This article analyzes ten significant historical discrepancies in the book Kamikaze, written by Yasuo Kuwahara and Gordon T. Allred. Each discrepancy discussed in this article has three sections: (A) details from book, (B) historical facts related to subject, and (C) possibilities to explain inconsistencies between book's statements and historical facts.

The book Kamikaze is an autobiographical account of Kuwahara's 18 months in the Japanese Army, but some background information on the relationship between Kuwahara and his co-author Allred will be helpful to assess the historical discrepancies contained in the book. Allred wrote the book Kamikaze in English based on information provided to him by Kuwahara. They used an interpreter for almost all of their conversations over a ten-month period starting in the summer of 1955.* Allred first wrote out Kuwahara's story in an 80-page draft. After reading the entire draft written by Allred in English, Kuwahara corrected any errors and offered additional suggestions. This account written by Allred was published in the January 1957 issue of Cavalier magazine. After Allred returned from Japan to the U.S., he wrote a rough draft of the book Kamikaze based on the published magazine article, extensive notes from his conversations with Kuwahara, and background reading. Allred sent this book draft to Kuwahara, who only answered a few questions due to his poor health at the time. The book Kamikaze was published without Kuwahara's making comments on the entire manuscript.

(*Note: The interviews began in early 1955 and were conducted daily over a period of 10 months. Initially an interpreter was used, but after three interviews, Allred discovered it was easier to communicate without the interpreter. ALM)

Book: Kuwahara served in the Japanese Army at Hiro Air Base from February 1944 to early June 1945 during his basic training, flight training, fighter training, and fighter squadron assignment. He returned to Hiro Air Base in late June or early July 1945 after a week at Oita Air Base and two to three weeks at a small air base in Formosa. He remained at Hiro until August 23, 1945.

Facts: The Japanese Army did not have a base at Hiro or any air bases near Hiro. The Navy had two major production facilities in Hiro: 11th Naval Aviation Arsenal and Hiro Naval Arsenal. During WWII, these factories produced various naval planes such as Suisei bombers, Type 0 Observation Seaplanes, and Shiden-kai fighters. These two facilities also repaired planes and manufactured aircraft engine and other parts. On May 5, 1945, 148 B-29s bombed these facilities and destroyed them.

Kuwahara drew a map of Hiro Air Base buildings in order to assist Allred's writing of the book. This map supports a statement in Chapter 4 that Hiro Air Base had 48 barracks housing 15 men apiece and "a training ground, school, dispensary, storage houses, plus a variety of buildings and offices." An American plane took an aerial reconnaissance photograph of Hiro prior to its being bombed on May 5, 1945. The photograph shows that the Hiro Air Base buildings drawn by Kuwahara are actually several buildings of the 11th Naval Aviation Arsenal in Hiro. Chapter 4 describes a "long, narrow airstrip running the full length of the base," but the photograph shows no such airstrip next to the buildings drawn by Kuwahara. The Hiro factories did have a short taxiway to the water, where facilities existed to put seaplanes into the water or to load planes onto ships.

Kure Naval Air Group, based in Hiro from 1931, used an airfield across a small river from the Navy's factories. Jungo Kaku, a Japanese Navy pilot who during WWII flew to the airstrip used by the Kure Naval Air Group to pick up a repaired plane, said in an interview that he has no knowledge of any Army air base located at Hiro. No fighter squadron was stationed at Kure Naval Air Group's airfield in Hiro during WWII. A fighter squadron called the Kure Naval Air Group Fighter Squadron operated from Iwakuni Air Base in Yamaguchi Prefecture. This squadron reorganized in August 1944 to become Naval Air Group 332.

Possibilities: Perhaps Kuwahara was actually in the Navy rather than the Army since Hiro and its surrounding area did not have an Army base. However, it seems unlikely that Kuwahara would misidentify his military service branch. The book states specifically in several places that he served in the Army, and he trained to become a pilot of a popular Army fighter named the Hayabusa. Also, the book uses Army ranks to refer to various individuals.

Perhaps Kuwahara was in the group of test pilots associated with the naval arsenals in Hiro. However, these test pilots would have been experienced pilots to test planes manufactured and repaired there. The book states that Kuwahara had his basic, flight, and fighter training at Hiro, but no organization or facilities existed in Hiro for this type of training. The book states that Kuwahara entered the Army at age 15 in February 1944, so he would have been too young to be a test pilot.

Book: On June 10, 1945, a squadron of 12 kamikaze pilots flew from Oita Air Base to Kagoshima Air Base for a refueling stop and then sortied from Kagoshima to make an attack on a group of 25 American ships. All pilots died in the attack. They sank one destroyer and one tanker.

Japanese records of special attack force (tokkotai in Japanese) or kamikaze deaths indicate only 12 men sortied from Kagoshima Air Base during the entire war. On March 11, 1945, the 12-man crew of a Type 2 Flying Boat sortied from Kagoshima as one of the lead planes in the kamikaze attack by Ginga bombers on American ships anchored at Ulithi Atoll. An American patrol bomber shot down the flying boat.

