Tell me more ×
History Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for historians and history buffs. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 4 down vote favorite
2

First of all I want to make it clear that we're not speaking about terrorist attacks here. This question is strictly dedicated to war operations, in a dictionary meaning.

Also this question is about all the history of military conflicts, not only World War II.

Surely everybody heard about suicide missions of kamikaze, Imperial Japanese Army Air Service suicide plane attacks against American warships during World War II. Around 4000 sacrificed aviators succeeded to destroy at least 47 ships and damage 300 of them. Similar conceptions in the Empire of Japan were Shinyo suicide boats, Kaiten submarines and Fukuryu suicide divers.

But this strategy wasn't used only by Japanese military forces. Also Luftwaffe used it in the closing stage of the war. From 17 April until 20 April 1945 (during the Battle of Berlin) 35 pilots of the Leonidas Squadron flew suicide sorties against bridges at the Oder river, which now is a borderline between Germany and Poland.

I'm also aware of the already asked question Is there a written history on the Sonderkommando Elbe? regarding the similarities of that Luftwaffe unit, used against American bombers, with the difference that the aviators were expected to bail out just before colliding.

The question is, are there any other examples of organizing intentional suicide attacks in a theater of war?

share|improve this question
2  
I think the scope of the question is difficult. I think that every "forlorn hope" is within the scope of your question, as is every squad detached to hold a hopless position and grant the rest of the unit time to retreat, and every man who throws himself on a grenade. Some would claim that serving aboard a destroyer is within scope. (According to the Carrier Air Wing, the only purpose for destroyers is to act as floating armor for the carrier). Much as I hate to admit it, there isn't a clear distinction between heroism and self-sacrifice. – Mark C. Wallace Mar 13 at 18:50
Citations please: "This question is strictly dedicated to war, in the most common sense of this word." – Samuel Russell Mar 13 at 19:20
Thanks, I'll try to precize it a bit. – Darek Wędrychowski Mar 13 at 19:20
2  
As a small comment, if you restrict this to vehicles only, you would have a VERY small window of time, between when the planes or vehicles became powerful enough to be able to do enough mass damage to make the attack worth bothering with and fast enough to make it plausible; and the time where control systems evolved to the point that human controller was no longer necessary for a missile and other weapons became dangerous, powerful and effective enough than a car full of explosives didn't really have much benefit over a rocket battery on a battlefield. – DVK Mar 14 at 2:56
7  
Your "war" is my "civil conflict" is his "terrorist incident". – Samuel Russell Mar 14 at 3:32
show 4 more comments

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

In the struggle for the Pacific Islands, Japanese infantry launched nocturnal "Banzai" bayonet attacks on the Americans that were basically suicidal. In the battle for Okinawa, the "superbattleship" Yamato was given enough fuel for a one-way trip (from Japan), and expected to sink as many American ships has possible, but not return. (She was sunk by American planes before reaching Okinawa.

At the battle of Masada, the outnumbered and outweaponed Israeli defenders elected to follow a "scorched earth" policy, including taking each others' lives, rather than to surrender to the Romans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Masada

It was not meant as a "suicide" attack, but during the American Revolution, George Washington deliberately risked his life at the battle of Princeton to win it. http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/399221-tom-au/79859-another-reason-why-bear-stearns-went-under Key passage: "If the Americans had lost the Revolution, Washington would have either been killed in battle, or hanged afterward as a traitor. The only way he could survive the war was to win it. Therefore, risking his life at Princeton was "a chance against a certainty" of getting killed."

share|improve this answer
Massada was not a suicide attack, the defenders killed each other cleanly and quickly rather than be subjected to torture when inevitably captured and treated as enemies of Rome tended to be treated, which was none too gently. This was done by lot, the last man standing killing himself, thus committing the gravest of sins, putting his soul in peril (not sure how the Torah handles this, but that's the gist of it). – jwenting Mar 19 at 14:53
@jwenting: It wasn't an attack. But it was a military "suicide," which makes it striking in history. – Tom Au Mar 19 at 23:08
most of the people involved were civilians, making it even more striking :) – jwenting Mar 20 at 6:54
up vote 2 down vote

Wikipedia's entry for a king in ~500BCE China has this note:

King Goujian's army was known for scaring its enemies before battle by forcing its front line, composed of criminals sentenced to death, to commit suicide by decapitating themselves.

Wikipedia cites Sima Qian, Shiji (史記), Ch. 41, 中華書局, 2006, p. 272.

(Personally, I am rather sceptical about this claim. I don't really see any source which corroborates the WP/Shiji story. Scanning through Speaking to History: The Story of King Goujian in Twentieth-Century China only threw up stories of criminals being beheaded to inspire and control Goujian's own army rather than terrorising his foe.)

Edit: According to a SkepticsSE answer, they might have been loyal soldiers committing suicide by slitting their own throats.

share|improve this answer
Still, it's very interesting and useful for me. I'll ask fellow Chinese to check it, thanks! – Darek Wędrychowski Mar 14 at 22:35
Just FYI - I flagged your related question on Skeptics to be migrated back to History (I explicitly noted it was NOT off-topic there in the flag text, but that it's more likely to get an expert answer here) – DVK Mar 15 at 15:51
@DVK I actually popped it on there to attract more eyeballs. I guess we can wait and see what happens. Thanks :) – coleopterist Mar 15 at 15:57

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.