Leonidas.

This is coolbert:

Surprisingly [??], during the very last stages of World War Two [WW2], the German did employ suicide bombers. Personnel, aviators, dive bombing a target with the intent to destroy an enemy target of importance, knowing full well that such destruction would end their own life as well!

"I hereby voluntarily apply to be enrolled in the suicide group as part of a human glider-bomb. I fully understand that employment in this capacity will entail my own death."

This was the Leonidas Squadron.

"The Leonidas Squadron, formally known as 5th Staffel of Kampfgeschwader 200 . . . thirty-five pilots of the Leonidas Squadron flew suicide sorties against Soviet bridges over the river Oder with little noticeable effect." [during the Battle of Berlin - - 1945]

"It was named for Leonidas I, the king of Sparta who in 480 BC stopped the invading Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae with 300 elite warriors who fought to the last man."

German authorities, those persons at the very top of the command echelon, were of mixed opinion regarding the use of suicide bombers. Some saying yea, some saying nay!

* "proposed by Otto Skorzeny and Hajo Herrmann."
* "supported by . . . Hanna Reitsch."
* "Himmler approved . . . and suggested using convicted criminals as pilots."
* "The Luftwaffe's High Command was unenthusiastic"
* "Erhard Milch turned the plan down as impractical"
* "Hermann Göring showed little interest."
* "Adolf Hitler was against the idea of self-sacrifice"

Hitler eventually reserved unto himself the final authority to release the suicide bomber for combat action, but with hesitation?

Comments:

* Suicide bombing as a weapon of war is A SIGN OF ABJECT DESPERATION MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE? An indication by one of the antagonists that conventional tactics are not working and no longer suffice.

* The idea of Himmler to use convicted criminals as pilots for the suicide aircraft is absurd. Criminals as a class NEVER make good soldiers in any circumstance, many being latent cowards for the most part. To EVER expect criminal elements to volunteer for suicide missions is just totally unreasonable.

* The original intent was to use a MANNED version of the V-1 "doodlebug" as the suicide "aircraft" MANNED "doodlebugs" were more or less impossible to fly. Alternative "aircraft" such as glider/bombers also proved to be impractical?

* "On-paper" the idea of the suicide bomber has a lot of appeal? One man, one plane, one very large bomb, used against an absolutely critical enemy target, destroying same, can influence the entire course of a war? So goes the thinking?

* According to the experts [Anthony Beevor], the German use of suicide bombers during the Battle of Berlin produced results that were limited, temporary, and more or less meaningless? A gesture more than anything else. At that stage of the war, spring 1945, not a whole lot was going to work for the Germans anyhow?

coolbert.