Giretsu
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The Imperial Japanese Army "Giretsu" special forces unit was active in 1944 and 1945.
These special forces were trained for one-way travel (shore landing or parachute drop) to USAAF bases in Saipan, Tinian and Guam, and the Ryūkyū islands. They used special versions of Mitsubishi Ki-21 "Sally" and Mitsubishi Ki-67-I Hiryū "Peggy" heavy bombers between other aircraft. These units were formed by Japanese Navy and Japanese Army paratroopers with speciall training. The operations were a last-ditch attempt to delay USAAF B-29 strikes operations against the Japanese home islands.
[edit] Uniforms
The Giretsu units wore a badge was yellow borded red badge with yellow star in center and white borded dark blue sign with white anchor in center for Navy members in same unit also.your uniforms during 1944-45 operations was the standart Army Khaki colour with addition of green and dark brown great spots,with clear or dark brown belts and arness.these units used your badge used in cap and khepi amongst little sign in rigth arm and little Hinomaru or Kyokujitsu-ki flags in left arm also,along your dark brown boots.
Certain units used brown vest over uniform for carried cartridges,grenades or other hand explosives,amongst your standart Nambu pistol or revolver and knive in belt or boot
[edit] Encounters with Allied Forces
The Allies encountered the bases of these units after the war in northern Honshū, where they discovered a concentration of 200 aircraft of assorted bomber types, which were to have carried 2,000 paratroop commandos of "Giretsu" special forces to the "Superfortress" B-29 bases in Marianas (and some to Okinawa and Ryūkyū bases).
These operations was realized at nigth,preceded by some air strikes by Army Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate "Frank" figther bombers Mitsubishi Ki-67 Hiryū "Peggy" heavy bombers amongst Navy Nakajima B6N Tenzan "Jill" torpedo-bombers and Kawanishi N1K-J Shiden "George" figther bombers,when later arriving the air transports and launchered the paratroopers or landing in proper hostile airfield for destroyed enemy airplanes in land.another variant was the envoy first raiding wave near at enemy place,for later launch the next wave over proper enemy base,under cover of ligth artillery weapons of first group surrounded hostile positions.
At Okinawa, one group of 152 men of the Giretsu (Heroic) Airborne Unit dropped at night on the North (Yontan) and Central (Kadena) airfields, engaged in hand-to-hand fighting, and for a time seized control of both strips. similarly with actions against Tinian and Saipan in the Marianas Archipelago, and on Iwo Jima island.
According to the official U.S. Army account, six aerial raiding waves bombed (or attempted to bomb) Yontan and Kadena airfields, in perfect weather —a clear sky and a full moon. In the seventh raid, five low-flying twin-engined "Sally" bombers attacked Yontan from the direction of Ie Shima. Four of the Japanese planes were shot down in flames, but the fifth made a belly-landing, wheels up, on a runway at Yontan.
At least eight heavily armed Japanese soldiers rushed out of the plane and began tossing grenades and incendiaries into American aircraft parked along the runway. Seven U.S. planes were destroyed and another 26 were damaged. In addition, two 600-drum fuel dumps (containing 70,000 gallons of gasoline) were destroyed.
In the wild confusion that followed the landing of the Japanese airborne troops, two Americans were killed and eighteen injured. When a final survey could be made, it was found that ten Japanese had been killed at Yontan; three others were found dead in the plane, evidently killed by antiaircraft fire. The other four 'Sallies' each carried fourteen Japanese soldiers, all of whom died in the flaming wrecks. Sixty-nine bodies in all were counted. A Japanese soldier killed at Zampa Point the next day was thought to be the last of the airborne raiders. Yontan airfield was nonoperational until 0800 of 25 May because of the debris on the runway. This was the enemy's only attempt to land airborne troops on Okinawa during the battle.
A total of eleven "Sallies" were brought down at Kadena and Yontan by U.S. Marine Corps and Army antiaircraft batteries. The American ground casualties mentioned earlier in this footnote were all Marine Corps personnel guarding the air strip. Judging from the damage done by eight to ten trained men, if even one or two more enemy transports had landed, the amount of destruction would have been staggering. Fortunately for the Americans, the antiaircraft defense of Okinawa was superlative, and even the one plane that penetrated the fire barrier was riddled with shell fragments.
The U.S. Marine Corps data on U.S. planes damaged or destroyed during the raid on Yontan differ slightly from the U.S. Army version. Similar Japanese paratroop suicide attacks were reported at the Marianas bases in the same period.
