Kamikaze Day
The Japanese are so desperately messing around in the air and at the bottom of the sea that the Americans will let them do whatever they want? The answer, of course, is no, knowing that among the naval commanders currently fighting in the Philippines is the famous bull Halsey, who in the eyes of his old man, the Japanese and the Japanese should be sent to hell, the phrase "Kill the Japanese!" Kill the Japanese Guys! Kill more Japanese Guys! "It is also widely praised in the US military, and there is no possibility and reason for his subordinates to be merciful." In fact, on the day that the torpedoes attacked the U.S. warships in the Ulrich anchorage, Halsey ordered The carrier-based aircraft in the hands of Lieutenant General Mitchell to carry out a large-scale, high-density bombardment of Japanese airfields throughout the Philippines, during which time the Japanese special attack aircraft were too busy to take off, so that the Army could get more ship fire support.
Not angry bull Halsey
However, the bull's bullish spirit seemed to have gone wrong this time, and the habitual conceit of the Americans made him firmly believe that the Japanese suicide planes had little left in front of his "farmland" and could no longer launch a large-scale attack on the American army, so they turned to attacking the remnants of the Japanese ships in Manila Port.
As everyone knows, the Japanese special attack aircraft did not suffer great losses, but secretly assembled and improved their tactics: first, to expand the number of kamikaze in one attack as much as possible and strive to strike in chaos; second, to insist on attacking the enemy aircraft carrier with all their strength, so that the landing US troops would lose air support as much as possible.
On 25 November, as the land battle on Leyte Wasle was in a state of stalemate, the kamikaze formation struck again. This time, 32 special attack aircraft from four formations of the Third Kamikaze Special Attack Team and the Fifth Kamikaze Special Attack Team (Yoshino Team, KasaTsugu Team, Third High-De Team, and Strong Wind Team) pounced on the US aircraft carrier formation near Leyte Gulf.
At 12:35 p.m., the Hancock carrier was first attacked by suicide aircraft. A Zero fighter swooped toward the Hancock and was destroyed by anti-aircraft artillery at 300 to 700 feet, with wing fragments and cylinders crashing into the deck and catching fire, but was quickly extinguished by damaged pipe crews, and a 20 mm cannon on board was damaged and many people were injured;
The wreckage of the Zero fighter that attacked Hancock
Soon, the USS Cabot was also attacked. The Cabot was hit three minutes later by a Japanese suicide plane. The plane burst in from the ship's starboard side, crashed on the deck after plowing through the starboard 20 mm machine gun and 40 mm cannon positions, killing 35 people and wounding 67 people, the hangar and flight deck were severely damaged, and the entire hull was punched out of 96 holes by the fragments of this suicide aircraft! Despite this, the Cabot remained in combat position. At that time, the famous American war correspondent Ernie. Pyle happened to be on board the ship to interview, and he was touched by the tenacious will to fight of the Cabot and the heroic sacrifice of the crew, so he gave the Cabot the nickname of "Iron Lady".
Smoke billowing Cabot
Almost at the same time, the Essex suffered the same fate. A Comet 33 carrier-based bomber piloted by Captain Yamaguchi hit the middle of Essex, causing a fire that killed 15 people and injured 44 others, and after 30 minutes of repairs, the aircraft could take off and land. Due to the urgency of the war, the Ulrich Atoll was returned to the front line for repairs for 3 days.
The moment Essex was hit
Photo of Lieutenant Yamaguchi's landline being hit
Locust-like kamikazes continued to patronize the U.S. military, followed by the Dreadnought carrier. Within five minutes, two Japanese suicide planes hit the Intrepid, causing the ship to burn for two hours, killing 74 people and injuring more than 100 others. The Intrepid had to be overhauled at the Urich Anchorage and did not return to the battlefield until 15 January 45.
On November 25, anti-aircraft artillery aboard the battleship NEW JERSEY watched helplessly as a suicide plane was about to crash into the deck of the Intrepid.
Judging from the results of the battle, the effect of the Japanese kamikaze attack this time is quite obvious, injuring 4 aircraft carriers in half an hour, which is also difficult for the elite HNA pilots who sneaked into Pearl Harbor (of course, that group of pilots did not fight with their lives). Moreover, the psychological shock brought by this kamikaze attack to the US military was no less than that of Guan Xingnan a month ago, because Lieutenant Guan only sunk and injured the escort aircraft carrier, which was completely different from the regular aircraft carrier. It is for this reason that the U.S. military calls this day the "Day of the Kamikaze."
On the 25th of the Chinese mainland battlefield, the Japanese 22nd Division captured the last important city in the "Afghan Operation" ---- Nanning (that is, the Battle of Yuxianggui, which we commonly known as the Battle of Yuxianggui, the history book of Taiwan Province is called the Broken Can Operation, but the National Government may have forgotten that it was almost killed by this broken can), and the entire battlefield that allowed the Nazis to achieve expanded results in 1944 was the only one, so do not blame the Post-War Allies for acquiescing to Mongolian independence. The dignity of any big country is really a knife and a real gun on the battlefield, hoping that other people's thighs will hold themselves, and no dish will catch up.
The lifelines of Southeast Asia and Japan are about to be opened, and the dying empire seems to see a glimmer of hope again. Driven by the "beautiful looking" results, the Kamikaze faced by the Allies was even more frantic...