Japanese tanks??

[ICEWIND]

Hallo,
      With all this talk about German and US tanks I started to wonder what about Japanese tanks. I can imagine that they were different in design, if you take a look at the geography of the Region.
But I have to admit I know nothing about tanks.
After reading all kinds of posts of German and US tanks I realized that  I have not seen anything about Japanese tanks.
My question is does anybody know of any resources on the WEB concerning this Subject??

Thanks in advance for any info.

[popeye]

 http://www.shadowsfolly.com/WWII/Japan/Index.htm


popeye

[RAM]

Well in fact there were some Japanese tanks designs, mostly light tanks...but their quality was at its best, lacking, if compared with other countries (maybe with the exception of the Italian tanks).

Also Japan had no big use for tanks, they had no doctrine of its use on massive formations like the germans or allies had.

So well, I see no point in adding a japanese tank at this point, where more and better vehicles are required.

THat, of course, IMHO.

[Kieren]

I'll echo Ram here. There is absolutely no reason to model a Japanese tank, other than for scenarios. The M4 was vastly superior (by any account I ever read).

Do any of our Japanese members know more? I'd be interested to hear what documentation might be available there...?

[Westy]

 From what I remember from reading they were like a Zeke where as they could turn good, climb well. But they had a lack of punch and lit up like a Zippo lighter when hit.

-Westy

[Karnak]

I don't know about them lighting up (theirs used diesel, ours used gasoline) but they were riveted, thinly armored, under-gunned and unreliable.  I seem to recall that they made one decent tank in very limited quantities, but I'm not sure what it was called.

I have to agree with RAM, outside of scenarios Japanese tanks would be useless.

NOTE: They didn't face M4s very often because we didn't use M4s in the Pacific due to the terrain.  They faced a lighter tank, the name of which escapes me, that had better terrain handling qualities.  Like the M4 it was vastly superior to the Japanese tanks.

Sisu
-Karnak

[ICEWIND]

Found some useful info.

Japanese Armor In World War II http://www.wlhoward.com/japan.htm

[Jigster]

 

Originally posted by Westy:
From what I remember from reading they were like a Zeke where as they could turn good, climb well. But they had a lack of punch and lit up like a Zippo lighter when hit.

-Westy

Most only carred 7.7mm MG's and some heavier guns. Normally the biggest was a 37mm. I'll go dig but they never had any medium or heavy tanks. Mostly armored cars and light tanks.

- Jig

[Jigster]

 

Originally posted by Karnak:
I don't know about them lighting up (theirs used diesel, ours used gasoline) but they were riveted, thinly armored, under-gunned and unreliable.  I seem to recall that they made one decent tank in very limited quantities, but I'm not sure what it was called.

I have to agree with RAM, outside of scenarios Japanese tanks would be useless.

NOTE: They didn't face M4s very often because we didn't use M4s in the Pacific due to the terrain.  They faced a lighter tank, the name of which escapes me, that had better terrain handling qualities.  Like the M4 it was vastly superior to the Japanese tanks.

Sisu
-Karnak

The US had plenty of M4 tanks in the Pacific. Once beach heads were established many times M4A3 equppied with the 25gal flamethrower pack were brought in to take out pillboxs and bunkers, terrain premitting.
Sherman Dozers were very heavily used in the Pacific for clearing paths through heavy vegetation, crushing pill boxes and bunkers, and clearing mine fields. Sherman 105's saw alot of use as well, again for knocking out pill boxes at bunkers

But mostly the really dated tanks were used in the Pacific because even the best Japanese tanks were very poor armor wise. M3A1 Lee's saw very extensive use by Marines from the the time they recieved them. The M3 and M5 Stuarts probably saw the most use in the pacfic, they were nearly useless in Europe. The M5 Satan was comparble to the Sherman Flame, actually better because it held  quite a bit more flamethrower fuel and was faster and more manuverable.

Even the LVT's had no problem with tanks...the only ones with guns larger then a 37mm are the Type 89 Ko, Shinhoto Hai-to, Type 1 Chi-He, Type 97 Chi-Ha, and the Type 2 Ho-I.

The only threat to US tanks was the Type 3 Chi-Nu, with a gun comparable to the German 75L48. Very few were produced, towards the end of 1944.

 

- Jig

[RAM]

 

Originally posted by Jigster:
. The M3 and M5 Stuarts probably saw the most use in the pacfic, they were nearly useless in Europe

Humpf...I'm quite sure the British 8th Army didnt thought the same...they use M3 Lee and liked it, and they simply loved the M3 and M5 stuarts...Compared with their Crusaders they were very reliable and good performers..and the gyro stabilized 37mm was a luxury in 1942/43.

Of course in 1944 whey were crap, but for sure not in 42/43 fights on North africa and Italy.

[Pyro]

I highly doubt we'll ever model a Japanese tank in AH.



------------------
Doug "Pyro" Balmos
HiTech Creations

[Jigster]

 

Originally posted by RAM:

Humpf...I'm quite sure the British 8th Army didnt thought the same...they use M3 Lee and liked it, and they simply loved the M3 and M5 stuarts...Compared with their Crusaders they were very reliable and good performers..and the gyro stabilized 37mm was a luxury in 1942/43.

Of course in 1944 whey were crap, but for sure not in 42/43 fights on North africa and Italy.

Sorry I didn't specify   I meant late 1943 through 45 during the major island hopping. Once the tanks lost usefulness in the ETO they shipped them to the Pacific.

- Jig