6.+Kamikaze+Attacks+and+the+Battle+of+Leyete+Gulf

Lyrisa Meizanis

Dear Diary, It Is October 25, 1994. I am cold, tired, scared, and uneasy about what is going to happen to me next., I am only a Japanese solider in the Imperial Japanese Navy. I know it is my job to fight for my country and I know my life is at risk, but I didn’t think I’d be taking my own life. “The initial landings are to take place on the island of Leyte, with ground forces commanded by General Douglas MacArthur” (Battle). Our General has created many offensive strategies for us. We are now testing “a new tactic, the kamikaze, or suicide-plane, attack in which Japanese pilots crash their ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/temporarybattleoflayte bomb-laden planes into Allied ships” (Danzer 581). This is a plan to attack the Leyte Gulf in the Philippines in order to play our part in World War II. I am ready to fight, but I’m still nervous. Many attacks have already been made on the Leyte Gulf, but I’m the last one. “The battle started badly for the Japanese when their central force was ambushed on Octo                  ber twenty-third by , which sounded the alarm and sank two  ” (Hickman). And even since then, we have not been successful. __ __  We have only sunk sixteen other ships and damaged about eighty others. As we plan to send our last bombing ship into action, three of our battleships, four aircraft carriers, thirteen cruisers, and about five-hundred planes have all been destroyed. Maybe this last bombing will make a difference, but then again maybe it won’t. I am the Japanese’s last hope to do anything good so I must be successful in my bombing over the Leyte Coast. Works Cited “Battle of Leyte Gulf”. 2009. Answers Corporation. 19 March 2009.  Danzer, Gerald A, et al. “The War in the Pacific.” __The Americans.__ McDougal Littell Inc. 2003. 581-582.   Hickman, Kennedy. “World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf”. 2009. About. 17 March 2009. <__ [] __> >