In August 1281 the largest seaborne invasion force assembled before D-Day sailed for Japan: 4,400 ships, 140,000 troops, sent by Kublai Khan after a failed first attempt seven years earlier. On the night of 15 August it was destroyed. By what?
A typhoon struck the bay of Imari on the night of 15 August 1281 and destroyed approximately 4,000 of the Mongol-Korean ships at anchor. The samurai garrison had been holding off the landings on land for almost two months but could not have stopped the invasion alone. The word *kamikaze* — *divine wind* — would be revived in 1944 for the Special Attack Units. Maritime archaeology in Imari Bay since the 1980s has confirmed the storm's destruction and shown that many of the ships had been rushed into production with poor-quality construction.
Read the full story →In 1274 and again in 1281, Kublai Khan sent invasion fleets against Japan. Both times — once after a single battle and once after seven weeks of fighting — typhoons destroyed the Mongol ships. The Japanese called the wind divine.
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