343 kokutai

Introduction

The 343 kokutaï was an air group of the Japanese Imperial Navy which fought the allies in the Pacific throughout the two last years of the Second world war. It was initially created in January 1944 and was almost destroyed six months later, in June 1944. Dismantled in July 44 it was refondé again in a very new form with the end of the year and it took again the active service in January 1945 and this until the capitulation of Japan, on September 2nd, 1945. The 343 Kokutaï thus knew two quite distinct stages, that of 1944 and that of 1945.

First stage: 1944

A kokutaï was at the Japanese Imperial Navy, during the Second world war, about what a " group aérien" was at the air forces of Europe of the time (" group" at the RAF, " gruppe" at Luftwaffe, " groupe" at the Air force…). A kokutaï thus comprised hundreds of men between officers, warrant officers and pilots (majority of the pilots being warrant officers), mechanics and ground personnel. Yes, on the ground, because the Imperial Navy did not have that embarked planes taking off of aircraft carrier, it had also terrestrial planes taking off of coastal bases or islanders who belonged to him and whom it managed independently of the Imperial Army. Of these coastal bases, that of Kagoshima (island of Kyushu, south of Japan) was the seat of the 343e kokutaï, formed on January 1st, 1944. Thereafter, as the conflict advanced, the site of its assignment changed several times until stationed in the island of Yap, between the extreme south of the Northern Marianna Islands and the extreme north of the Carolines islands, it was decimated in its quasi totality by a series of operations of bombardments and air raids conducted by the Americans on Yap between April and September. The purpose of these operations were to cancel the capacity of interception of the Japanese on the American bombers whose mission consisted in preparing the invasion of Mariannes, and Yap was the principal site of Japanese fighter plans in this zone. Several kokutaï was assigned to Yap throughout 1944 and even first months of 1945 but the majority of manpower and apparatuses of the 343e were destroyed during June and the 343 kokutaï was officially dissolved on July 10th, 1944. Nevertheless, a man whose name cannot be ignored historians was however going to make it reappear his ashes…

Second stage: 1945

After the disaster of the battle of the Gulf of Leyte, in October 1944, the captain Minoru Genda, brain of the operation of Pearl Harbor and excel pilot more than cash three thousand hours of flight, had the idea to create a kokutaï which had joined together the aces and the best pilots who still remained in Japan: a kokutaï of pilots of elite. Thus during the last two months of 1944 Genda started the talks for a recasting of the 343 kokutaï. December 25th, 1944 the 343e of the kokutaï of the Imperial Navy is officially given in service and based to Matsuyama, in the island of Shikoku, island close to Kyushu. The Genda January 15th, 1945 is named by it the commander-in-chief and it is with him that returns from now on the task to organize the kokutaï as well as providing him the men of them: if him it orders on the ground it is Yoshio Shiga which it chooses as commander in flight, directly under its orders. On its true name Yoshio Yotsumoto it had decided to replace its family name, Yotsumoto, by that of his wife, Shiga. Shiga had been selected to order Shinano, gigantic battleship reconverted in the aircraft carrier, but this one, torpedoed by an American submarine, ran on November 28th, 1944 during a displacement before even taking the sea in active service. Shiga was thus found entirely available to answer the call when Genda required of him to order its kokutaï " on the terrain". In January 1945 he thus sees himself with the command of the three hikotaïcho (chiefs of flotillas) which orders the three " hikotaï" (" escadrilles") who compose the 343 kokutaï: Naoshi Kanno orders the 301e hikotaï, Yoshishige Hayashi orders the 407e hikotaï, and Takashi Oshibushi orders the 701e hikotaï.