Possibilities: Perhaps the 12 kamikaze pilots sortied from another base in Kagoshima Prefecture on a different date. This could be possible based on the large number of kamikaze pilots who sortied from bases in Kagoshima Prefecture during the Battle of Okinawa. It is most likely that the book's date would only be off by a day or two. However, this does not appear to be correct. On June 8, there were the following kamikaze sorties: 6 from Miyakonojo, 3 from Chiran, and 3 from Bansei. These would not be the squadron of 12 planes that sortied from one air base. There were no kamikaze sorties on June 9. On June 11, there were 10 kamikaze planes that sortied from the Army's base in Bansei and 4 from Chiran. Nine of the planes from Bansei were from the 64th Shinbu Squadron, which could not have been the one mentioned in Kuwahara's book since this squadron never passed through Oita. After June 11, there were no recorded Army or Navy kamikaze sorties until June 21.

Perhaps Kuwahara misidentified the tanker that sank when hit by a kamikaze plane. However, there is no date close to June 10, 1945, when both a destroyer and another type of ship sank on the same date. The nearest date before June 10 when this happened was May 25, and the nearest date after June 10 was June 21.

Possibilities: Perhaps Japanese wartime records are incomplete or incorrect. However, the current listings of special attack force kamikaze deaths are considered complete and accurate for the most part, although a very few discrepancies between listings still exist. Japanese researchers have worked for several decades after the war to improve the accuracy of these listings by contacting veterans and bereaved family members. After the end of the war, several challenges existed to ensure a complete and accurate listing of special attack force kamikaze deaths. Some records were burned when surrender was announced. Also, some kamikaze pilots made forced landings on the way to Okinawa and survived on small islands, even though official military records indicated their deaths in kamikaze attacks.

Perhaps Tatsuno and Oka died as escort pilots rather than kamikaze pilots, so their deaths would not be included in Japanese listings of special attack force kamikaze deaths. However, the book states specifically that Tatsuno sortied in a kamikaze squadron on June 10, 1945. Kuwahara witnessed his death as he crashed into and sank a tanker. The book does not clearly state how Oka died, but it strongly suggests that he also died in a kamikaze mission rather than as an escort pilot.

Book: When American B-29s destroyed Hiro Air Base in early June 1945, Kuwahara moved to Oita Air Base, where he became an escort fighter for kamikaze squadrons. He was there for a few days before he flew his first escort mission in which he accompanied 15 kamikaze planes. He flew escort from Oita for an unspecified number of multiple kamikaze missions prior to June 10, 1945. The kamikaze squadrons escorted by Kuwahara also flew from Oita, since he writes that it was better that he did not form any close friendships at Oita when referring to men selected for kamikaze missions.

During 1945, only ten kamikaze planes sortied from Oita Air Base and did not return. This includes one Ginga bomber on March 18, another on March 20, and eight Suisei dive-bombers led by Vice Admiral Ugaki after the Emperor announced surrender on August 15.

Based on Hiro being destroyed in early June and Kuwahara waiting a few days for his first escort mission, there would have been only one opportunity in June 1945 prior to the 10th for him to fly an escort fighter for kamikaze missions. On June 6, 25 kamikaze planes sortied from Chiran Air Base.

Possibilities: Perhaps Kuwahara meant another air base in Oita Prefecture rather than Oita Air Base. However, the other two Oita Prefecture air bases, located in Usa and Saiki, were both Navy air bases. Also, no kamikaze planes sortied from these two air bases.

Book: Tatsuno flew an "all-but-defunct" Navy plane, a Mitsubishi Type 96 Fighter, when he led the last three planes in the 12-plane kamikaze squadron that sortied on June 10, 1945. His plane was the only Navy plane in the squadron. Tatsuno was an Army fighter pilot.

Possibilities: Perhaps Kuwahara misidentified the plane, and it was actually an obsolete Army fighter. Both the Army's Type 97 Fighter and the Navy's Type 96 Fighter were single-engine, single-seat planes with fixed landing gear. However, it seems improbable that an Army fighter pilot such as Kuwahara could not identify all Army fighters in use during the war.

Possibilities: Perhaps there was some confusion in the dates in the book, so Kuwahara's time in Formosa was actually earlier when kamikaze planes regularly sortied. However, although many kamikaze planes sortied from Formosa from March to early June 1945, Japanese records of special attack force kamikaze deaths indicate that there never were three consecutive days of kamikaze sorties from Formosan bases.

Book: Kuwahara was in Hiroshima on August 6 when the bomb was dropped at 8:15 a.m. He was buried in debris for nearly six hours, but he managed to climb onto an Army truck to return the same day to Hiro Air Base, located about 12 miles southeast of Hiroshima. On August 8, he flew from Hiro in a Shinshitei reconnaissance plane (Ki-46, Army Type 100 Command Reconnaissance Plane) for two hours to survey the damage caused by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. While flying over Hiroshima, he learned that Nagasaki had also been bombed. Kuwahara does not mention that he ever flew in a Ki-46 reconnaissance plane before this date.

Japanese pilots in WWII normally had flight training on a particular plane type prior to making flights. It would be especially rare for a pilot to switch from a single-engine fighter (e.g., Hayabusa fighter flown by Kuwahara) to a much larger twin-engine plane such as the Ki-46 reconnaissance plane. The fact that a Ki-46 had a normal crew of two or three would make this even more difficult for an untrained pilot to fly the plane alone.

Ten Historical Discrepancies

by Bill Gordon and Yuko Shirako