Download - Royal Australian Navy

honour
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The care lavished on SMS Emden’s wounded by HMAS Sydney’s (I) men
received great praise from German survivors (RAN)
During the last year of World War II (WWII), concepts of honourable conduct were
undoubtedly being stretched for RAN sailors, particularly as the increasingly desperate
Japanese resorted to mass suicide tactics. At Lingayen Gulf kamikaze operations
inflicted many casualties on HMA Ships Australia (II) and Arunta (I). The heavy cruiser
HMAS Shropshire was also present, but despite similar attention managed to avoid
being hit. Nevertheless, the provocation to hit back at a ruthless enemy remained
extreme. On 6 January 1945 the third kamikaze of the afternoon disintegrated under
the fire of one of Shropshire’s 8-barrelled pompoms. The pilot was blasted from the
wreckage and at about 500 feet appeared briefly to hang beneath his parachute, ‘a Jap
very much alive, arms and legs spread wide, for all the world like a four-pointed star’. 10
There were some cries of ‘shoot the bastard’ to the pompom captain, but he ignored
them and continued to hold fire until the decision was taken from his hands. A cult
of death was indoctrinated into all Japanese warriors, and before reaching the sea the
pilot slipped from his chute and disappeared below the surface. 11