Giretsu
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'Giretsu' was a combined forces-special forces unit of the Empire of Japan in 1944-45. Its members were trained for attacks, following sea landings or parachute drops, on Allied airfields in Okinawa, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, and the Ryukyu islands. The unit was composed of Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army personnel. It was a last-ditch attempt to reduce and delay Allied bombing raids on the Japanese home islands. The fact that there were no plans to withdraw the ground forces, along with the rejection of surrender in Japanese military doctrine at the time, implies that Giretsu would have carried out suicide attacks. TacticsGiretsu operations were to be undertaken at night, beginning with air strikes by bombers. After this, air transports would arrive and launch paratroopers onto the hostile airfield to destroy airplanes on the ground. In a variant of this basic attack, a landing party would provide covering fire with light artillery, for an infantry attack on the Allied base.
Uniforms and equipmentGiretsu personnel wore a yellow-bordered red badge with a yellow star in the center. Navy members wore a white-bordered dark-blue emblem with a white anchor in the center. At bases in northern Honshū, Giretsu had 200 aircraft of assorted types, which would have carried paratroopers to attacks on airbases in the Marianas as well as to bases in and Ryūkyū. These included:
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