he's determined to die for his country.”

These narratives underscore the tragic human cost and the indoctrination that led young, intelligent individuals to volunteer—or be coerced—into suicide missions.

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Operation Ten-Go and Yamato's Final Mission

The centerpiece of the episode is Operation Ten-Go, a desperate Japanese naval operation centered around the battleship Yamato. Al Murray and James Holland describe this mission as a "terrible, murderous idea" driven by the Japanese desire to avoid surrender:

James Holland [19:15]: “Operation Ten-Go is known as floating chrysanthemum attacks... to simply plow straight towards Okinawa... and then just be used as a firing platform until they're kind of destroyed.”

Vice Admiral Seiichi Ito and other Japanese naval officers vehemently opposed the mission, recognizing its futility and the immense loss it would entail. However, orders from Imperial General Headquarters overruled these concerns.

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The Battle and Sinking of the Yamato

On April 7, 1945, Yamato set sail on its suicide mission. The hosts provide a vivid, minute-by-minute account of the battle, highlighting the relentless American air assault that ultimately led to Yamato's sinking:

James Holland [26:22]: “Yamato is in big trouble already... the fires are raging through the ship and the firefighting and damage control teams have been decimated.”

Despite Yamato's massive size and firepower, the combined efforts of American fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo planes overwhelmed the battleship. Multiple waves of attacks systematically crippled Yamato’s capabilities:

James Holland [30:04]: “Just boom, boom, boom. I mean, you know, it's just like one after the other.”

The culmination of these attacks resulted in the sinking of Yamato, with over 4,000 Japanese sailors perishing, marking one of the war’s most poignant naval losses.

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Radar Picket Destroyers: The Unsung Heroes

A critical element of the Battle of Okinawa discussed in the episode is the role of radar picket destroyers. These vessels were positioned ahead of the main fleet to provide early warning of incoming air attacks. While essential, they bore the brunt of kamikaze assaults, resulting in high casualty rates:

James Holland [38:15]: “They're a decoy as much as a tripwire. That is the truth of these radar picket destroyers.”

The USS Laffey serves as a prime example, surviving a fierce attack on April 16 with significant casualties but ultimately continuing to serve in the Korean War, showcasing the resilience and bravery of their crews.

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Aftermath and Reflections

The episode concludes with reflections on the futility and tragedy of Operation Ten-Go and the kamikaze tactics. Al Murray expresses profound disgust and sadness over the needless loss of life:

Al Murray [34:46]: “It's entirely pointless. Headquarters have got what they want. You're sad. I'm disgusted.”

James Holland echoes these sentiments, emphasizing the tragic waste and the despondent realization among Japanese officers that their strategies were leading to inevitable defeat.

The hosts also touch upon the resilience of the American forces and the adaptive defensive measures that mitigated further losses, highlighting the relentless nature of the Pacific War's final stages.

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Notable Quotes

• James Holland [02:58]: “It's a massive monster operation and it's all convoluted, converging over the dark blue waters of the Pacific.”

• Al Murray [04:43]: “There's so much murder, you got a load of obsolescent aircraft that you might as well get rid of them.”

• James Holland [25:29]: “I feel this sort of lead weight, this albatross of despair.”

• James Holland [38:15]: “They're a decoy as much as a tripwire. That is the truth of these radar picket destroyers.”

• Al Murray [34:46]: “It's entirely pointless. Headquarters have got what they want. You're sad. I'm disgusted.”

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Conclusion

"Okinawa '45: Death Of The Yamato" offers a harrowing yet insightful exploration of one of World War II's most tragic naval engagements. Through a blend of rigorous historical analysis and emotional storytelling, Al Murray and James Holland illuminate the complexities and human costs of the Battle of Okinawa, particularly the ill-fated mission of the Yamato and the relentless kamikaze assaults. This episode not only recounts the events but also provokes a deep reflection on the nature of war, sacrifice, and the tragic consequences of extremist strategies.

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For more detailed discussions and additional content, consider joining the membership club at patreon.com/wehaveways and explore other Goalhanger Podcasts at www.goalhanger.com.

Transcript

[Al Murray]

Thank you for listening to we have ways of making you talk. Sign up to our Patreon to receive bonus content, live streams and our weekly newsletter with money off books and museum visits as well. Plus early access to all live show tickets. That's patreon.com wehaveways.

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[James Holland]

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[James Holland]

The sixth, seventh and eighth waves of the attack come one after the other, each about 100 planes from the port side and from astern. A hunch sends shivers up my spine. Is the enemy taking advantage of our loss of speed and trying to damage the rudder? We are covered all over with wounds. What is more, we are down to half our power, helpless, forming beautiful patterns. Two torpedo tracks chase after our giant stern. I turn my back to the stern, wringing my sweaty hands, and wait for the impact. With senses honed, the torpedoes hit aft, floating in the air for a moment, the stern is mantled in pillars of flame, pillars of water. Although damage to both rudders, main and auxiliary, are slight, the auxiliary rudder's steering room falls victim to flooding. The auxiliary rudder is stuck hard to port, so even with the main rudder to starboard, the ship can make turns only to port. One side of our body is paralyzed, and that is Ensign Mitsuru Yoshida, a radar officer aboard the Imperial Japanese naval battleship Yamato on the 7th of April 1945.

[Al Murray]

Welcome to we have Ways of Making youg Talk with Me, Al Murray and James Holland for the second episode in our series about Okinawa. And today we're focusing on the battle at sea because after all, it's in the Pacific. This battle. It's a naval battle with some army and marine stuff as a sort of salad drink. Interesting is that's right, isn't it, Jim? Is that the right way of looking at it?

[James Holland]

Yeah, no, I think so. And you know, okinawa might be 60 miles long and and intermittently 3 and 15 miles wide, but it is absolutely in the middle of the Pacific So the sea everywhere, you know, the Japanese who are aircraft are coming over, they've got to come from Kyushu, they've got to come from southern Japan, 360 miles away, something like that. The Americans have got to come from all corners. They've got to come from obviously originally the United States, but then naval bases such as Alifi and Guam and so on.

[Al Murray]

Pearl harbor.

[James Holland]

It's a massive monster operation and it's all convoluted, converging over the dark blue waters of the Pacific. And a really, really key feature of this is Operation 10 Go, launched on the 6th and then 7th of April 1945. And this is the all out sort of kamikaze banzai attack, both from aircraft but also with surface vessels.

