Japanese Tanks and Armored Warfare 1932-45
A Military and Political History
by
David McCormack
The Japanese tanks and their usage are usually compared to the Italians in World War II. Both their tank tactics and the tanks themselves seem to be better suited to the 1930s than the 1940s. So, let us see if the author has some new insights on the Japanese tanks and warfare.
It actually turns out that he does. For a country that had a very limited supply of automobiles and trucks and no home-grown plants to make them, Japan produced the first diesel powered tank in 1936. Using European tanks during the Manchurian incident in 1932, the Japanese had used tanks and trucks to move 320 kilometers in three days. This was by a combined arms ad hoc group of Infantry, tanks and towed guns. While it is true that the resistance they faced was not that great, it did show how some of the Japanese military was able to think in a manner very outside of the box for the time. This was the same as blitzkrieg or deep penetration that was written about in other armies, but just put on paper and never actually used. Britain was the first country to experiment with these units in the 1920s. However, lack of funds stopped all of their training in this direction.
The author goes onto show how even though the Japanese thinking was very advanced, their manufacturing of tanks was slowed to a crawl. The Japanese Navy and Army were in a struggle for all of the limited manufacturing that Japan had during those years. The Japanese infrastructure was nowhere near the size that it needed to be to fight in World War II.
On page eighteen there is what first looks to be a small tidbit of information but in reality, is very significant. The author writes that the Japanese Army had an Achilles heel. This was their looking at logistics as an afterthought if it was thought about at all. I know we have read constantly that "amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics" (USMC Gen. Robert H. Barrow). On this page we find quotes from Edward J. Drea that shows that the Japanese actually looked down upon the transport and logistic troops. Military academy officers were not demeaned by being placed to such postings. He goes onto say that the troops assigned to logistics were not even eligible for promotion. This one page of the author's book explains away a lot of what happened during the Pacific War. The book has many other interesting points as well to share with us.
Thank you, Casemate Publishers, for allowing me to read this short but very deep book. This book is meant for anyone who has interest in World War II in the Pacific or the Japanese Armed Forces before and during the war.
Robert
Author: David McCormack
Publisher: Fonthill Media
Distributor: Casemate Publishers
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