Giretsu Kuteitai

was an airborne special forces unit of the Imperial Japanese Army formed from Army paratroopers, in late 1944 as a last-ditch attempt to reduce and delay Allied bombing raids on the Japanese home islands. The Giretsu Special Forces unit was commanded by Lieutenant General Kyoji Tominaga.

History

After USAAF B-29 Superfortress strategic bombers began attacks on Tokyo from bases in the Mariana Islands, the 1st Raiding Brigade of the "Teishin Shudan" was ordered for form a commando unit for a “special operations” mission to attack and destroy the bombers on the ground in Saipan, Tinian and Guam. Captain Michio Okuyama, commander of the Brigade's engineering company and trained in sabotage and demolition was selected as mission leader, and he selected an additional 126 men from his own team to form the first "Giretsu" Airborne Unit. It was initially organized with a command section and five platoons, based at the IJA air academy at Saitama. The group unit also included intelligence officers from the Nakano School.

Tactics

The "Giretsu" operations were to be undertaken at night, beginning with air strikes by bombers. After this, commando units would be inserted onto the target airfield by parachute, or by crash landing their transports. The fact that there was no provision for extraction of the strike force, along with the rejection of surrender in Japanese military doctrine at the time, meant that "Giretsu" operations were intended as suicide attacks.

Operations

The attack against the Marianas was scheduled for 17 January 1945, but was called off after American raids damaged the planned refueling airfields on Iwo Jima. After the Marianas raid was cancelled plans were made to attack airfields on Iwo Jima captured by the United States Marine Corps in March, but these too were cancelled when the Iwo Jima garrison fell.

On 1 April, US forces landed on Okinawa, and American fighters based Okinawa's west coast intercepted and shot down many kamikaze aircraft attacking the American fleet. On 15 May, the Sixth Air Army requested the deployment the "Giretsu" Special Forces to neutralize these airfields, in what was designated “Operation Gi”.

On the night of 24 May 1945, sixteen Ki-21-IIb's of "3rd Dokuritsu Chutai" were dispatched for a strike, each with 14 commandos. Eight were assigned to Yontan and four to Kadena, with four more aircraft in reserve. Four aircraft aborted the mission with engine problems, and four more were shot down, however five managed to crash-land at Yontan airfield during the confusion caused by a diversionary attack by some 50 IJAAF and IJN bombers and fighters.The 69 surviving raiders, armed with submachine guns and phosphorous grenades then wreaked havoc on the supplies and nearby aircraft, destroyed 70,000 gallons of fuel and nine aircraft, and damaging 29 more before being annihilated by the defenders.

A second large scale attack on bases in the Marianas with the specific intent of destroying B-29 Superfortress bombers was again planned with 200 transports and 2000 commandos for the night of 9 August 1945. However, the aircraft were destroyed on the ground before the operation could start.

Uniforms and equipment

"Giretsu" personnel wore a yellow-bordered red badge with a yellow star in the center. Most were armed with Type 100 submachine guns, Type 89 Grenade Dischargers, Type 99 rifles, and Type 99 Grenades.

ee also

*Japanese marine paratroopers of World War II
*Teishin Shudan

References

*cite book
last = Jowett
first = Philip
year = 2002
title = The Japanese Army 1931-1945, Volume 2
publisher = Osprey
location =
id = ISBN 1841763543
*cite book
last = Rottman
first = Gordon
year = 2005
title = Japanese Paratroop Forces of World War II (Elite)
publisher = Osprey
location =
id = ISBN 1841769037

External links

*cite web
last = Time Magazine
first =
url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,775736,00.html
title = June 4 1945
work =
* [http://www.war44.com/forum/1977-post1.html Details on Okinawa operations]