[Al Murray]

So this is an offensive the Japanese have been planning and building up to. In the meantime, the Americans have launched their offensive, Operation Iceberg on Okinawa itself. The landings have begun on the 1st of April, April day, Easter Sunday. If you're a GI, choose which one is more appropriate. But this kamikaze effort has been a thing that the Japanese sort of been summoning up and getting together and it's finally unleashed. And I think kamikaze, it's one of those things in the Second World War, it cuts through. Everyone knows what we're talking about, everyone knows what that word means, everyone knows what it is symbolic of, but what's actually going on underneath the hood here with these kamikazes. It's quite the most amazing story.

[James Holland]

Well, it really, really is. The kamikaze is really slow. They first come in sort of the second half of 1944. You know, there's kamikazes over the Philippines for example, but boy are they here in Okinawa. And this is largely because, you know, they're running out of everything. They're running out of fuel, they're running out of planes and they want a kind of pointless symbolic gesture.

[Al Murray]

And also, let's face it, getting someone to fly a plane into a ship, if you can persuade them to do that, is easier than getting someone to dive bomb a ship. Technically simpler, isn't it? They don't need to learn how to dive bomb. You could take a less experienced PIL and get more out of him. In this desperate stage of the war, he's probably going to get shot down dive bombing anyway. So you might as well. If you're going to spend his life, you might as well spend his life this way. There's so much murder, you got a.

[James Holland]

Load of obsolescent aircraft that you might as well get rid of them.

[Al Murray]

Exactly. The sort of murderous cynicism at the core of so many of these Japanese decisions is sort of plainly in view in the kamikaze project, but also people's reactions to it, which I think are very, very interesting. And, you know, some people may think of this as sort of you put on the headband and off you go, automaton style. But that's not what's going on at all, is it?

[James Holland]

No, it really, really isn't. At Kanoya Air Base, for example, which is where Admiral Yugaki, who's the commander of those who've listened to the first episode in this series, will remember that he's the commander of the Japanese 5th Air Fleet, which is a combined naval and army air fleet. But there's a whole load of kamikaze pilots living there as well. And they're living in the absolute finest barracks, you know. Their quarters are perched on a babbling brook that weaves its way gently through lush bamboo forest meadows dotted with wild roses. And, you know, clearly the shadow of death hangs over these young men a very big way. But because they're about to pay the ultimate sacrifice, they're allowed to kind of relax, wander through the meadows, you know, write poetry, drink. Well, and when much of the nation is starving, you know, they're getting gifts from the locals, which includes chickens, pigs, you know, eggs, the odd oxen to be slaughtered the night before, all that kind of stuff. And they've also got local girls sort of washing and cooking for them. It's kind of sort of lower end kind of geisha thing going on. They're called labor service maidens and they serve them and they do become emotionally attached. But it seems that in a pre chaste way, the whole thing is just extraordinary.

[Al Murray]

This isn't the RAF going to the pub though, is it, in Lincolnshire?

[James Holland]

Absolutely not. No. There's a kind of spiritual side to it, a kind of sort of Zen side to it, you know, where they spend these last days in sort of quiet contemplation and, you know, gather their thoughts and.

[Al Murray]

Yeah, the service maidens are covering their aircraft with cherry blossoms and cloth and origami dolls and stuff, aren't they? At night?

[James Holland]

Yeah.

[Al Murray]

What is different about this to say the RAF in ligature is.

[James Holland]

The RAF in ligature is this is a death cult.

[Al Murray]

There's a sincere hope you're coming back. You know, the casualty rates, if you're flying in Bomber Command or whatever, you know, it's a sticky wicket. But there's not the idea that this is a completely one way Ticket. I mean, this is death cult stuff, isn't it?

[James Holland]

It's complete death cult. Yeah.

[Al Murray]

God, shocking.

[James Holland]

It absolutely is. And dolling this up as some sort of great spiritual setting is ridiculous because it's not. It's ultra violent and selfish and cruel.

[Al Murray]

Well, it's the murderous cynicism at the core of things.

[James Holland]

Yeah, just discuss God with cynicism. Exactly.

[Al Murray]

And so when it's time for them to get into their planes, the service maidens line the flight lines and weep, and they wave bowers of cherry or rising sun flags. And they also. I mean, how macabre do you like it, folks? They also collect locks of hair and nail clippings to send to the pilot's family. Grim, isn't it? Really grim.

[James Holland]

But what's really interesting is when the kamikazes are first created in 1944, they do attract plenty of volunteers. But by the spring of 1945, and this is where we're at with Okinawa commanders, notice that attitudes are definitely shifting. It turns out that a lot of them have been asked to volunteer, volunteer in inverted commas in such a way that's been impossible to refuse because, you know, there's huge amount of play, particularly in 1930s and 40s Japan, about honour and, you know, not disgracing your family and all this kind of stuff. And so, you know, that is how it's presented. And one staff officer notes they developed a pressure not entirely artificial, which encouraged volunteering. And it is understandable that this change in circumstance would affect a change in the attitude of the men concerned. Yeah, quite right. Because they've been coerced into doing something they don't want to do for obvious reasons.

[Al Murray]

Turbocharged white feather idea, isn't it?

[James Holland]

Basically, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's this amazing story of this one cadet who, you know, that's a training base at Mito, and the entire flight of cadets, they think they're volunteering for the Air Force to be trained as pilots, you know, where they've got a sporting chance. And they're suddenly told the whole class is basically said, right, we'd like you to volunteer for the kamikazes. And he says, I don't even remember telling my feet to move. It was like a strong gu. Gust of wind whooshed up from behind the ranks and blew everyone forward a step almost in perfect unison. Peer pressure, you know.

[Al Murray]

But what's remarkable about this is you hear stories of whole lines of men stepping forward to. Forward to volunteer from the war. That's a. That's an absolutely common Occurrence, isn't it? There are enough accounts of that in every service, in every, in every nation. But for a thing where you actually know that you are going to die rather than that you're going to risk your life. It takes everything.

[James Holland]

It's on a different level, isn't it?

[Al Murray]

It's everything to the next level. Yeah.

[James Holland]

The other thing I think is really interesting is that half the kamikazes in 1945 have been drawn from university students. You know, they're cosmopolitan, intellectual, fully versed in western ways. There's Christians, there's communists, they're not all kind of sort of automatons pro the government, you know, ultra nationalists by any stretch of the imagination.

[Al Murray]

But them being drawn from university isn't necessarily be a surprise. You know the guys who did 9 11, Mohammed Atta, they're all university graduates, weren't they? They're all, they're all clever people.

