What was the name of the Japanese strategy of suicide attacks by pilots? The answer is kamikaze. In World War II, the term referred especially to Japanese military aviators who deliberately crashed explosive-laden aircraft into Allied ships.
The word kamikaze means “divine wind,” recalling typhoons that were said to have saved Japan from Mongol invasions in the 13th century. Japan organized Special Attack Units in the closing stages of the Pacific War as its military situation deteriorated. The attacks expanded dramatically during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944 and continued through the Battle of Okinawa.
Kamikaze is sometimes used loosely for any deliberate suicide attack, but historically it most specifically describes these Japanese air attacks. Tokkōtai was the broader Japanese designation for Special Attack Units, while a banzai charge was a mass infantry assault—not the same tactic.