The Divine Wind by Rikihei Inoguchi, Tadashi Nakajima, and Roger Pineau

Paperback. Condition: Good. 1970. Ballantine. Second Printing.

Two former officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy tell their version of the history of the kamikaze attacks. Captain Rikihei Inoguchi served as senior staff officer to Vice Admiral Takijiro Ohnishi, who initiated Japan's kamikaze attacks against American ships in the Philippines. Commander Tadashi Nakajima was flight operations officer for the 201st Air Group, which organized the first kamikaze special attack corps. Nakajima later served on the staff of the air fleet that launched suicide attacks against the American fleet around Okinawa. These two eyewitnesses to events surrounding the kamikaze operations provide many insights into the motivations and feelings of both the leaders and pilots of the kamikaze units.

The Divine Wind covers the kamikaze operations from October 19, 1944, the date of the formation of the first kamikaze special attack corps, to the end of the war. Inoguchi and Nakajima divide up the chapters between them, so some chapters cover the same events from each author's individual perspective. The book's events follow a rough chronological order, with Part One covering the "Birth of the Kamikaze" in which both authors participated. Parts Two and Three cover the special attack units in the Philippines and Taiwan, respectively. Part Four details the last-ditch efforts of Japan's military to launch suicide assaults against the American fleet surrounding Okinawa. The last part gives Inoguchi's reflections on the decision to use suicide tactics to wage war against the United States, and the last chapter of this part contains several letters from kamikaze pilots.