Fukuryu. Underwater kamikazes of Japan. A crazy project from Japanese militarists.
Fukuryu — Japanese teishintai diver detachments at the final stage of World War II to counter the potential landing of US troops on the Japanese islands by carrying out suicide attacks on landing ships.
Since 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy began to develop cheap, massive coastal defense means. Among other things, a project was adopted to place combat swimmers with explosives in potentially suitable bays for landing, who would attack enemy landing vehicles. Groups of Fukuryu in modified diving suits had to move along the bottom of the bay at a depth of 10-15 m . When an enemy ship or boat appeared, he had to hit its bottom with an explosive device mounted on a long rod. In the event of an explosion, fukuryu died. Since a diver could cover only 2 km in an hour, it was planned to equip resting places for them at a depth of 15 m in specially flooded ships and concrete structures on the bottom. It was planned to prepare 5000 fukuryu by September 30. At the time of the surrender, 1,200 divers were prepared.