[James Holland]

Yeah, but they're really into it.

[Al Murray]

Yes, that's true, they are really into it. It's this kind of pressure, this kind of volunteering isn't the sort of province only of the stupid, you know what I mean? It can affect anybody, can't it? This desire to. And they know they're going to die. Although as we'll see there is a way of kind of bending some of this. But you're volunteering definitely to die. Very, very peculiar, isn't it? I mean you have increasingly. The men don't want to go though, do they? And Admiral Yokoi notes, attitudes range from the despair of sheep headed for the slaughter to open expressions of contempt for their superior officers.

[James Holland]

You know, the night before the missions, kamikazes hold these sort of pachanalian piss ups, you know, where they drink lots of sake and they rage and they weep and they sing songs and they curse and they know it's the last night of life, so it's kind of last meal stuff. And you know, I mean what they then find into sort of March and into April and May 1945 is that pilots more and more begin to return complaining of engine problems.

[Al Murray]

Well, we touched on that in the last episode. Yeah, didn't we?

[James Holland]

Yeah. Planes at the scene era islands and you know, pilots have been known to sneak out at night and sabotage their aircraft. And after returning to base nine times, one pilot was then executed by firing squad. You know, but you can get away with turning a couple of times.

[Al Murray]

God.

[James Holland]

Do you remember there was the attack on one of The Task Force 58 ships in Alifi 24 went out, didn't they? And Only one actually makes it. And a whole lot of them just disappear, I mean, presumably into the ocean. But I mean, because they're not very good. But you do wonder whether some of them have just sort of, you know, crash landed on islands or something.

[Al Murray]

They're inexperienced too, aren't they? So got lost, run out of fuel, put it down in the sea, lost track of the horizon, all those, all those additional problems. So they're not really getting bang for their buck, are they?

[James Holland]

Is the other entirely? There's a couple of examples we can give here, and one is Tadao Hayashi. So he is drafted from Kyoto University. And you know, in his student writing, Hayashi denounced the war aims and holds that Japan's defeat is desirable and necessary, but at the same time he's determined to die for his country. And he writes in his notes, the situation is tense indeed. But for me it is all right for Japan to be destroyed. Historical necessity led to the crisis of our people. We rise to defend our people in the land we love. And he dies, age 24, during the Okinawa battle. And then we've got this other chap, Ichizo Hayashi.

[Al Murray]

Yeah, Who's a Christian from Fukuoka. He takes a Bible with him, along with Kierkegaard, sickness unto death and a photo of his mother. And he writes her a last letter. I will put your photo right on my chest. I shall be sure to sink an enemy vessel. When you hear over the radio of our success in sinking their vessels, please remember that one of them is the vessel I plunged into. I will have peace of mind knowing that mother is watch me and praying for me. And he dies, age 23, in Okina on 12 April 1945. And it's not just aerial kamikaze, but marine seaborne kamikazes as well.

[James Holland]

Marine born kamikazes. Let's just kind of hold that thought for a moment and actually go to the landings because we should explain what happens on, on Love Day. And the reason it's called Love Day rather than D Day is because by this point D Day is so famous, everyone just associates d Day on the 6th of June in the Cross Channel invasion. And suddenly you can't have D Day again because it's too confusing. So they just call it. Which is a bizarre choice of words.

[Al Murray]

Well, there's some murderous cynicism on the other side as well, in that case. Well, quite, yeah. So thing is though, even before they hit the troops and we said that Japanese strategy is to basically bunker themselves, hunker down and pick their battles in order to preserve ammunition and to bleed the Americans as hard as they can, knowing they're going to lose.

[James Holland]

Yeah. So don't expose yourself. Don't do what the Germans do, which is counter attack, and expose yourself and get cut to pieces. Just stay in your tunnels.

[Al Murray]

Yeah.

[James Holland]

This is not about driving the Americans back into the sea.

[Al Murray]

No.

[James Holland]

About holding them and delaying them and causing as much damage to their navies and air forces as they possibly can. That's what this is about.

[Al Murray]

Exactly. So even before they hit the beach, they know there's little or no enemy fire. There's a few machine guns, the odd mortar round comes over, but that's about it. And most come ashore without facing any enemy fire at all. And by the end of the first hour, 16,000 men are ashore. Eat that, Omaha Beach.

[James Holland]

Can you imagine release on that when you've been so ged up, when the 1st Marine Division has been told, you know, to expect casualties of 80 to 85% and then suddenly it's a walk in the park, you imagine how casual you're going to become as a result of that. By sunset on love day on the 1st of April, 1945, the landing forces have beachheaded more than eight miles in length, three miles in depth. 50,000 men ashore and just 28 killed in action, 104 wounded and 27 missing. That's it.

[Al Murray]

That's amazing, isn't it?

[James Holland]

Yeah.

[Al Murray]

So they're ashore churning that many soldiers, 50,000 guys, 28 KIA. Is could on a quiet day anywhere, just be sporadic fire or whatever, isn't it? Or road traffic accident sort of thing.

[James Holland]

Yeah. And Love plus one and Love plus two and Love plus three, and all the rest of it is, is similar. You know, there's not a lot going on. They're probing inland, the forces are splitting, the whole load of them are heading north, clear the northern part of the island, then pushing southwards, and there's literally nothing going on at all. You know, it's incredibly quiet, incredibly easy in those first days of the Okinawa invasion.

[Al Murray]

Yeah.

[James Holland]

And you know, the Americans are clearly making all the running, but then. And all that changes on Friday 6th April, 1945, when the Japanese finally launch Operation 10Go.

[Al Murray]

Now the thing about 10Go is, again, as you said, Jim, it's been quiet up to this point. There's been enemy air attacks, but there's not really much going on. And Spruance assumes this is Admiral Spruance.

[James Holland]

The commander of the fifth Fleet.

[Al Murray]

Yeah. Assumes that this is because the raids they've done on Kyushu have been effective ahead of the invasion. They've done the job of suppressing Japanese air power. And the Americans consistently underestimate Japanese air numbers, fighter numbers and aircraft numbers. They never get it right.

[James Holland]

Well, this ability of the Japanese to just constantly replicate themselves.

[Al Murray]

Yeah. Yes. They're like. Like a video game.

[James Holland]

There's a touch to the hydra head about this, you know.

