Japanese Armour Doctrine, 1918-1942

"May we please have some steel, sir?" Japanese Army to Japanese Navy, 1936

An often overlooked factor in the Pacific Theater in WWII is that the Japanese had basically been fighting in Asia for a decade by the time their war became part of WWII. It explains why Japanese industry could not innovate like that of the other major powers and why the Japanese had a difficult time adequately manning many areas. By the time the USA started rolling back the Japanese Empire in 1943, the Japanese had been expending men, treasure, and equipment for 14 years.

Japanese armor doctrine: "What if we come up against tanks?" "Well, then we're f*cked six ways to Sunday!"

I just noticed the tiny tank between the Abrams and Bradley in his table

"Not to exceed 15 tons" winds up 18 tons. Ya. Sounds about right for a military order of any country.

I can't wait to learn about my favourite part of japanese armor doctrine: The Imperial Land Navy! In other words: Naval artillery, shortened, or not, simply put on a tank chassis, like the Ji-Ro, the Chi-Ha LG or the Chi-Ha short gun. Guess, that comes later.

Calling tanks armored cars was a rather transparent attempt to subvert the regulations. If they had called them combat cars, on the other hand, no one would have ever noticed the subterfuge.

'Tracked form of armoured car' no arguing with that logic.

Japanese Armor Doctorine: "Drive me closer, I wish to use my heirloom katana to hit them."

I've been so looking forward to more episodes in this series

Tojo was somewhat of a conservative. The understatement of the year.

First time anyone tried to explain anything about Japanese Armor. Thanks Chieftain. I enjoyed this one immensely.

History Channel watchers: Sherman has no armor. Japan: Konnichi wa

Today's topic by Chieftain, the Japanese tank force, or "Stop poking holes in my Armor"... ^~^

Most Japanese railways are laid to "Cape Gauge" of 3 feet 6 inches. with associated small clearances. Most of the world uses Standard Gauge (4 feet 8 1/4 inches) and Russia uses 5 feet. So you can see the limitations from the start on tank design. "Japanese national network operated by Japan Railways Group employs narrow gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) and has maximum width of 3,000 mm (9 ft 10 in) and maximum height of 4,100 mm (13 ft 5 in); however, a number JR lines were constructed as private railways prior to nationalisation in the early 20th century, and feature loading gauges smaller than the standard. These include the Chūō Main Line west of Takao, the Minobu Line, and the Yosan Main Line west of Kan'onji　(3,900 mm (12 ft 10 in) height). Nevertheless, advances in pantograph technology have largely eliminated the need for separate rolling stock in these areas.

*Japanese Armour Doctrine abridged simplified:* Don't fight Russia, deal with China first before announcing your views on America and Hawaii, use China's infrastructure to make better tanks and lastly don't invoke the wrath of the British Empire at the same time. Oh you took British Malaya? Well then forget all this and go back to doing what you were doing...

Fascinating. A topic rarely covered.

A very illuminating presentation indeed. I was glad to see that my recent book was used as source material. Keep up the good work. I look forward to watching more of your videos.

These are great, work as audiobooks quite nicely. Still, I would like to see an episode how German armoder doctrine and organisations changed betveen poland 1939 and 1941 begining of Barbarossa. German panzerdivions was hole different animal by 1941. Same to the others once they got their shit together later in the war, especially the Soviet, who had to (?) adapt as they went.

Essentially, their reach extended beyond their grasp. They had very good ideas and decent designs, but they lacked the industry to implement them.