Japanese Tank Arm (1921-1939)

The Japanese Tank Arm (戦車兵科) is often disregarded due to its comparatively "weak" tanks during World War 2. Yet, the Japanese were actually among the leading nations before World War 2 when it came to tank development although they only started in the 1920ies to produce their tanks. In this video we take a look at the development, the background, the Type 95 Ha-Go, the Independent Mixed Brigade and the Nomonhan Incident / Battles of Khalkhin Gol (1939).

Disclaimer: I was invited by the Tank Museum at Bovington to Tankfest 2019.

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» SOURCES «

Ness, Leland: Rikugun. Guide to Japanese Ground Forces 1937-1945. Volume I: Tactical Organization of Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Ground Forces. Helion & Company Ltd: Solihull, UK, 2016 (2014).

Rottman, Gordon L.; Takizawa, Akira: World War II Japanese Tank Tactics. Osprey Publishing: Oxford, UK, 2015 (2008).

Military Intelligence Service: Japanese Tanks and Tank Tactics. War Department. United States Government Printing Office: Washington, D. C., 1944.

Zaloga, Steven J.: Japanese Tanks 1939-45. Osprey Publishing: Oxford, UK, 2011 (2007).

Millet, Allan R. (ed.); Murray, Williamson (ed.): Military Effectiveness. Volume 3. The Second World War. New Edition. Cambridge University Press: New York, USA, 2010.

Searle, Alaric (Ed.): Genesis, Employment, Aftermath: First World War Tanks and the New Warfare, 1900-1945. Helion & Company Limited: Solihull, UK (2015).

Drea, Edward J.: In Service of the Emperor. Essays on the Imperial Japanese. University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln, US, 1998

Ferris, John: “Worthy of Some Better Enemy?”: The British Estimate of the Imperial Japanese Army 1919-41, and the Fall of Singapore. In: Canadian Journal of History, August 1993, p. 223-254.

#JapaneseTanks #Tanks #IJA

[shermanfirefly]

Fun fact:
The Best Japanese tank was designed by the Navy
(type 2 ka-mi amphibious tank )
Even Us was impressed by how well the tank moves on water

[DeanmC]

YAY another video about military history that debunks stereotypes, deconstructs perceptions and adds context.

[MrArtbv]

I don't know if it's possible to emphasize enough how the topography of the Japanese islands dominated their tank designs from inception. The narrow gauge RRs placed an absolute upper limit on weight and width. The Germans ran into the same problems in Russia when it became obvious their tanks needed wider tracks for better weight distribution in snow and mud. The side by side spacing of the German RRs in heavy industrial areas plus bridge, tunnel, abutments meant the tanks had to be shipped without the track extensions. Also the later Panther chassis designs made through scheduling an absolute SOB. Keep in mind these were "standard" Euro rail gauges. The Russian gauges were wider and their designs reflected that as well,
Another consideration was tactical deployment across obstacles. Anyone familiar with the IJA quickly becomes aware that dedicated "Combat Engineer" units were vanishingly rare. That's not to say the Japanese weren't excellent at ad hoc and field expedient solutions; but 20 ton capacity bridges or barges are a LOT easier to make than their 30-40 ton counterparts. Which is a main reason Japanese advances in China invariably traced the Chinese rail net.
Last and NOT least was shipping considerations. At the start of 1937 Japan possessed two, TWO oceanic RR ferries. Both of them were hard pressed just providing transport support for Japanese rail infrastructure requirements on Korea, then Manchuko; and later China, all of SE Asia, and Malaya and Indonesia. Coming up with cargo ships with adequate crane boom capacity to shift and lift 30-40 ton medium tanks was out of the question.
"Chieftain" has an excellent video on how these very factors was the main consideration in sticking with the Sherman. EVERYTHING was geared to support the transport of a 35 ton vehicle; NOT one weighing in at 45 tons plus..
By 44-45 the IJA had designed and built prototypes of a 28 ton PzIV analog complete with HV 75mm gun. Yet even it was designed knowing it would NOT be deployed anywhere but the Kanto Plain around Tokyo as it was too big for the mountainous terrain on Honshu. Bottom line; "If it won't fit, you can't ship".

[Paveway-chan]

*^What happens when Bernard stays over at cheiftain's house for a night and is left alone with his Nick' computer*

[bobmcbob]

Something I've noticed is the naval influences unique to Japanese tanks.
For example, the use of signal lights instead of signal flags, and how the Chi-Ri II's loading mechanism is essentially a miniaturized naval cannon loading mechanism.