[Al Murray]

Yeah. Respawning. And each carrier group's conducting three flight operations per day. And on the fourth day, they withdraw to replenish. So they've been relentlessly attacking Kyushu. Yeah. So come Friday 6th April, it's cool and breezy day. Task group 582 are replenishing. So Admiral Sherman's 58.3 and Clark's 58.1 of task force 58 who are on the line, they're rotating their assets, basically. So effectively 58 two are in reserve, as it were, as they replenish. Then an hour after dawn, here it comes, a picket. Destroyers north of Okinawa pick up radar traffic inbound from north, Japanese planes have scattered a vast amount of window, but the raid is too big to hide, so the Japanese are using window now. Mitscher.

[James Holland]

Yeah. So Mitscher is the commander of the Task Force 58 and he says basically.

[Al Murray]

Get my fighters up.

[James Holland]

Yep.

[Al Murray]

We're going to get the bombers in the hangars and get the fighters to provide as much cover as possible, because that's what they do, they stick the fighters up, don't they, in anticipation of.

[James Holland]

This raid on caps. Caps, which are known as combat air patrol, rather.

[Al Murray]

Yeah. Soon they're vectored towards this incoming raid.

[James Holland]

Because they've all got radar. I know this is like the air defense system of fighter command in 1940, but at sea, I mean, yes, the scales of sophistication are just extraordinary in comparison to what they were in 1940. Because they've got radar, because they've got controllers on the picket ships directing the air patrols, they're able to vector the naval fighters onto the incoming masses. And the US fighters are just tearing into the Japanese air formations. This is exactly like when we were doing the series on Big Week and we were talking about the qualitative difference advantage of the Americans arriving in England with 350 hours in their logbooks compared to kind of Luftwaffe new boys who were kind of lucky if they've got 90 to 100. And it's just such a mismatch. And this is exactly the same here. There are still a few veterans around, but they're few and far between the Vast majority, majority of pilots, particularly if they're kamikazes, are roughly trained and they're just simply not a match for the highly skilled, experienced pilots of the United States Navy. And you know, in moments, you know, 60 Japanese planes are going down in flames just from the first wave.

[Al Murray]

Amazing.

[James Holland]

Lieutenant Lewis Midgley Walker is a naval officer aboard a transport ship and he's watching the battle and he goes, hell. They came in singles, twos and bunches, gliding, diving, swooping, some hugging the water. It seemed they never stopped coming. This is a massed attack and a half.

[Al Murray]

Yeah.

[James Holland]

And you've also got watching the time and life war correspondent Bob Sherrod, who's on Admiral Turner's flag, the El Dorado, and he goes, terrific. Streams of ack ack poured toward the plane from every ship within two miles. When the Jap was 300ft from his target, he flamed, winged over and fell into the shallow water.

[Al Murray]

But by the end of 6 April, for all this, by the end of 6 April, 26American ships have been hit by kamikazes.

[James Holland]

Some get through.

[Al Murray]

Yeah, because they're going to, aren't they?

[James Holland]

Yeah.

[Al Murray]

Six of these ships are sunk, including two Victory freighters and one minesweeper. One landing ship tank, two destroyers, the Bush and the Calhoun.

[James Holland]

Yeah, it's like playing British Bulldog. Some will always get through.

[Al Murray]

Yeah. It's the picket destroyers who are out detecting this. They're the key to any further.

[James Holland]

Well, we'll touch on those in a minute. It's an amazing job that they do. And again, another example of the sort of increased sophistication.

[Al Murray]

Yeah. And the USS Essex nearly breaks the single day carrier air kill record by shooting down 65 enemy aircraft. But it's still not enough. I mean, it's interesting, isn't it, because you compare it to the Germans in Big Week. The Germans haven't come to the conclusion when in that case the thing to do is fly directly into the bombers, but fly into the bomber stream and that's the way to disrupt it, is to use the aircraft as a suicide weapon. They haven't come to that conclusion. The Japanese have, and it's one way through the fact that they have inexperienced pilots and the Americans are much better flyers. A peculiar Achilles heel, but it's one that's actually working. And then we also have the Yamato, which is where we started this episode.

[James Holland]

Oh my goodness me, what a story this is. I mean, Yamato banzai attack is ordered by Admiral Soimo Toyota, the commander in chief of The Combined Fleet from his command bunker in Hihoshi. Very easy to issue orders like that when you're in a bunker on land.

[Al Murray]

Well, his officers aren't happy about this, of course, and they aren't happy that.

[James Holland]

He'S still not on the Yamato.

[Al Murray]

So Vice Admiral Seiichi Ito, who's the commander of the Second Fleet, you know, is strongly against sending the Yamato on a suicide mission. He tells Vice Admiral Ryunosuke Kusaka, who, who's tired as Chief of Staff, that this is a pointless sacrifice of ships, ammunition, fuel and train fighting men who would be needed to defend the homeland.

[James Holland]

Well, quite. So the idea behind it, the reason why they don't want to do it, is Imperial General Headquarters don't want to see the mighty Yamato surrendered. No, at the end of the war. So what they think is right, what we'll do is we'll do a sort of sacrificial banzai charge with Yamato at the head, you know, with a cruiser, the Yahagi, and eight destroyers. And they'll just like the Kamikazes, they'll just plow straight towards Okinawa, get there, beach their vessels, and then just be used as a firing platform until they're kind of destroyed. On no level is this a good idea. You know, it's a terrible, murderous idea and completely pointless. And, you know, we talked over and over and over again about the delusion scales of the Nazis at the end of the war, but also the Imperial Japanese. And this is right up there with one of the most delusional, bonkers missions of all. But that's what they've got to do.

[Al Murray]

It's got to be said, though, every single one of these decisions is sort of. I said murderer cynicism. It's so about death.

[James Holland]

Yes. It's just disgusting, isn't it?

[Al Murray]

Yeah. Another naval officer, Tamechihara, who's the commander of a light cruiser, the Yahagi, calls it a ridiculous mission, just like throwing an egg at a rock.

[James Holland]

He's quite right.

[Al Murray]

He's got that right, isn't he?

[James Holland]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Kosaka tells him that, you know, Imperial General Headquarters just don't want the disgrace of seeing these ships surrendered at the end of the war. So everyone who's on this, who's earmarked for this fort, you know, there have been terrific pride to be part of the crew of the Amato, which is, you know, one of two of the largest battleships ever built. Absolutely enormous. I think there's 72,000 tons, if I remember. Rightly, you know, when a normal battleship is about 36, 38, something like that, I think the Duke of York was something like 42, perhaps. But this is 78, you know, it is absolutely colossal. It has been the pride of the Imperial Japanese fleet. State of the art. And the scale of it, just enormous.

