A suicide mission is a task and/or mission which is so dangerous for the people involved that they are not expected to survive and return, even rendering the person as “expendable” for the mission. The term is sometimes extended to include , such as kamikaze pilots and other suicide bombings, whose perpetrators kill themselves and their opponents or destroy other enemy targets.
Definition and related actions
Self-sacrifice to prevent other casualties
Sometimes suicide is unplanned.
During the 2006 Lebanon War, Major
Roi Klein and his unit took part in the Battle of Bint Jbeil. During a
Hezbollah ambush, a
hand grenade was thrown over the wall that was between Hezbollah militants and Klein and his unit. Klein jumped on the live grenade and muffled the explosion with his body. The soldiers reported that Klein recited the Jewish prayer,
Shema Yisrael, as he jumped on the grenade. After the grenade exploded and critically wounded him, he reported his own death, yelling "Klein's dead, Klein's dead" over the radio. In the following minutes, as he lay dying, he ordered soldiers who came to administer first aid and evacuate him to focus on Lieutenant Amichai Merhavia, another soldier who had been hit (and later died also) instead. He then handed over his encoded radio to another officer, who took command of the force, and died.
[.] According to
The Telegraph he yelled "Long live Israel",
although this was probably a misinterpretation of "Shema Yisrael"
/ref>
Military and wartime
In a military context, soldiers can be ordered to perform very dangerous tasks or can undertake them on their initiative. For example, in the First World War, French soldiers mutinied
en masse in 1917, after appalling losses convinced them that their participation at the front would inevitably lead to their deaths, and in October 2004, during the
Iraq War, 19 soldiers in the US Army refused orders to drive unarmored fuel trucks near
Baghdad, calling the task a "suicide mission". Those soldiers faced investigations for breakdown of discipline.
Suicide missions can also be an act of desperation, such as a last stand, or to save lives. The latter end of the Battle of Stalingrad could be seen as a suicide mission from the German perspective, as they were ordered to fight to the death with no option of surrendering nor the chance of escape.
Special forces
Special forces units are often sent on missions that are exceedingly dangerous with the hope that their superior training and abilities will allow them to complete them successfully and survive. An example is a desperate attempt by two U.S.
Delta Force snipers to protect a downed helicopter pilot (
Michael Durant) from being killed or captured by masses of Somali militia during the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993. While the sniper team held off overwhelming numbers of Somalis long enough for the pilot to survive, both snipers were killed, and the pilot was eventually captured but then later released.
However, even special forces groups refuse to participate in some missions.
Operation Mikado, a plan for a Special Air Service raid on Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego, during the 1982
Falklands War, was ultimately not executed due in part to significant hostility from members of the SAS, who saw the mission as exceedingly risky.
Strafbataillon
The men of the
Strafbataillon's probationary unit (Probation Battalion) and (Penal Division 500) had to prove themselves through "exceptional bravery" on dangerous front-line missions. Otherwise, they faced the execution of the imposed sentence, transfer to the
Emslandlager, or punishment units.
[Ulrich Baumann et al. (editor): Was damals Recht war… Soldaten und Zivilisten vor Gerichten der Wehrmacht. Berlin 2008, , Page 188.]
Disposable use of troops in World War I
Gallipoli campaign
Attacks against stronger opponents
(first century AD)
The
Sicarii Jewish sect are sometimes described as carrying out "suicidal" attacks against their enemies.
Riaz Hassan said that the first-century AD Jewish
Sicarii sect carried out "suicidal missions to kill"
Hellenized Jews they considered immoral collaborators.
An article in
BBC Arabic claimed the
Sicarii were the first group to carry out
suicide attacks. In September 2023 the BBC responded to a complaint, deleted the Sicarii and reworded the second example so that the revised article called the Order of Assassins (
Ismaeli Shia Shia) the first.
However, both groups were killed by their opponents, so neither fit the narrower definition of a suicide attack.
Order of Assassins (1090 to 1275 AD)
The Order of Assassins (, ) were from a sect of
Ismaili Shi'a Muslims. They assassinated two
Caliphs, as well as many viziers, Sultans, and
Crusades leaders over 300 years,
before being annihilated by
Mongols invaders. Hashishiyeen were known for targeting the powerful, using the dagger as a weapon (rather than something safer for the assassin such as a crossbow), and for not attempting to escape after completing their killing.