Kanno had been member of the 343 kokutaï at the time of its first organization of 1944 but once this one was dissolved it was affected with the 201e kokutaï, in Philippines. In October 44, Kanno had required to belong to the first mission of the Group of Special operations " Divin" wind; (" Shimpu Tokubetsu Kogekitaï" , or " tokkotaï" for the abbreviation used by Japanese themselves), based on the principle of the attack commits suicide. But its superiors categorically refusairent to lose a pilot of such a quality and gave him the order of living to fight and cut down the greatest number of enemy planes possible. It had cut down of them 32 during the last six months of 1944, unequalled exploit by any other controls Japanese in this same period of the war. As regards the first mission kamikaze, of October 21st, 1944, it was Masanobu Kuno which taken the place that Kanno had required. Two other volunteers were to leave with him but their planes were destroyed on the ground at the time of an air raid. Kuno insisted that the mission was not cancelled and required of the escort to take off with him. It achieved the goal but its sifted plane of balls prevented of it any control and the first kamikaze was crushed at sea with two meters of his target…

Yoshishige to be supplemented

Oshibushi had been wounded in October 1944 during the battle of Philippines, but given of its wounds at the beginning of 1945 he answered the call of Genda and took the command of the 701e hikotaï. This hikotaï had belonged to the 341e kokutaï and had like equipment first version of Shiden, the N1K1. The pilots coming from the 701e hikotaï could thus count on a considerable experiment since they were going now to control the following model of this same plane, Kawanishi N1K2-J Shiden Kaï, the best hunter the Imperial Navy had at this time. " Shiden" wants to say " flash violet" and " Kaï" is the abbreviation of " Kaïzo" , which wants to say " version améliorée". The " N1K2 Shiden Kaï" is thus the version improved of the " N1K1 Shiden".

Strong of these exceptional men and this fabulous fighter plan the very new reorganization of the 343e kokutaï concluded its first mission on March 19th, 1945.

April 15th, 1945 the squadron makes movement towards Kanoya in the east of Kagoshima, on the large island of Kyushu, to take part in the escort of the kamikazes who go towards Okinawa. A " Task force " American is caught some this day there with the airfields to prevent the kamikazes from reaching Okinawa. In spite of the attack, the veteran Shoichi Sugita decides to take off with his winger Toyomi Miyazawa, but hardly its plane it took the air that an American fighter plan of Hellcat type falls to him above. Sugita is crushed in flames. Its death will plunge the squadron in mourning several days during. It had with its credit approximately seventy shot down enemy planes and had been one of the six pilots of the escort of Yamamoto in Salomons in 1943. At that time Japanese ace Saburo Sakaï celebrates it belonged to the 343 Kokutaï. Sakaï having survived the war its testimony reports that he saw Shoichi being reduced under his eyes in spite of the warning that he had launched to him: " Do not go there, do not go there… ".

With beginning of the year 80, via the American historian of Japanese origin Henry Sakaida, Sakaï on the occasion to meet the American who killed his friend there this day, which almost forty years after the end of the war did not prevent them from becoming friendly. Sakaï made this comment according to which it had not even gone on the remains of the apparatus of his colleague, that would have been used for nothing, it had died… Sakaï was not to know operational missions to the 343 and joined Yokosuka Kokutaï before the end of the war; in addition he did not like in particular Shiden kaï, not that it was a bad apparatus but he maitrisaît the zero too well to change mounting…

The pilot who replaced Sugita was also a great name of the Imperial Navy in the person of Kaneyoshi Muto. This pilot veteran of the war of China was recruited during the month of June 1945 to fly under the orders of Naoshi Kanno, within the 301e Hikotaï. He had pointed out himself on February 16th, 45 whereas continued by a dozen Hellcats to the top of the ground of Atsugi he made volte face, cut down four and put the others of them in escape, all that in front of the pilots on the ground who saw it already dead… The press called it following what " Miyamoto Musashi of the air" (samurai born in 1584 at the end of the Momoyama period and died in 1645 at the beginning of the Edo period. It is in Japan the prototype of the invincible héro). Muto disappeared on mission on July 24th in the strait from Bungo between Kyushu and Shikoku probably shot down by lieutenant Georges Applegate. This victory over Muto was the first for Applegate, which was cut down in its turn during this same combat. The American pilot was recovered by a submarine but one never revives Muto. This last counted 28 victories then.

The 343 kokutaï fought still valiantly until the end of the war, on September 2nd, 1945. On the whole 88 of its pilots lost the life there.

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