[OrbitalAstronaut]

I love the real footage of the light tanks driving around.

[SFCKNZSD]

i think around 10, 000 light tanks could have been made with all the steel used on the Yamato heavy battleship.

[Seraphil]

Still blows my mind that Japan figured out a combined arms doctrine with armor years before anyone else. And then fucking Tojo of all people canned it.

[filipeamaral]

I just yesterday finished my re-reading of "World War II Japanese Tank Tactics" and now this video. Lucky me!

This video is a great primer to the subject, especially because it compares Japan with other countries at the period. As the aforementioned book never stops hammering down, from beginning to end, the Japanese high command never fully understood the plight of the tank arm and always misused the tanks whenever its commander could not have a say on the matter.

Another problem, as you mentioned, was the need for seaborne transportability, something the Americans solved with the tall M4 Sherman (that's why its silhouette is so high, because of the cubing for shipborne transportation) and that was a shocking surprise to Japanese planners, as they only estimated to fight M3 Stuarts in the first phases of American amphibious invasions. The sour taste of Tarawa tought the Americans the importance of tactical mobility in the shoreline.

The Japanese first used tanks against the Chinese and Reds in 1932, with both the Renault FT (Ko-Gata, "Model A") and the Renault NC (Otsu-Gata, "Model B") taking part in the Harbin incident, with the 1st Special Tank Company, in January 1932 but with little action for the tanks as the Chinese withdrew. The Japanese will invade French Indochina in 1940 and will get some spare parts for those Renault tanks.

The first real use tanks by the Japanese was in the "Shanghai Incident" of 28 January 1932, with the 2nd Independent Tank Company:

- Company HQ (Captain Shigemi)
1x Renault NC27 light tank
- 1st Platoon (Capt Kazuo Harada)
3x Type 89 medium
- 2nd Platoon (Lt Kengo Imamura)
2x Type 89 medium
- 3rd Platoon (Sub-Lt Toshio Sakata)
5x Renault NC27 light
- 4th Platoon (Capt Takao Maeda)
4x Renault NC27 light

This company, from Kurume, would act in support of the IJA 5th Infantry Brigade and the Shangai SNLF, landing in February 13. They attacked in 20 February in Kiangwan in the suburbs if the city, facing numerous well-entrenched Chinese, protected by an extensive system of AT ditches. The attack was difficult and the Japanese made little progress. The Japanese noticed their lightly-armoured tanks were vulnerable to close-in infantry attacks and close-range machine gun fire (ever present in such a urban environment); they also were easily halted by streams, AT ditches and rubble. The 15 tanks would be reduced to only 3 operational tanks by the end of the action. Nevertheless, the Shanghai SNLF got 6 to 8 Type 89 medium tanks afterwards, forming a tank company.

The Japanese would go for a second round in Shanghai in August 1937. This time, the Chinese bought German AT guns - the 3.7cm PaK 35/36 - and the results were quite unnerving to the Japanese crews but the tanks proved mostly successful and rated quite good (as mentioned in your video about Jehol). A Japanese account of Shanghai 1937 included in Osprey's tactics book is as follows:

"At 4pm a Chinese AT gun suddenly fired on our tanks, and all tanks of the platoon shifted their fire to this gun. At the time the turret of the platoon leader's tank could not be turned due to gunfire damage; Driver Fujino immediatly turned the tank in the direction of the AT gun. As the crew prepared to engage this, an armour-piercing shell penetrated the frontal armor, killing the driver and seriously wounding the gunner. Tank commander Okamura realized the tank was on fire, but he decided to destroy the enemy gun before abandoning the tank. As he moved to the gunner's position another shell hit the turret, and the shock of its impact freed the jammed traverse. Realizing his good fortune, he fired three rounds and silence the enemy gun."

A Brazilian military observer, Lt-Colonel Lima Figueirêdo, noticed before 1940 that even though the doctrine followed the French 1920 system of infantry support, due to their few numbers, the Japanese tanks received many autonomous missions in China:

"At the beginning of the conflict no doctrine was applied in practice. So there is nothing to say about the employment of the tanks being little coordinated and the results obtained being poor. In Northern China, these materials have been grouped into autonomous armored and motorized units. In Shanghai, the Navy and Army units sought to be supported by armored machines and it seems that in street fighting the results, according to French principles, were quite satisfactory. Outside the city, the terrain cut by wide and numerous canals was as unfavorable as possible. The tanks without artillery support, followed by infantry mostly unfamiliar with their presence, have, most of the time, worked alone. Its disorderly action has, however, accelerated the Chinese withdrawal after the rupture of the front, but its mission has been very secondary."

