as not flown by the original four Special Attack Squadrons. On 25 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Kamikaze Special Attack Force carried out its first mission. Five Zeros

The names of four sub-units within the Kamikaze Special Attack Force were Unit Shikishima, Unit Yamato, Unit Asahi, and Unit Yamazakura.[13] These names were taken from a patriotic death poem (called jisei no ku in waka poetry), Shikishima no Yamato-gokoro wo hito towaba, asahi ni niou yamazakura bana by the Japanese classical scholar, Motoori Norinaga.[14] The poem reads:

    If someone asks about the Yamato spirit [Spirit of Old/True Japan] of Shikishima [a poetic name for Japan]—it is the flowers of yamazakura [mountain cherry blossom] that are fragrant in the Asahi [rising sun].

A less literal translation[15] is:

        Asked about the soul of Japan,
        I would say
        That it is
        Like wild cherry blossoms
        Glowing in the morning sun.

Ōnishi, addressing this unit, told that their nobility of spirit would keep the homeland from ruin even in defeat.[16]
Leyte Gulf: the first attacks
St Lo attacked by kamikazes, 25 October 1944.
Starboard horizontal stabilizer from the tail of a "Judy" on the deck of USS Kitkun Bay. The "Judy" made a run on the ship approaching from dead astern, it was met by effective fire and the plane passed over the island and exploded. Parts of the plane and the pilot were scattered over the flight deck and the forecastle.
The bridge and forward turrets of the County-class heavy cruiser HMAS Australia, in September 1944. The officer facing right is Captain Emile Dechaineux who was killed on 21 October 1944 in what is reported as the first kamikaze attack.

Several suicide attacks, carried out during the invasion of Leyte, by Japanese pilots from units other than the Special Attack Force, have been described as the first kamikaze attack. Early on 21 October, a Japanese aircraft, possibly an Aichi D3A dive-bomber[17] or a Mitsubishi Ki-51 (of the 6th Flying Brigade, Imperial Japanese Army Air Force[18]) deliberately crashed into the foremast of the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia.[17] The attack killed 30 personnel, including the cruiser's Captain, Emile Dechaineux and wounded 64, including the Australian force commander Commodore John Collins.[17] The Australian official history of the war claimed that this was the first kamikaze attack on an Allied ship, although other sources disagree because it was not a planned attack by a member of the Special Attack Force, but was most likely to have been undertaken on the pilot's own initiative.[17]

The sinking of the ocean tug USS Sonoma on 24 October is listed in some sources as the first ship lost to a kamikaze strike, but the attack occurred before 25 October, and the aircraft used, a Mitsubishi G4M, was not flown by the original four Special Attack Squadrons.

On 25 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Kamikaze Special Attack Force carried out its first mission. Five Zeros, led by Seki, and escorted to the target by leading Japanese ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, attacked several escort carriers. One Zero attempted to hit the bridge of USS Kitkun Bay but instead exploded on the port catwalk and cartwheeled into the sea. Two others dove at USS Fanshaw Bay but were destroyed by anti-aircraft fire. The last two ran at USS White Plains. One, under heavy fire and trailing smoke, aborted the attempt on White Plains and instead banked toward USS St. Lo, plowing into the flight deck. Its bomb caused fires that resulted in the bomb magazine exploding, sinking the carrier.[19] By day's end on 26 October 55 kamikazes from the special attack force had also damaged the large escort carriers USS Sangamon, Suwannee which had also been struck by a Kamikaze at 0804 forward of its aft elevator on 25 October, Santee, and the smaller escorts USS White Plains, Kalinin Bay, and Kitkun Bay. In total, seven carriers had been hit, as well as 40 other ships (five sunk, 23 heavily damaged, and 12 moderately damaged).
Main wave of attacks