Acehnese martyrs
(1873–1904)
Muslim
Acehnese people from the
Aceh Sultanate performed suicide attacks known as
parang-sabil against Dutch invaders during the
Aceh War (1873–1904). It was considered part of personal
jihad in Islam. The Dutch called it Atjèh-moord, ( Aceh murder).
The Acehnese work of literature the
Hikayat Perang Sabil provided the background and reasoning for the Atjèh-moord as Acehnese suicide attacks upon the Dutch.
The Indonesian translations of the Dutch terms are Aceh bodoh, Aceh pungo, Aceh gila, or Aceh mord.
Aceh in WWII
Atjèh-moord was also used against the Japanese by the
Acehnese people during the Japanese occupation of Aceh.
The
Acehnese people Ulama (Islamic Scholars) fought against both the Dutch and the Japanese, revolting against the Dutch in February 1942 and against Japan in November 1942. The revolt was led by the All-Aceh Religious Scholars' Association (PUSA). The Japanese suffered 18 dead in the uprising while they slaughtered either up to 100 or over 120 Acehnese.
[ Ricklefs 2001, p. 252.][ Martinkus 2004, p. 47.]
The revolt happened in Bayu and was centred around Tjot Plieng village's religious school.
[ "Tempo: Indonesia's Weekly News Magazine, Volume 3, Issues 43–52" 2003, p. 27.]
During the revolt, the Japanese troops armed with mortars and machine guns were charged by sword wielding Acehnese under Teungku Abduldjalil (Tengku Abdul Djalil) in Buloh Gampong Teungah on 10 November and
Tjot Plieng on 13 November.
[ "Berita Kadjian Sumatera: Sumatra Research Bulletin, Volumes 1–4" 1971, p. 35.][ Nasution 1963, p. 89. ] In May 1945 the Acehnese rebelled again.
[ Jong 2000, p. 189. ]
Moro juramentado
Juramentado, in
Philippines history, refers to a male
Moro people swordsman (from the
Tausug people tribe of
Sulu Islands) who attacked and killed targeted occupying and invading
police and
. Death was expected, and considered
martyrdom, undertaken as a form of
jihad.
Moro people who performed suicide attacks were called mag-sabil, and the suicide attacks were known as parang-sabil.
The Moro () launched suicide attacks on the Japanese, Spanish, Americans and Filipinos, but did not attack the non-Muslim Chinese as the Chinese were not considered enemies of the Moro people.
According to historian Stephan Dale, the Moro were not the only culture who carried out suicide attacks "in their fight against Western hegemony and colonial rule".
In the 18th century, suicide tactics were used on the Malabar Coast of southwestern India, and in Aceh in Northern Sumatra as well.
Auschwitz Revolt (1944)
The
Auschwitz Sonderkommando revolt on 7 October 1944 is widely described as a suicide mission.
Most of the rebel prisoners were killed by the
SS guards during or soon after the uprising.
Rebels armed with work tools and
shivs attacked SS guards who were armed with pistols and machine guns.
Some of the
Sonderkommando prisoners took the already suicidal mission a step further. They set fire to Crematorium IV while they were inside the building, and stayed inside to prevent the guards putting out the fire until the building was destroyed. The fire possibly also ignited explosives they had placed in the walls.
The Polish resistance outside the camp tried to postpone the uprising until the
Red Army were close enough to assist, originally it was planned to coordinate with Operation Bagration, but was delayed. Some worried that people who did not participate would face collective punishment for the revolt.
The Sonderkommando prisoners, who had been forced to work in the crematorium, were unwilling to wait; they worried they would be killed before the Red Army arrived. The Red Army eventually did liberate the concentration camp, several months later, in 1945.
[ – Source cited in this source:
]
-
-
— Available online:
-
-
— From:
-
"The Sonderkommando Uprising in Auschwitz-Birkenau", (full citation elsewhere on the page)
Preventing capture
Other than as a way to cause enemy casualties, another situation in which some militaries and related bodies (such as intelligence agencies) encourage their own members to commit suicide is to avoid being captured by the enemy. The concept also often includes the use of intentional
friendly fire.
Either to avoid disclose of military secrets, avoid the need for a prisoner exchange, or for more intangible ideological motives.
