Gen. Kuribayashi

" The life of your father is just like a lamp before the wind." - Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, in a letter to his son.
Kuribayashi, who had advocated against banzai attacks at the commencement of the battle, began to realize that Japanese defeat was imminent.
It has been said that Kuribayashi himself led this final assault which unlike the loud banzai charge of previous battles, was characterised as a 'silent' attack.
If ever proven true, Kuribayashi will have been the highest ranking Japanese officer to ever personally lead an attack during World War II.
Additionally, this would also be Kuribayashi's final act of departure from the normal practice of the commanding Japanese officers committing seppuku behind the lines while the rest perished in the banzai charge, as happened during the battles of Saipan and Okinawa.