Shigeharu Murata

In September 1941, Lieutenant Murata was transferred back to Akagi. He was assigned as the torpedo squadron leader (as Hikōtaichō) and was promoted to lieutenant commander. He participated in the Attack on Pearl Harbor, where he commanded the torpedo bombers that crippled Battleship Row.^[1] After that, he participated in the Indian Ocean Raid and subsequently in the Battle of Midway. He was on board Akagi when the bomb released by Lieutenant Dick Best hit the carrier and set it afire.^[2]

In July 1942, Lieutenant Commander Murata was transferred to the carrier Shōkaku and was assigned as its torpedo bomber squadron leader (as Hikōtaichō). In late August 1942, he participated in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, however, he did not see any action. For this battle, Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo had decided to hold the Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers in reserve, while allocating two waves of Aichi D3A dive bombers to soften up the enemy fleet beforehand. The dive bomber strikes, under Lieutenant Commander Mamoru Seki (Shōkaku) and Lieutenant Sadamu Takahashi (Zuikaku) respectively, were launched late in the afternoon, leaving little possibility of launching the torpedo bombers.^[3]

In late October 1942, Lieutenant Commander Murata participated in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, where he commanded the first strike wave that consisted of 21 D3A dive bombers, 20 B5N torpedo bombers and 21 A6M Zero fighters. The dive bombers were led by Lieutenant Sadamu Takahashi from Zuikaku, while four escorting Shōkaku fighters were led by Lieutenant Hisayoshi Miyajima, eight from Zuikaku by Lieutenant Ayao Shirane and nine from Zuihō by Lieutenant Moriyasu Hidaka. On the way, the IJN strike force encountered a USN strike force on a reciprocal course. At that point, Lieutenant Hidaka and his nine Zeros abandoned the escort duty and attacked the USN aircraft. When the rest of the strike force approached the USN fleet, Murata led an extremely well-coordinated torpedo and dive-bombing attack that achieved three bomb and two torpedo hits on the carrier Hornet. The torpedo released by Murata appeared to have been among the two that hit the carrier. However, during the attack, Murata's B5N was hit by anti-aircraft artillery and went down in flames.^[4] Murata was one of the many experienced carrier pilots lost in the battle; these included his academy classmate, Lieutenant Commander Mamoru Seki, who led the second wave strike that damaged Enterprise.

Murata was posthumously promoted by two ranks to captain and received a special individual citation from the IJN.^[5][1]

Shigeharu Murata appeared in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora! and was portrayed by Japanese actor Toshio Hosokawa (細川 俊夫).

Notes

Sources

• Lundstrom, John B. (2005). First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 (New ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-472-8.
• Chambers, Mark (2017). Nakajima B5N 'Kate' and B6N 'Jill' Units. Combat Aircraft Book #119. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1472818744.

Combat reports

• 海軍大臣官房. 赤城飛行機隊戦闘行動調書 (Report). Japan Center for Asian Historical Records.
• 海軍大臣官房. 翔鶴飛行機隊戦闘行動調書 (Report). Japan Center for Asian Historical Records.