Armoured Warfare in the Far East, 1937–1945

By Anthony Tucker-Jones

Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is a fascinating visual introduction to the armoured battles of the Second World War in the Far East and Asia-Pacific regions, from 1937 to 1945. In contrast to the experience of the armies that fought in Europe and North Africa, in the Far East tanks remained an infantry support weapon, and their role is often neglected in histories of the conflict. Japanese armour confronted tanks deployed by the Chinese, Russians, British and Americans. Early in the war, against Chinese forces which lacked armour, the Japanese had some success, but their light and medium tanks were no match for their Allied counterparts. Later Japanese designs were better armed, but they were built in such small numbers that they could do little to stem the Allied advance. The role of armoured vehicles in each theatre of the war in the Far East is shown in a selection of over 150 rare wartime photographs that record armour in action in China, Manchuria, Mongolia, Malaya, Burma and during the battles fought for the Pacific islands.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Nov 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781473851689

Anthony Tucker-Jones

ANTHONY TUCKER-JONES spent nearly twenty years in the British Intelligence Community before establishing himself as a defence writer and military historian. He has written extensively on aspects of Second World War warfare, including Hitler’s Great Panzer Heist and Stalin’s Revenge: Operation Bagration.

Book preview

Chapter One

Tanks of the Rising Sun

The perception of the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War is one of brutality, massed banzai infantry charges and kamikaze suicide pilots. Certainly the Japanese armed forces were far from mechanised and what armour and artillery they did develop during the 1930s – while practical – was fairly rudimentary. However, until the Japanese briefly came up against the Russians in 1939 in Mongolia and the Americans in 1942 in the Pacific, their enemies had not been greatly mechanised either. Notably when Japan went to war with China in 1937, the Chinese Army comprised mainly infantry divisions.

Despite it being reasonably good tank country, the Japanese Kwantung Army stationed in Manchuria had surprisingly few dedicated armoured units with which to fight the Chinese, or indeed the Soviets. In 1937 these amounted to just two armoured brigades (1st Tank with 3rd Army and 2nd Armoured with 4th Army). There were also two tank training regiments (23rd and 24th) overseen by the 1st Tank Army training school. Two years later, the 3rd and 4th Tank regiments constituted the armoured Yasuoka Task Force involved in the Nomonhan Incident – or the Battle of Khalkhin-Gol – with the Red Army. In light of the effectiveness of Soviet armour at Khalkhin-Gol and other border clashes, it is surprising that a greater effort was not made to develop the tank units of the Japanese and Chinese Manchukuo forces.

It was not until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that these forces were enhanced with the creation of Taku (Development) 1st Armoured Group with three tank regiments at Poli, Manchuria, drawing on the 1st Tank Brigade and Geki (Hit) 2nd Armoured Group at Mutangchiang, Manchuria, also with four tank regiments. These units were not redesignated as divisions until mid-1942. Inevitably many of the better Kwantung units were redeployed for operations against the Americans in the Pacific.

The Manchukuo Imperial Army had a number of armoured cars built by Isuzu and modified by the Dowa Automobile Company of Manchukuo, but little else. From 1943, some ten Type 94 tankettes were passed to the Manchukuo Army to form one armoured company. During the war, a Manchukuo version of the Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go was in used in training tank schools, but did not reach substantial operational deployment.

Elsewhere in China there was a myriad different competing armed forces, including the National Revolutionary Army (NRA), the Communist armies and the private armies of various regional warlords. The National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party). The NRA had few dedicated armoured and mechanised units. It never became a great proponent of armoured or mechanised warfare, preferring instead to rely on numbers supported by artillery and, where possible, aircraft.

NRA tank forces remained limited throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937–45. At the start of this conflict these were organised into just three armoured battalions, equipped with an assortment of tanks and armoured cars supplied by various countries. A single mechanised division was formed, but its armoured and artillery regiments were placed under command of the 5th Army, while the division became a motorised infantry division within the same army. The latter fought battles in Guangxi in 1939–40 and in the Battle of Yunnan-Burma Road in 1942, again reducing the armored unit’s strength due to losses and mechanical breakdowns. Late in the Burma Campaign, the NRA forces committed to the fighting there had an armoured battalion equipped with Sherman tanks.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Communist military forces were nominally integrated into the NRA, forming the 8th Route Army and the New 4th Army units. During this time, these two military groups primarily used guerrilla warfare and fought a few battles with the Japanese, while consolidating their ground by annexing nationalist troops and paramilitary forces behind the Japanese lines.

By the late 1930s Japan’s principal tank types were the Type 89B Ot-Su and Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tanks and the Type 95 Ha-Go light tank. Numbers of the largely obsolete Type 94/92 and Type 97 Te-Ke/Ke-Ke tankettes were also in use. Notably the former was based on the British Carden-Loyd Mk VI, but was eventually replaced by the Type 97.

The Japanese Osaka Arsenal copied the British Vickers Medium C to produce the Type 89 tank, which was developed into a four-man medium tank in 1929. A 12.8-ton version known as the Type 89B, armed with a 57mm gun and built by Mitsubishi, went into service in the mid-1930s and served with the Japanese Army for almost a decade. Likewise the 7-ton Type 95 appeared in the mid-1930s and was armed with a 37mm gun and had a three-man crew. This proved to be the most-utilised Japanese small tank seeing action first in China and then throughout the Far East during the Second World

Reviews for Armoured Warfare in the Far East, 1937–1945

[robpalmer-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another publication where the title aptly describes the purpose and content of the book. The author has produced several titles within this series, although this is the only one I have read and reviewed to date. The essence of this book is the collection of photographs, many of which are from U.S. Marine Corps or U.S. Army sources. As such, as is implied in the title of this book, most of them I have not seen before in print.Armoured warfare in the Far East during the Second World War can be overlooked, as it is overshadowed by the tank battle fought in the U.S.S.R. and North-West Europe. The role of the tank proved to be important throughout the campaigns in this theatre. The outbreak of war between China and Japan in 1937 is this covered in the first chapters in the book. Each of the twelve chapters commencing with a short, written precis, before moving onto the photographs relevant to that chapter. Chapters Three, Four and Five cover the little known conflict between Japan and the Soviet Union, in which armoured warfare was a significant factor in the defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army by 31 August 1939. This section contains several interesting photographs, and good explanatory content.Chapter Six covers the Japanese invasion of Malaya and Singapore, but in my view, this book underplays the role of the Japanese armour in the series of defeats suffered by the British, British-Indian and Australian forces in Malaya. Chapters Seven and Eight cover the U.S. and Australian campaigns in the Pacific islands, and naturally, as many of the photographs are sourced from the U.S., there are several interesting ones used in these chapters. Chapters Nine and Ten cover the British led campaign in South-East Asia (Burma and India). Here again, in my view, the role of the armoured units in this campaign is understated. In addition, some of the photographs in this section do not appear directly relevant to the subject of armoured warfare. Chapter Eleven details the final Soviet/Japanese fighting, and Chapter Twelve is a summary of Japanese armoured vehicles, weapons and outcomes.The author has written over twenty book, mainly about armoured warfare, and is clearly very knowledgeable on this subject. The photographs are of good quality, and the captions informative. The introductory sections for each chapter are well written, but only provide a summary of the events relevant to that chapter.In conclusion, I found this book very useful and informative, and it is a welcome addition to my library. For me, the unique selling point of this book is the coverage of the Japan/China and Japan/Soviet conflicts, and the photographs of that period. On that basis, I recommend this book to any student of the Second World War, and armoured warfare in particular.