A long naval tradition

The Z-flag in the Battle of Ma Haixia.

If you have seen movies about the old Japanese navy, you will often notice the plot that the Japanese will raise a Z-shaped flag on the flagship before the battle begins to show that the battle is about to begin and boost the morale of the fleet. However, what few people know now is that this tradition of the Japanese navy is neither inherent in Japanese history nor follows international practices, but it was inherited from the war against Ma Haixia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, and it was used in subsequent wars until the final demise of the old Japanese navy of 1945.

Ma Haizhan Oil Painting

In that naval battle, Tougou Heihachirou, commander of the Japanese joint fleet, issued a famous order to the fleet: "Emperor Guoxing is useless. At this stroke, all soldiers must move forward bravely! " At the same time, he ordered a Z-shaped flag to be raised on the flagship. Because the Japanese fleet has advantages in tactics, training, command and many other aspects, and more importantly, it has mastered the movements of the Russian fleet in advance, it can completely defeat the Russian fleet from afar in Ma Haixia earlier and earlier. This is the first time in modern history that the Asian navy defeated the fleet of European powers. So from that time on, raising the Z-flag before the battle became the tradition of the Japanese navy.

The Japanese carrier plane that attacked Pearl Harbor is taking off.

194 1 1 Before the attack on Pearl Harbor officially started on February 7, the flagship aircraft carrier "Chicheng" of the Japanese joint fleet once again raised the Z-flag according to tradition. Because the Japanese navy's air raid caught the American navy off guard, the Japanese army sank and wounded more than 40 American warships, destroyed 265 American planes and killed more than 4,000 American soldiers at a small cost of 29 planes, 55 pilots and 5 pocket submarines, and achieved a great victory in this battle. This also made the prestige of the Z flag reach its peak, as if the Japanese navy could be invincible as long as it hung this flag.

British aircraft carrier "Competitive God"

Since then, due to the heavy losses of the US Pacific Fleet in the Battle of Pearl Harbor, it has temporarily lost its combat capability. Therefore, the Japanese navy took this opportunity to sweep across Southeast Asia in the next southward campaign, not only capturing Guam, wake island and the Philippines in the United States, but also capturing Singapore and Hong Kong from Britain, and sinking the British navy's aircraft carrier "Competitive God" and the battleship "Prince of Wales". For a time, the Japanese fleet became the master of the South Pacific, and the Z-flag fluttered on the sea of the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia with the offensive of the Japanese navy.

American fighter planes in midway naval battle

However, the good times did not last long. In the subsequent Midway naval battle, the Japanese originally planned to go all out to completely defeat the US Pacific Fleet. However, because the communication code was deciphered by the US military, every move of the Japanese fleet was known in advance by the Americans, and precautions were taken in advance. As a result, although the Japanese sacrificed the Z-flag again, they were unable to change their defeated fate. In this naval battle, the Japanese army not only lost four fleet carriers and a large number of well-trained air and ground personnel. And step by step from invincible position to the end of the abyss. In this situation, the Z-flag gradually lost its mystery from the symbol of victory, and finally landed with the demise of the Japanese navy.