Were there any instances when Banzai charges weren't epic failures?

>if the batshit insane shitshow of the imperial japanese military uses it, then it must be effective to an extent

They worked pretty well if they combined it with short range infiltration and came from behind you like in Singapore, they don't work at all against a prepared defence with MGs and mortars

yes but mostly in the early campaigns. banzai charges being a genuine tactic is a meme. they happened but nearly always were a literal suicide attack by troops who were out of ammo or supplies or otherwise knew defeat was inevitable. sometimes when used wisely they were very successful, such as at singapore. and in various battles against the US they did temporarily overrun them but still failed. idk about the chinese front because it was a huge clusterfuck.

you may know that at iwo jima, kuribayashi strictly forbade banzai charges since he saw them as a waste of manpower. but I'm sure he later regretted that decision once the remainder of the garrison were trapped in their holes slowly starving, waiting for the americans to bomb or burn them away. and of course even if they tried to surrender they'd be shot in the back by an officer. in such circumstances, you'd see why the soldiers would prefer to die in a quicker and more honorable fashion.

Battle of Attu, Aleutian Islands Campaign
>On May 29, 1943, without warning the remainder of Japanese forces attacked near Massacre Bay. This was recorded as one of the largestbanzai chargesof the Pacific campaign. Led again by Colonel Yamasaki, the attack penetrated so deep into US lines that Japanese soldiers encountered rear-echelon units of the Americans. After furious, brutal, oftenhand-to-hand combat, the Japanese force was virtually exterminated. Only 28 Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner, none of them officers. American burial teams counted 2,351 Japanese dead, but it was thought that hundreds more Japanese bodies had been buried by bombardment during the battle.

They eventually did get BTFO

I assume you mean mass infantry charges with bayonets and not the deliberately suicidal charges. It's a sound tactic provided the enemy is largely equipped with manual action rifles. It performed pretty well in China and against colonial garrisons but did just as well as you might expect against American Garands and machine gun fire. Japan didn't really learn from WWI.

Yes, when the Americans do it.
>As the men of the 442nd went deeper and deeper they became more hesitant, until reaching the point where they would not move from behind a tree or come out of a foxhole. However, this all changed in an instant. The men of Companies I and K of 3rd Battalion had their backs against the wall, but as each one saw another rise to attack, then another also rose. Then every Nisei charged the Germans screaming, and many screaming "Banzai!"[14]:83 Through gunfire, artillery shells, and fragments from trees, and Nisei going down one after another, they charged.

Colonel Rolin's grenadiers put up a desperate fight, but nothing could stop the Nisei rushing up the steep slopes, shouting, firing from the hip, and lobbing hand grenades into dugouts. Finally the German defenses broke and the surviving grenadiers fled in disarray.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)

The last banzai of the war was on Okinawa iirc, It also succeeded at breaking through the frontline but the literally starving soldiers stopped to eat or dropped dead before the American counter attack swept them back with little difficulty. Banzai charges are actually remarkably good at breaking a static defense, particularly if it gets surprise. The only real way to stop it is to concentrate fire. Against the Chinese it was gg no re time and time again. So often that the Chinese start deploying regiments armed only with swords so they would stop routing when the Japanese showed up with bayonets. The Americans famously beat the ones off in Guadalcanal, but ask anyone on Tarawa what they were most afraid of and it was a night banzai because Guadal was a fluke and everyone knew it. The charge itself isn't a terrible tactic if you can get into position first but the Japanese used them too frequently to break through early in the war and by the end of the war it was done because everyone had a bayonet but no bullets so you may as well charge.

>be sitting in your tent two miles behind the lines
>sipping a coffee reading the comms report
>hear something on the wind
>aaaaaaaaaaaaa

>They worked pretty well if they combined it with short range infiltration and came from behind you like in Singapore,
Are you retarded? There were no Banzai charges at Singapore.

I don't know you guys but I would shit my pants if like 50 japs were coming shouting like insane animals.

Just press V.

>accidentally release middle mouse button
>stab squad leader in the back

np

It would be an honor to be killed in a Japanese bayonet charge imo

John Basilone definitely didn't make this post

>mfw John Basilone didn't actually die on Iwo and still lives to shitpost on a weebshit website that he deep down hates but can't bare to leave

Meant Malaya, which had plenty of bayonet charges

There was some battle in Afghanistan where British soldiers did a legit bayonet charge against the Taliban and it worked.

Itt people literally defending banzai charge

>were there any instances when Banzai charges weren't epic failures?

American rifles from this period had a unique action that would create a unique "ping" sound when the last shot was fired. Japanese soldiers would wait and listen for this sound, then charge while the Americans were busying reloading. Many Americans died because of this.

Fuck, is it 2010 /k/ in here?

A concentrated and determined bayonet charge is a great tool for breaking through an enemy, but it needs to be either followed up with troops to secure an area, or directed at a very particular target that can be swamped. Japanese banzai charges in the pacific were often just remenents of a group that had been fucked thinking it was better to go out with some honor.

technically a banzai charge?

youtube.com/watch?v=uDtSf6AdGL4

*laughs in gunpowder*

this is a myth

t. John Jackson

Sengoku warriors were leagues more rational than their IJA descendants.

