Word: ozawa
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Dates: during 1945-1945
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Tokyo announced a shake-up in its Navy, bringing Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa into the top operational command...
This much was already on the record: Ozawa was tough and aggressive, but above all he was air-minded - for 25 years he had boosted the cause of Japanese naval aviation. Tokyo itself supplied another reason why Ozawa was chosen: he had "thoroughly familiarized himself with surface special-attack [i.e., suicide] tactics...
...other appointments. Admiral Koshiro Oikawa, who had accomplished nothing in ten months as chief of naval staff, was kicked upstairs to an ornamental advisory role; fat, ugly Admiral Soemu Toyoda moved up from commander in chief of the fleet to chief of naval staff, opening the way for Ozawa. And into Ozawa's place, as vice chief of staff, came Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi, who was the "originator as well as one of the persons who perfected the air special-attack [Kamikaze] corps...
...Japs would throw into the continuing battle off Okinawa, and into any other operations in the islands, every available aircraft. To the strength of the Kamikaze Corps was already added that of the Jinrai (piloted buzz-bombs) and the Giretsu (airborne saboteurs). Ozawa would go further: he would take surface ships, rig them for self-destruction, then -if the Kamikaze squadrons could blast a way through the "picket line" (outer naval screen)-he would send the ships in to try "body-crashing" tactics against major U.S. fleet units...