Individuals are encouraged by a perception that capture is a fate worse than death, and the likelihood of
torture is strongly emphasised in internal propaganda. Sometimes, to the point that even civilians embrace the concept of dying (or killing people on their own side) to avoid capture.
The militaries of nation states often avoid equipping their troops with any means specifically designed to facilitate suicide, but sometimes imply that soldiers are obliged to resort to extreme measures to avoid capture including taking their own lives, or killing their comrades, with whatever means are available.
In 1952, three Chinese soldiers reportedly killed themselves with hand grenades to avoid capture.
Sicarii in the First Jewish–Roman War
The
Sicarii Jewish sect are sometimes described as carrying out "suicidal" attacks against their enemies.
Riaz Hassan said that the first-century AD Jewish
Sicarii sect carried out "suicidal missions to kill"
Hellenized Jews they considered immoral collaborators.
[
]
-
Citing (Rapoport 1984: 670)
However, they are more known for having committed
mass suicide, and family murders, to avoid capture during the Siege of Masada.
The
Masada myth is prominent in Israeli culture.
Jauhar (alleged Hindu mass suicides)
Jauhar, sometimes spelled
Jowhar or
Juhar,
was a Rajput kshatriya women practice of mass
self-immolation by women and girls
[Eaton, R.M., (2019), India in the Persiante Age 1000–1765, p. 219. Great Britain: Allen Lane] in the Indian subcontinent to avoid capture, sex slavery, enslavement,
and rape when facing certain defeat during a war.
[Arvind Sharma (1988), Sati: Historical and Phenomenological Essays, Motilal Banarsidass Publ, , pp. xi, 86] Some reports of jauhar mention women committing self-immolation along with their children.[Pratibha Jain, Saṅgītā Śarmā, Honour, status & polity][Mandakranta Bose (2014), Faces of the Feminine in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern India, Oxford University Press, , p. 26][Malise Ruthven (2007), Fundamentalism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, , p. 63;]
John Stratton Hawley (1994), Sati, the Blessing and the Curse, Oxford University Press, , pp. 165–166[ At the same time or shortly thereafter, the men would ritualistically march to the battlefield expecting certain death, which in the regional tradition is called saka.][
]
Jauhar by Hindu kingdoms has been documented by Muslim historians of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire.
There is an annual celebration of heroism called the Jauhar Mela in Chittorgarh where the local people commemorate their ancestors.
17th century Dutch in China
In the late 17th century, Qing dynasty official Yu Yonghe recorded that injured Dutch soldiers fighting against Koxinga's forces for control of Taiwan in 1661 would use gunpowder to blow up both themselves and their opponents rather than be taken prisoner.
Jack Nissenthall
Jack Nissenthall survived his mission against the Nazis in WWII, but the plan was for him to kill himself or be killed if he was at risk of capture.
Nissenthall was a British special forces operative, his mission was to investigate or destroy Nazi Germany's Freya radar station during the Dieppe Raid, accompanied by 11 Canadian soldiers from the South Saskatchewan Regiment.[
][
]
21st Century soldiers
Military commanders have reportedly recommended explosives such as hand grenades as a means of suicide, for the advantage of killing as many of the would-be captors as possible, thus converting the situation into an improvised suicide attack.
Armed hostage takings
Those trying to take soldiers prisoner, or take civilian hostages, have also used suicide tactics.
Armed hostage takings, particularly those planned (e.g. by a terrorist group) for political purposes, could be considered suicide missions. As most governments have a policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists, such incidents usually end with a bloody confrontation between the hostage-takers and an armed force (e.g., police or military) attempting to free the hostages. Also, such hostage-takings often occur in a country foreign to the perpetrators, thereby limiting their chances of escape. Notable examples include the 1972 Munich massacre (after which the hostage takers and collaborators were systematically exterminated in an operation called "Wrath of God" Hebrew: מבצע זעם האל), the 1977 Landshut hijacking, the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege, the 1996 Japanese embassy hostage crisis, and the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis. All of these high-profile hostage-takings ended with the hostage-takers being engaged by the military forces of the country in which the incident occurred, with the vast majority of the hostage-takers being killed in the aftermath.
Chechnya
Black Widow is a term Russian media used to refer to female Chechens suicide bombers.[ Basayev also stated that he himself trained at least fifty of the Black Widows.]