[Al Murray]

Yeah.

[James Holland]

Now this crew, they've got to sort of channel that pride into a suicide. It's just crazy. But anyway, the night before the Yamato gets put to sea on. So this is. We're now on the 5th of April, rather like the Kamikazes, you know, there's a general ration of sake handed around to the entire crew. Everyone gets pissed. The second in command bellows over the Tannoy Kamikaze Yamato. Be truly a divine wind. Well, you know, I'm sure that perked everyone up.

[Al Murray]

Up. Hooray.

[James Holland]

Hooray. Oh, no. Apparently there's sort of bottles of sake sort of rolling around the decks the following morning. But anyway, they get up very, very early. Free cigarettes are handed out to all the crews who are still nursing their hangovers. And later the column forms up and this is Yamato, the Yahagi and eight destroyers. And they sail down the coast of Kyushu and they're still off the coast. They haven't cleared the southern tip of Kyushu when dusk falls and crewmen on the Yamato notice that ashore the cherry trees have started to blossom, this sort of symbol of the beauty of the Japanese home islands. And there they are leaving it behind for the last time. By dawn the following morning, there's a, you know, there's a waning crescent moon, you know, ahead of the rising sun. And behind them Kyushu is. Is receding. And Ensign Mitsuru Yoshida, who we. We quoted at the beginning of this episode, he's a radar officer on. On the Yamato's bridge, he goes. Not a single escorting plane could be seen, nor was one to be seen. From this time on on, we were literally abandoned. They all, you know, they all feel this clearly, you know, very sort of palpably. Of course, they're tracked from the outset because US submarines off the Bungo Suido, which is a channel between Kyushu and Shikoku, they've picked up the Yamato's progress. And then search planes from the USS Essex also spot the force at around 8.23am on the morning of Saturday 7th April. And they're then circling out of range high above the whole time. And everyone down below on this little force of ten ships can See these planes twinkling in the sunlight, circling over them, charting their every, their every move. I mean just as we're telling this story, aren't you feeling a kind of a sense of sadness about this?

[Al Murray]

No. Disgust. I can't be sad about this. So awful I can only be disgusted by it all that anyone would think this was a good idea and that anyone would then obey these orders. And the Americans don't they think the Yamato is trying to evade detection and deception because of course they can't comprehend that you're going to do this with a warship.

[James Holland]

Yeah, but, but equally, you know, Spruance recognize this is a chance to kind of see these guys off and see off the famous infamous Yamato there. And then. So he sends a powerful battleship cruiser destroyer squadron under Admiral Dayo who you may remember was sort of hammering the in charge of hammering the coast. But Admiral Mitcher and the Task Force 58 aviators, they're thinking well so that we want to get this baby. Yeah. Their range from, from their carriers is 238 miles. So timing is clearly key. But they're in the race to intercept the Amato and his escort. These guys are going to win. And from 10.18am on the Saturday 7th April, three carrier task groups launch 386 aircraft. So this is 180 fighters, 75 dive bombers and 131 torpedo planes. And they're all heading for the Yamato, the Hagi and these eight destroyers.

[Al Murray]

And all morning they've got seaplanes high over the Yamato, out of range. But watching the progress, there's a growing sense of doom on the ship. And the first wave of incoming carrier planes appeared on the Yamato's radar screens. At 12:20pm the navigator says over 100 hostile planes are headed for us. 10 minutes later the first US planes are spotted. And we will take a break there. And you will after the break find out exactly what happens to the amateur. I think you're a pretty, pretty good idea though, ladies and gentlemen.

[James Holland]

Yeah, but, but you know what happens and how it happens.

[Al Murray]

We'll see you in a tick.

[James Holland]

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[Al Murray]

Welcome back to we have ways of making you talk. We left you 10 minutes later the first US planes were spotted. There's over 100 hostile planes headed for the Yamato, which is on a kamikaze mission. So as I said in the last part, this is disgusting. These lives being squandered for nothing and bright people and well trained people and it doesn't matter how bright or well trained they are, just people. It's vile, the whole thing. There is no Japanese air cover, so the Americans can take their time. They don't have to worry about fending off fighter escort or any of that, do they? They first start off. The American fighters start off by swooping in, dropping smaller bombs and strafing. Then you got the SB2C Curtiss Dive Bombers who are dropping a thousand pound bombs. And then avengers with torpedoes, most aiming at the Yamato's port side in the hope of capsizing her in that direction.

[James Holland]

Of course there's absolutely loads and loads of Japanese anti aircraft fire, I mean sort of pumming away black puff sort of dotting the skyline. But it's pretty inaccurate and without having to kind of sort of dodge Japanese aircraft as well. You know, naval anti aircraft fire is incredibly good and effective when you've got very, very good, highly trained crews. But they're clearly not the best on this lot. At this stage of the war, what becomes very clear is the greatest concern for the American pilots is an anti aircraft fire. It's actually colliding with one another. There's so many of them coming from different heights and different angles. But the Japanese ships, you know, they're surging along at 27 knots, which is a decent lick. The Yamato maneuvers violently as the first sort of bombs fall around it. You know, there's geysers of water spewing all around her and the first helldivers sort of narrowly missing. But then four heavy bombs strike the strike the great battleship, one after the other, hitting anti aircraft batteries and tossing bodies and debris into the air. And the superstructure's then strafed with 50 caliber machine guns and several on the bridge are killed. And then suddenly there's the silvery wakes of torpedoes streaking towards the ship from several direct. The Yamato manages to dodge some, but not all. And three hit the port side in quick succession. And then a fourth hits kind of further aft. Every single blow, the huge ship is sort of lurching and kind of almost lifted out of the water with this huge, huge blow. One of the destroyers on its port side, the Hamakaze is then hit as well and drops out of formation and soon after sinks. And when it sinks it just leaves a little sort of circle of white foam on the surface. Surface. The one cruiser, the Hagi, is also struck in the engine room, killing the entire engineering crew. And then six, between six and seven bombs then straddle her entire length. And the Hagi is soon reduced to a burning listing wreck, incapable of any kind of maneuver whatsoever. So the destroyer, the Isokaze moves in to help but is hit in turn by two bombs. And you know, fires rage and, and she slews off helpless flames and smoke gushing and the Suzuki is also hit and crippled but that one does manage to limp away. So you know, they're all being absolutely hammered. And the bottom line is, you know, the Yamato is in big trouble already. So the listing is corrected by counter flooding but fires are raging through the ship and the firefighting and damage control teams have been decimated already. So the fires are never really brought properly under control. You know, that's the problem.