During 1937's Quhar operations, General Tojo dispersed the assets of the 1st Independent Mixed Brigade widely in the infantry support role. Tojo was a "book-soldier", with no combat experience, and did not hear Colonel Sakai's protests, treating them as mere insubordination. Sakai called him "an idiot" and I have to side with him: Sakai was dismissed and the brigade was disbanded.

The Iwanaka Detachment was a combined-arms force that took part in the Battle of Hsuchou (May 1938) with decisive results, but the Japanese high-command didn't really take notice and disbanded the detachment afterwards. Very late, in September 1942, the Japanese published a new tank doctrine of combined-arms divisions and such - but this was never actually employed by local commanders, with Japanese tanks being used in penny-packets throughout the war - but with few occasions to emply the new doctrine (such as during Ichi-Go). When the tankers were allowed to do their job, they were remarkably effective as far as 1942 and in 1944's Operation Ichi-Go.

It is also worth noting the use of Japanese tanks in the last battle of World War II: the Soviet amphibious assault of the Shimushu/Shumshu Island, on 18 August 1945. The Japanese charged the Soviet beachhead with 30 tanks under Colonel Sueo Ikeda at 7:50pm, after overrunning a Soviet company at 6:50pm, attacking through the scattered defenders, while the Soviets rushed to unload AT guns. Both sides suffered heavy casualties in a two-hour close-range battle in a fogged battlefield, with over 100 Soviets killed, 96 IJA tankers killed - inlcuding Ikeda and 4 of his company commanders - and 21 Japanese tanks destroyed.

[LuigianoMariano]

Some Random: *Japanese had shitty tanks*
Historian: They were trying to be realistic in the face of harsh limitations. And they did respectably well by doing so.

[daveybernard]

I don't care if Ha Go was a death trap. I love that thing.

[nomobobby]

For some reason when I was playing around in HOI4, I wound up trying to build a Chinese army with tanks, special forces, the whole nine yards. And usually hit a wall. Because China wasn't industrialized after the war, and so you just can't build that equipment. Even if Japan takes the full armament plan for another 2 years of waiting. At first I felt like it was arbitrary, "why not? It would be more fun."
But now that you covered the Pacific more I really see why. Nobody had the industry to build it in the region, not that it was always the best weapon. In a way it really reflects a lot of the points you mentioned- lack of resources, factories and the roads to make the tank worth the extra hassle.
I'm really enjoying these videos, they are a reality check on what the tank can do. And what it takes to field a weapon in large enough numbers to really count for something in this war. I'm slowly coming out of the "this tanks the best cause its has the biggest guns" mindset I got from some documentaries as a kid. You know, where all the military vehicles run on magic and just appear on the battlefield in a world without logistical concerns. I really like your work MHV, I feel like I've learned a lot more about world war 2 than in my AP US history course.

[Chironex_Fleckeri]

I remember hearing NZ and Australia, especially the former, were terrified of the Japanese tank units landing in their country. So, they weren't disregarded by the Allies in the Pacific. The story of lackluster Japanese tank development during the war was similar to its aircraft development. They didn't manage to keep up, not surprisingly. The Japanese were never banking on their vehicle design holding up over the course of a protracted war. So, it wasn't necessarily an oversight on this account.

Great video by the way! I love this topic.

[kyleglenn]

The Japanese tanks were nothing to laugh at, if you didn't have a tank of your own.

[cruiser]

For all it’s short comings, their tanks definitely helped them drive down from Malaya to Singapore.

[thGalaxy]

I love your channel beacuse you make it all super easy to understand

[fingolfen]

I was actually at that Tankfest and was really impressed with the Ha-Go running!

[raymondkisner]

They did build to what they could do. The limited budgets and resources to build tanks caused the Japanese Army to manufactor tanks that could give the best economy military and learn what developments to keep to save time and money .

[fluoridegoodyou]

I like the use of the 'rice paper' effect you used upon the back-ground.
It gives an oriental authenticity to your video.

[Aerial_Morello]

I was at Tankfest 2019 as well, came down to see the Type 95 and the ever classic Tiger 131. I got sunburnt bad as I was sitting over by the building to the left at the start of the video but it was worth it