Thunder Gods [Mass Market Paperback]

Hatsuho Naito (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1990

In an account that reads like fiction, Naito presents a compelling chronicle based on actual interviews with survivors of the Kamikaze missions in the final stages of World War II. 16 pages of photos.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Thunder Gods were a Japanese naval-aviation unit trained for one-way missions in flying bombs called the Okha , which were launched from a mother-plane. Employed mostly in the 1945 Okinawa campaign, they sank one U.S. destroyer at a cost of 438 pilots and crew members. The author, who took part in the wind-tunnel testing of the Okha , describes the flying bomb's conception, development and the training of the pilots. Volunteers were categorized as Compliant, Eager, Very Eager and--if they signed their application in blood--Earnest. Missions are described from the mother-plane crew's point of view or by Okha pilots who were not launched at the target for one reason or another. More fully than in other recent books on kamikazes , Naito explains the spiritual dimension of the kamikaze phenomenon and its complicated effect on individual pilots. Photos. BOMC selection; paperback rights to Dell.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In the summer of 1944, the Japanese military was short of materiel, and the American Navy was on its way. Reluctantly, the high command decided to institutionalize the ad hoc practice of suicide attacks, and special attack units were formed and trained to crash bomb-laden planes into the American ships. This grimly inexplicable turn of tactics killed about 4500 young Japanese pilots and caused serious damage to the U.S. advance in the Pacific. The approach taken by the author is more compassionate than earlier histories, now at least a decade out of print, and concentrates on the 721st Flying Corps. The poignancy of these sacrifices, and their obvious belief that they would save their nation, make those inconceivable acts more comprehensible, and demonstrate the astonishing breadth of the human experience in battle. Cautiously recommended.
- Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, Cal.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Dell (May 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440204984
• ISBN-13: 978-0440204985
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,891,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but Limited, April 4, 2004

By 

Fred M. Blum - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thunder Gods: The Kamikaze Pilots Tell Their Story (Hardcover)

Thunder Gods: The Kamikaze Pilots Tell Their Story by Hatsuho Naito is mistitled in that there is very little in the book in which the pilots tell their own story. Instead Naito's book is more of a chronological story of the history of the Kamikaze in general and the Thunder Gods in particular. While it is understandable that few of the pilots may be alive, the title creates expectations that were not fulfilled. The Thunder Gods were suicide pilots of jet propelled bombs; while Kamikaze pilots traditionally piloted airplanes.

Naito startes with the development of the rationale behind the use of kamikazes and the initial reluctance of the Japanese command to utilize them. Interestingly, it was not the command officers who pushed the idea of their use, but mid level officers who kept the idea alive. While this is a strong part of the book, Naito should have spent more time describing the conflict and how that conflict finally got resolved in favor of their use. The state of the war, and the continual Japanese loses, surely had a major impact on the decision,. But the massive use of suicide missions cannot be solely explained by theses loses. While history is full of examples of nations losing wars, the use of kamikazes on the scale utilized by the Japanese was unprecedented. The reader is left with the only explanation that the reason is somehow unique to the Japanese psyche. Such an explanation, while it may have some relevance, is too easy.

As a chronological history, the book is otherwise excellent. It reads easily and is well written.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't take the title too literally., July 23, 2000

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Thunder Gods (Mass Market Paperback)

I read it expecting more eye-witness accounts, which is actually pretty dumb of me given that the eye witnesses are dead. There isn't much of "telling their story" in the book. Still, an interesting look at the Exploding Cherry Blossoms of World War II. Introduction by James Michener.