[Al Murray]

And then the second wave of American planes arrives. It's just relentless, isn't it Jim?

[James Holland]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Al Murray]

On the bridge, Admiral Seiichi Ito is seen standing resolutely, arms folded. Oh, to know what he's thinking. Control between different parts of the ship are breaking down.

[James Holland]

Well, because they can't communicate because there's fires raging, you know, electrical cables are being burned and cut and water's pouring in.

[Al Murray]

Wow.

[James Holland]

I mean, you know, it's just horrendous.

[Al Murray]

Around ten past one in the afternoon in this second round, Yamato takes five or six more torpedoes on the port side, at least one on starboard.

[James Holland]

Just boom, boom, boom. I mean, you know, it's just, it's just like one after the other.

[Al Murray]

Yeah, there are no spoilers in this story. A further torpedo then explodes against her stern, destroying the rudder, which is the one in the description at the start. Helldivers drop countless bombs and along her decks and fire their cannons and machine guns while Hellcats and Corsairs swoop in and shoot up the remaining anti aircraft positions.

[James Holland]

You've just got this image, haven't you, of smoke puffs of anti aircraft are still dotted above, but just this swirling swarm of hornets kind of, you know, hurtling across the decks, bullets flying, bombs falling, the silvery streak of torpedoes you Know, sort of thinking of sort of hyenas on a dying elephant or something. This once mighty beast just being kind of mortally wounded and more so with every kind of hit, just terrible.

[Al Murray]

Or they're swooping in like seagulls after a trawler, aren't they?

[James Holland]

Yes, yes, yes, that's an even better. Even better description. Yeah. So anyway, Ensign Yoshida records incessant explosions, blinding flashes of light, thunderous noises and crushing weight sheets of blast pressure. I mean, goodness me.

[Al Murray]

I mean, the other thing is the ships with it are also being smashed pieces, aren't they? It's a complete free for all. And I think it's. It's interesting, isn't it? Before the war, all sorts of people had to convince the US Navy that air power was an important component in naval warfare. Was going to be. There was great argument over whether you could use air power in war. And then. And here are the Americans absolutely perfecting its effect and bringing it to decisive and deadly effect. So you. The remaining destroyers are hit. Asashimo and a Kasumi are damaged and sunk. Yahagi's hit by four mortals.

[James Holland]

So that means all eight of them have been hit by this point.

[Al Murray]

It's crazy. The Yahagi? Yes. It's been hit by seven or eight bombs, as well as four more torpedoes. Captain Hara knows the ends. Near bomb blasts a hurtling debris and bodies into the air. He feels the entire ship crumbling. A dying ship quaked with the detonations.

[James Holland]

Well. And he sees rivets popping on the deck.

[Al Murray]

Explosions finally stopped, but the list continued as waves washed blood pools from the deck and dismembered bodies fell into the rolling sea. So now the Yamato's listing badly. The captain, Kosoku Aruga, now takes the decision to flood the starboard engine and boiler rooms, but in doing so has consigned all the men in there to death. They sound a buzzer, but it's not enough time for them to escape and they all drown. And then there's a third wave of aircraft.

[James Holland]

Then there's the third wave. I mean, can you believe it? You know. So by this point, the Amato is listing really badly. Speed has dropped to 10 knots. More bullets, more bombs, more torpedoes. Then it's listing to 35 degrees. Then it's listing at 40 degrees. And Admiral Ito shakes hands with the surviving staff officers, then retreats to his cabin and he's never seen again. At 2.06pm, six minutes past two in the afternoon, Captain Hara, who is the skipper of the cruiser Yahagi, Gives the order to abandon ship and he finds himself in the water, repeatedly sucked down, but manages to resurface and eventually cling to an oil drenched bit of debris with a handful of others. And he's picked up and rescued, which is why we have his account, because he kept an account of what happened. But meanwhile Yamato is, is now listing at 80 degrees. So basically it's almost over. Yeah. And Captain Aruga lashes himself to a binnacle. But Ito's chief of Staff now orders every man for themselves. So Ensign Yoshida jumps out and finds himself swimming through congealed oil. And as Yamato began sinking, he finds himself repeatedly sucked under. The ship is pulling down, it's pulling him too. And he's below the surface and thinking, this is it, I'm going to drown. When suddenly there's this immense underwater explosion and a giant pillar of flame and a blinding flash of light sort of burst through the water and leaps up into the sky. And the force of this pushes him back to the surface and this is what saves him. So again, we have have his account and I strongly recommend anyone who wants to know more about it. It's called Requiem for the Battleship Yamato. It's incredible account. It's very, very short account, but it's an amazing piece of wartime literature. He begins treading water, looking for the debris to kind of clutch onto and eventually find someone. And like the captain of the Hagi is, is also picked up. But the column of smoke above this, this immense battleship rises to 20,000ft. And the explosion of it is seen in kagoshima, which is 125 miles away. And when the cloud and the smoke lift, there's no sign of the AMATO. Only 23 officers and 246 enlisted men survive. So the ship has gone down. With more than 3,000 men, 4,000 Japanese sailors dying.

[Al Murray]

It's entirely pointless. Headquarters have got what they want. You're sad. I'm disgusted.

[James Holland]

Well, I'm sad and disgusted, but I, but I feel this, I feel this sort of lead weight, this albatross of despair. Just talking about it, just the awfulness of it, it's just, it's so tragic, it's so needless. It's just, you know, so close to the end of the war. What's the point? Well, Task Force 58 aircraft have been away. The ship have been attacked by a further 100 plus kamikazes and most are shot down. Although one does hit the battleship Maryland and another hits the flight deck of the carrier Hancock. But These are, you know, contained pretty quickly. And these, you know, Operation 10Go is known as floating chrysanthemum attacks. Japanese love sort of painting things in terms of blossom and flowers and everything else. So, so floating chrysanthemum attacks. And actually there's 10 of them, so, so 6th of April and now the 7th of April, those are the first two of 10. And in between these large scale raids, there's further daily attacks of kind of, you know, smaller nature. So in other words, there's sort of no let up. These kamikazes keep coming as well as conventional bombers as well. And they're always delivered by an assortment of aircraft. You know, a number of them are these sort of obsolescent planes and they've also been bolstered by OHKA, rocket propelled manned suicide missions, which are also kind of insane. These are kind of, of like rocket powered things which are attached to kind of mother vessels and then released and piloted straight in. I mean just bonkers.

