Japanese Tank And Antitank Warfare

Please keep in mind that this publication was produced almost 70 years ago (1945). The text is very readable...however many of the photos did not survive that well....they were reproduced here regardless...with the original figure captions. This is a reprint of the original. This document on Japanese tank and antitank warfare details the following topics: Japanese armored fighting vehicles (tankettes, light/medium/amphibious/flame-throwing tanks, self-propelled guns, armored cars, tank radio, tank guns); armored tactics (tactical principles, infantry support, coordination, special tank operations, defense); antitank artillery (infantry weapons, field artillery, antiaircraft and coast defense artillery); antitank mines, rifle grenades, and flame throwers; and antitank methods (employment, tank hunters, antitank obstacles, minefields). Notice This issue of SPECIAL SERIES supersedes SPECIAL SERIES No. 26, Japanese Tanks and Tank Tactics. It also replaces the tentative edition of Japanese Tank and Antitank Warfare published 25 June1945. It is based on reasonably confirmed information from authoritative sources up to 15 July 1945.Reproduction within the military service is encouraged provided that the source is stated, the classification is maintained, and one copy of the publication in which the material is reproduced is forwarded to the Military Intelligence Service War Department, Washington 25, D. C.

The Japanese Army used tanks to great effect in the build-up to World War II. Inspired by European designs, in the 1920s and 1930s an innovative Japanese tank program facilitated their campaigns in China prior to the Pacific War. During the ensuing war against the Allies tanks were deployed imaginatively in jungle terrain previously thought impassable by such vehicles, being integral in Malaya and the capture of Singapore. Steven J Zaloga uses detailed and colorful artwork and photographs to explore these designs, explaining their neglect in favor of the naval priorities that left Japanese tanks outmoded by Western designs.

The battlefield interaction between infantry and tanks was central to combat on most fronts in World War II. The first 'Blitzkrieg' campaigns saw the tank achieve a new dominance. New infantry tactics and weapons – some of them desperately dangerous – had to be adopted, while the armies raced to develop more powerful anti-tank guns and new light weapons. By 1945, a new generation of revolutionary shoulder-fired AT weapons was in widespread use. This book explains in detail the shifting patterns of anti-tank combat, illustrated with photographs, diagrams and colour plates showing how weapons were actually employed on the battlefield.

The Japanese Army used tanks to great effect in the build-up to World War II. Inspired by European designs, in the 1920s and 1930s an innovative Japanese tank program facilitated their campaigns in China prior to the Pacific War. During the ensuing war against the Allies tanks were deployed imaginatively in jungle terrain previously thought impassable by such vehicles, being integral in Malaya and the capture of Singapore. Steven J Zaloga uses detailed and colorful artwork and photographs to explore these designs, explaining their neglect in favor of the naval priorities that left Japanese tanks outmoded by Western designs.

In this book, expert author and tactician Gordon L Rottman provides the first English-language study of Japanese Army and Navy tank units, their tactics and how they were deployed in action. The Japanese army made extensive use of its tanks in the campaigns in China in the 1930s, and it was in these early successes that the Japanese began to develop their own unique style of tank tactics. From the steam-rolling success of the Japanese as they invaded Manchuria until the eventual Japanese defeat, Rottman provides a battle history of the Japanese tank units as they faced the Chinese, the Russians, the British and the Americans.