Middle East
Hadar Goldin was reported as killed by a suicide bomber, but the circumstances of his death are disputed.
The Israeli military later said Goldin had been killed in a firefight.
Failed and aborted suicide attacks
Sometimes suicide attacks are seen as heroic or successful even if the original goal – causing substantial enemy casualties or damaging to their military – is not completed as planned.
Operation Samson (1947)
[[File:The Bible panorama, or The Holy Scriptures in picture and story (1891) (14782623624).jpg |thumb|250px|
Gustave Doré's illustration of the writing on the wall from Daniel 5:25 ]]
The Irgun and Lehi militant groups were very influential for later movements.[
]
The two militants are praised in The Revolt, written by Irgun commander Menachem Begin.[
]Online:
Both militants had been Olei Hagardom.[ (Note: "today in history" refers to the anniversary in the Hebrew calendar)]
The original plan, which the Lehi called "Operation Samson", was to carry the concealed grenades with them as they were taken to the gallows then use them to carry out a suicide attack against the executioners.[
]
In The Revolt the Irgun commander alleged previous executed militants had not been allowed to see a Rabbi in their last moments.[: "More weeks passed after Dov Gruner donned the crimson uniform of death. At the end of March his solitude in the condemned cell was broken. He was joined by three more soldiers of the Irgun, Yechiel Drezner (who had been arrested and sentenced as Dov Rosenbaum), Mordechai Alkoshi and Eliezer Kashani. They had been arrested on the night of the whippings. (quoting a 16 April 1947 ratio broadcast) 'This morning at Acre Prison Dov Gruner, Yehiel Dresner, Mordechai Alkahi and Eliezer Kashani were executed by hanging'. They had not even been permitted the ministrations of a Rabbi in their last moments."]
Another version of the story is that the person the militants were unwilling to harm was actually one of the British prison guards.[
]
- "Of course, we needed the condemned men's approval," (the Lehi veteran) recalls. "Moshe agreed right away, but since there was an Irgun man with him we had to request their approval, too. We asked the person responsible for Irgun prisoners in the jail, Eliyahu Tamler, what he thought, and he said they needed the consent of the top command. We had to wait a few days, despite fearing that they would be taken to the gallows in the meantime, until approval arrived from the commander of the Irgun, Menachem Begin."
[
(Yoram Tamir director of the Museum of Underground Prisoners) "…says the Lehi had envisioned a suicide operation during the hanging of one of their men prior to this incident: "They called it Operation Samson, in an allusion to the suicide of the biblical figure." , who prepared the makeshift orange grenades while he was imprisoned along with the two men, confirms that the plan was to turn their ascent to the gallows into an action that would harm the British authorities."]
Israeli newspapers quote the father of the Lehi militant, years after the event, thanking the militant who constructed the bombs for "saving the honour of Israel".[: ]
The Irgun commander, Menachem Begin praised the suicides but claimed that it did not count as a suicide, he said the deaths were entirely the fault of the British.
The story of their deaths frequently featured in political speeches of the Irgun commander and his political successors in the Likud party.[
][ — Hebrew Wikipedia page about the speech: ][
]
In 2007, The Jerusalem Post described the double suicide as "One of the best-known stories of heroism leading to the creation of the State of Israel".[ Quotes:
]
-
An unnamed "senior university historian" said, "There are moral and philosophical questions that should be addressed when you teach 14-year-olds about people who chose to die rather than accept a pardon or negotiate with the British authorities … The new program embraces martyrdom and worships the victim for being a victim".
-
"In a letter announcing the new program, (Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar) wrote, 'I hope the program, recounting Olei Hagardom's devotion to the struggle for Israel's independence, will bolster the students' ties with their people and heritage … and that their devotion will serve as an ideological model for our youth'."
In 2010 two Arab Israeli Knesset members (KM) were ejected from the chamber after heckling a speech by Benjamin Netanyahu memorializing the militants (the 2 suicides and 10 who were hung). Another KM, and Nissim Ze'ev, yelled "Haniyeh is waiting for you in Gaza".
See also
In fiction
-
Suicide Mission - the final level of Mass Effect 2
-
Suicide Squad - a fictional espionage group in DC Comics who are sent on suicide missions
Notes
External links