[Al Murray]

So desperate.

[James Holland]

But anyway, the amazing thing, you know, to continue the theme of grand delusion, you know, Imperial General Headquarters, you know, they allow themselves to believe that Tengo has been this sort of huge success and that future floating chrysanthemum a huge success. And even Admiral Ugaki concludes that some 150 vessels have been hit just on operation 10 go alone. And he records in his diary that the sea around Okinawa had thus turned into a scene of carnage. Well, yes it had, but from wrecked kamikaze and Japanese aircraft plunging into the sea in balls of flame rather than burning vessels, he's convinced that four carriers, American carriers, have been sunk on 6 April alone. But after reports have come in from the 32nd army on board Okinawa, which has been watching all this, these figures are adjusted from 150 ships to 35 that have been hit and 22 sunk. But it wasn't even that. Only six vessels are sunk on, on 6 April. So some are getting through. They are a constant pain in the ass. They're exhausting for the defenders to have to deal with. But in terms of effect, they're pretty half cock is the truth of it. Or even quarter cock.

[Al Murray]

Yes, it's sort of in the balance, isn't it though? Because the Americans are very much perturbed by this. They haven't accommodated this in their planning, have they? To start with, this is sort of new and unexpected and unprecedented in its amount. So combat crews and air crew are really, they're feeling the strain having to stick these cat protections patrols up all the time. And it's the picket destroyers. You mentioned the picket destroyers earlier, Jim.

[James Holland]

Yeah, well, they're, they're amazing. And they're a kind of new development.

[Al Murray]

Yeah, A radar screen, well north of Okinawa. And they're early warning, basically.

[James Holland]

Yep.

[Al Murray]

But simultaneously very vulnerable. And I think people who remember the Falklands War will remember this, that ships would go out on picket and they were the ones that got exoceted, weren't they? Is the thing a Royal Navy destroyers. So it's a similar thing. They're on 24 hour watches, continuous radar, sound of visual searches during daylight hours. They've got air patrols, as we said, that have got a flight director officer on board the picket destroyer, basically organizing them, calling them in FDO's. Yeah, as you said, it's like the, it's like a Battle of Britain air defence system. It's like nautical dowding system.

[James Holland]

But what I think is absolutely amazing is there's this dialogue between the pilots and the FDO's, the fighter director officers. They broadcast it on the interfighter director known as the ifd, which is then played out through loudspeakers throughout each ship in the fight fleet. So everyone can hear it. This isn't so to sort of keep morale up. This is so that everyone is absolutely clued into what is going on. They're getting a live commentary. So instead of having the kind of the controller over the dais overlooking the map board, you know, in the bunker at Uxbridge, for example, with the Battle of Britain, this is a further development of a system where every sailor is alert and keyed up to what is going on, so they can all see it. And one AA gunnery officer writes, the IFD net was at once our salvation and our entertainment. It prepared us defend ourselves by following the progress, progress and of approaching enemies. And of course, under the circumstances, it was perfectly fascinating.

[Al Murray]

Incredible. Imagine listening to that.

[James Holland]

But they're a decoy as much as a tripwire. That is the truth of these radar picket destroyers. And they bore the brunt of the kamikazes throughout the whole long Ockenhauer campaign. Yeah, and you know, they're learning on the job, they're learning to maneuver more swiftly and effectively, but you know, it's an absolute nightmare, you know. So one picket destroyer, the USS Laffey, which actually survives and then later serves in Korea, was at radar picket station number one on the 16th of April when it was attacked by 22 aircraft in 80 minutes. So it's hit by four bombs and six Kamikazes loses 32 killed in action, 71 wounded. You know, so that's nearly one third of the crew but amazingly survives, you know. So again it says something of the skill of the crews to manage the damage that's inflicted upon them, but also the strength and sturdiness of U.S. shipbuilding, you know, which is obviously pretty good. You know, we were talking about sort of quality of steel and things and the kind of depleted steel on Tiger tanks at the end of the war. Well, it's really, really on the US Navy and saves a lot of lives, you know, that's the truth of it.

[Al Murray]

But it's a steep cost, isn't it? It's one in three picket. 15 picket destroyers are sunk, 50 are damaged. That's one in three total casualties, 1348 killed in action of 1586 wounded. So that's a lot of people. Admiral Turner, I think it's really interesting that he does this sends a mass of photos of damaged picket destroyers to Nimitz with a note. These will give you an idea of what our boys are going through. How they ever get their ships back as a mystery. But they are cheerful and do everything they can to keep their ships up here instead of being sent to the rear areas. Morale seems very high even among our radar picket vessels who well realize what they're up against, as do all of us, and they are willing to fight it out on this line. Obviously it's a big strain, isn't it? And if you're on one of those picket destroyers, are you going to get it this afternoon? Possibly, yeah. Tough wicket this, isn't it?

[James Holland]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it really is. And of course, you know, from, you know, the Japanese are sending down all these kamikazes and bombers, conventional bombers and stuff, but also the US are obviously sending bombers up to bomb Japan as well. And Mitscher is sending carrier task groups continually throughout this battle. It's not just in the build up to Operation Iceberg, it continues once iceberg begins. And they're repeatedly hammering the Kyushu airfields, they're bombing runways, they're shooting up installations. Never ever managed to crush the Japanese air menace. And that's because Ugaki's 5th Air Fleet is properly dispersed and hidden and camouflaged. And what they do is they keep them well hidden under cover of daylight and then at night they position them undercover. You know, they move them out so that they're taking off at kind of, you know, crack of dawn. Craters are quickly filled. Super fortresses are also coming over, you know, B29s on every day that the weather allows and they fly 1600 bombing sorties on airfields on Kyushu and Shikoku between 8th of April and 11th May. But it doesn't seem to matter how much damage they cause or how many Japanese workers they killed. There's always more. And this goes back to that whole point about sort of replicating. You know, there are plentiful numbers of Japanese civilians who are kind of drawn in for this work. You know, by this stage of the war, 88% of the Japanese economy is spent on defense. So everyone is part of this. You know, this is, this is total war. And everyone's involved and you've got a kind of, you know, they haven't got much mechanization now. So it is, it is teams of ant lines of workers with buckets and shovels and doing all this work. But such is the control of the Japanese government and the Japanese imperial hierarchy that they were able to do this. I mean it's just amazing.

