Wolf, William Hitler's and Hirohito's "Kamikaze" Flying Boms

The Heroes of Doolittle's Raid on Japan in April 1942

On 1 April 1945, US troops launched the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific War on the heavily defended island of Okinawa. To support the invasion, the USS West Virginia participated in the bombardment of the entrenched Japanese defenders. That evening, a Japanese aircraft, a Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka, a rocket-powered kamikaze plane, took off. The West Virginia was hit by an Ohka, making it the first ship to be damaged by such a weapon. Twelve days later, the USS Mannert L. Able became the first ship to be sunk by an Ohka. The use of the Ohka was a desperate measure by Japan as the tide of war turned against the country. This manned flying bomb was a further development of earlier kamikaze tactics. However, the Germans had also considered similar weapons. As early as 1944, figures close to Hitler, such as Otto Skorzeny and Hanna Reitsch, advocated kamikaze missions. Hitler approved the formation of the Leonidas Squadron to prepare for these attacks, which led to the development of the Messerschmitt Me 328 and the Fieseler Fi 103R, also known as the Reichenberg. Although the Fi 103R went into production in October 1944, it was already obsolete by the time it was ready for deployment due to the changing dynamics of the war. The project was officially abandoned in March 1945. This book describes in detail the development of both the Ohka and the Reichenberg.