>So often that the Chinese start deploying regiments armed only with swords so they would stop routing when the Japanese showed up with bayonets.
Wrong.

Big Sword Units - more properly called sword and pistol battalions- emerged out of WWI tactics.

Chinese observed on both sides on WWI and saw shock and infiltration tactics employed by Germans. In Hutier tactics, troops carried short hand weapons like pistols, the first SMGs, cavalry carbines, and then clubs, knives, and hatchets and shitloads of grenades in order to sneak in and wreak havoc in trenches. Spearheading infantry assaults in a line.

The Chinese then subsequently employed this in their army. Just right in time for the Warlord Period to commence. The Warlords- all of them- had units of infiltration and shock infantry armed with the same things as their European counterparts did. With one exception: a fucking dao sword.

Hence their name: sword & pistol units. If you're up against these men, you're more likely to get killed by a pistol round or a hurled grenade than a dadao.

>Japs beat the Russians, Koreans, Chinese, British, and kick the Americans out of the Philippines.
>Some faggot on Veeky Forums decides the Japanese couldn't run a military because they must have been insane for willingly making large-scale suicidal sacrifices for their country
I hate the modern man

I talked to a US veteran, he said that during WWII Japanese soldiers were taught to observe/listen for bolt action rifles. The point was to bayonet the enemy soldier while they pulled their bolt open to re-chamber a round. Unfortunately, the M1 Garand rifle was semi-automatic and threw Japanese soldiers into confusion and banzai charges failed.

Underrated post

Sounds like bullshit

>were there any instances when Banzai charges weren't epic failures?

Banzai charges were routinely effective, even against American and Commonwealth troops, especially earlier in the war.

The tactic isn't some crazy Jap madness, it's literally just another application of the human wave attacks that dominated WW1 and were ubiquitous on the Eastern Front (except the Japs put more emphasis on bayoneting people, rather than just overwhelming their positions with men and shooting them like normal).

>suicide charge the enemy with whats left of your forces
still better than surrender

It doesn't take very long to cycle the action of a bolt-action rifle.

>mfw John Basilone didn't actually die on Iwo and still lives to shitpost on a weebshit website that he deep down hates but can't bare to leave
>tfw memetic warfare was just John Basilone doing on the internet what he did in Guadalcanal

>collapse like a house of cards as soon as they're faced with troops that aren't either illiterate peasants send to die for their emperor or colonial garrisons mostly composed form natives with little desire to fight and die for their european masters

>a fucking dao sword

Thats fucking badass, did they get deployed a lot or was it more of a novelty?

Early 20th century china has a very Mad Max vibe to it.

Chinese bootlego manufacturers seem to think it was a regular thing.

>still better than surrender

You could always retreat and live to fight another day.

>navy largely destroyed
>no resupply, no reinforcements
>surrounded on an island
>retreat

This.

It was also later used as "we're fucked but we can't surrender", so they kind of knew it wasn't about "working".

Like I said, you're more likely to die of a grenade or a pistol shot from a big sword guy than an actual sword.

Though at the battle of Shanghai, there was a Japanese bayonet charge that got into grips with bigsword units.

There's even a march composed of it by the Nationalists.
youtube.com/watch?v=atUSU3mkceo

In Rising Storm multiplayer

Most of the time they're failures there too.

Nigga if you have a team that communicates and has a semi-competent commander, you can dominate whole maps with banzai charges. I remember a game in Guadalcanal where my whole team performed a massive banzai charge and ended up taking 4 sectors before the US team knew what fucking happened.

>be me
>on jap team attacking iwo
>make it to the last attack zone at the too of the hill
>team runs our of respawn tickets, american team still has plenty
>losing guys left and right, americans are well entrenched, all hope is lost
>hear someone's mic click on
>"COME ON YOU LITTLE SHITS, FUCKING RUN, JUST FUCKING RUN UP THAT HILL, CHARGE INTO THE BUNKERS AND WET YOUR BLADES WITH GI BLOOD, GUT THE AMERICAN PIGGU, BANZAAAAAAAI"
>IJA wins match about 30 seconds later

Banzai charges are the single most op mechanic in the game mate. Most fun too. You just need one or two people with a mic.

>some guy with a flamethrower just happens to be around the vicnity
>AAhhhhh acha chaaaa aaaaaah
>or better yet a competent TL drops arty
>US wins and they vote for Peleliu,loses and then resets the cycle

Fucking hate flamfags.

Or you could burden the enemies logistics by being a prisoner? live to defend you homeland another day perhaps even in another war? better than dying pointlessly right?

I prefer the BRA anyway,still pop a jap in three shots and doesnt reveal your position

>Burden American Logistics

Literally impossible.

Highly unlikely even if a Japanese solider wanted to, the IJA taught its soldiers that Americans would kill them if they were caught and it's a piece of propaganda that was actually true. US soldiers and Marines regularly killed surrendering Japanese troops.

>it's a piece of propaganda that actually became true. US soldiers and Marines regularly killed surrendering Japanese troops after learning the hard way on Guadalcanal that it was usually a trick.

Ftfy

This, it might've started as propaganda but there's plenty of accounts of marines executing Japanese soldiers.

>regularly engage in acts of false surrender
>then wonder why your enemy doesn't bother to try take prisoners

its best thing to do when you run out of ammo