[Al Murray]

Well, so the Americans, there are different developing defense techniques though to deal with the, to deal with the kamikaze menace on there. Yeah. So the IFD net will report a bogey and an alarm buzzer will run. A bugler will play sublime of ancient and modern. Here a bugler plays boots and saddles the loudspeakers. And the captain sets condition Zebra, which means all watertight doors and hatches are slammed shut. And Admiral dayo's Task Force 54, the bombardment ships, they fall into defensive circular formation. They emit smoke covered wagons far west. Yeah, they put up a smoke screen. Gunners and fire directors scan the and listen to the radio dialogue or the IFD as we talked about earlier. The gunners on the firing line, they man all sorts of anti aircraft guns from 5 inch to 20 mil. And there's a 40 millimeter Bofors gun that's the most effective. And they're in pairs or quads. The guns have, has a muzzle velocity of 2,890ft per second.

[James Holland]

And a cyclic ratio is pretty tidy, isn't it?

[Al Murray]

It's pretty thick, that'll catch pretty much what you're aiming at. And a cyclic rate of 160 rounds per minute per barrel.

[James Holland]

I mean that's a hell of a lot, isn't it? 160 rounds per minute. Yeah, that's a lot of shells.

[Al Murray]

And it's cannon shells, isn't it? The Bofor. So there's explosive shells as well. So a Bofors with a good crew could hit the kamikaze a mile out with the flat trajectory range of over Two miles. So as lieutenant Robert Wallace, who's an anti aircraft gunnery on the Idaho writes, no kamikaze could get past even a single quad 40 if its people knew what they were doing. So basically if you know what you're doing, you can. And they're getting better and better. I mean this is one of these things, isn't it? As ever people are getting better at this the more they have to deal with it. And so you might be caught out the first time round but as it evolves you're getting better at defending yourself.

[James Holland]

You know, say you're on an 88 millimeter anti tank gun and you're firing up at a B17, you know, 24,000ft above you. That's very difficult to hit. You've got something like a 0.002% chance. But if you're trained on a single kamikaze coming towards you, you know, it is coming on a kind of single trajectory. So you've got time to kind of get your bead, start pumping in shells. You know, they also have incend on them as well. So you can, you can see where you're going and you know you're going to hit it. Yeah, that's the truth. It's a hell of a lot easier than it is doing high level kind.

[Al Murray]

Of vertical deflection, haven't you? And you have a proximity fuse which will explode as it gets very close to the aircraft which will set the shell off. So hopefully you disintegrate the enemy aircraft rather than allow it to crash into you. April 12th. So there's another major floating chrysanthemum op ordered by Admiral Ugaki who thinks it's working. It's 185 kamikazes, 150 fighters, 45 torpedoes, bombers. And now we know how this goes. So the radar pickets pick them up at around 1pm 129 aircraft, the first Aichi dive bombers. They target the picket destroyers at number one station and a wall of anti aircraft fire comes up from the destroyers Purdy and Cassin Young and 12 enemy aircraft are shot down pretty much immediately after this. The captain of the first line. Yeah, well then give it everything Jim.

[James Holland]

So this captain of the USS Purdy writes in his after action report he goes the prospects of a long and illustrious career for a destroyer assigned to radar pick station duty is below average expectancy. That duty is extremely hazardous, very tiring and entirely unenjoyable. That's almost British in its understatement.

[Al Murray]

It is. I'm struck by how you know, we've talked about the naval war in the Battle of the Atlantic and how that works, how completely different this is.

[James Holland]

Yeah, isn't it?

[Al Murray]

Radically different.

[James Holland]

I know, I'm just absolutely, I'm so stunned by its violence.

[Al Murray]

But this is as different as jungle warfare is different to, you know, northwestern Europe warfare on the land, conventional land warfare. It might have Navy written on it, but it couldn't be any more different. Later, on 12 April, Dayo's Task Force 54 they're assaulted again to the west of Okinawa in waters now known as Kamikaze Gulch. That nicknames on the nose, isn't it? Idaho and Tennessee are both hit, as was the destroyer Zealous, although they're not knocked out, but they're hit. Tennessee suffers 23 killed in action, 106 wound in action. Zealous loses 26 killed in action when they're kamikaze on the port side. But Meanwhile, Task Force 58 avoids any hits, but claims 151 Japanese aircraft shot down. And the fighting goes on till dusk. This is relentless. And it's like, isn't it? This is like something from a zombie film that.

[James Holland]

Exactly what it's like.

[Al Murray]

Waves and waves and waves and they're already dead in effect. And you know, you have to destroy them to stop them. It's got that flavor, hasn't it?

[James Holland]

So anyway, the next day, the 13th of April, the news finally reaches them that, that FDR has died. The President, most are shocked, saddened, but they're also concerned, you know, where's that going to leave us? You know, what does that, what does that mean for us? The Japanese on the other hand, are absolutely delighted and think this is all kind of, you know, means that they've got a lifeline. Japanese News reports that seven of every 10 carriers have already been sunk and hit and that the U.S. navy has suffered 150,000 casualties. And on Okinawa they released leaflets, propaganda leaflets which are inevitably pretty poorly distributed by the Japanese. And on this, and not only does it, does it announce these ridiculous claims, it also says not only late president but anyone else would die in the excess of worry to hear of such an annihilative damage. The dreadful loss that led your late leader to death will make you orphans on this island. The Japanese Special Attack Corps will sink your vessels to the last destroyer. You will witness it realized in the near future. But I think it's good that we leave with this nod to the troops still battling it out on Okinawa because you know, here we are on the 13th of April. And trust me, by that stage, it is no longer the easy ride that it once was. Things are turning very, very badly for the American troops or the experience of the American troops on Okinawa as they are for the Japanese troops of the 32nd Army. And in that next episode, we do episode three, that is when we're going to be turning to the land campaign and particularly we're going to do something a little bit different. We're going to be looking at this battle through the experiences of one young Marine in particular, chap called Bill Pierce.

[Al Murray]

We're gonna zoom in, aren't we, Jim? That's what we're gonna do.

[James Holland]

Do a slightly different take on this.

[Al Murray]

Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, everyone, for listening. We hope that you're as sad, disgusted and what was, what was the other emotion? Dismayed with this entire business as we are. If you want to listen to these in one streak, of course, subscribe to our Patreon. And it always amazes me that I have to say this. Come to we have ways fest 12th to 14th of September. We get an entire weekend of Wednesday war waffle of this caliber from not just us, but all sorts of speakers of every subject you could possibly want to grapple with to do with the Second World War. Thanks everyone for listening. We will see you all again very soon. Cheerio.

[James Holland]

Cheerio.