Japan in WWII

Was the Imperial Japanese Army very good in WWII?

Was it prepared for the war? Could it have won?

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Hey, i recognize that place

0% chance once the U.S. became involved.

No to all three. About the only things they were good at is moving in dense terrain because they didn't carry much equipment, and fighting and dying to the bitter end when faced with overwhelming firepower. They weren't much good at actually taking to the offensive and winning.

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They're pretty good. The invasion of malaya / singapore really shows their strategical genius.

But they could've been as good as the germans if they equipped their men with a better weaponry, tanks and tactics. Also banzai charge must be remove . It's fucking dumb

>things that never happened

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No. It made early gains, but over vastly inferior opponents. They ended up grossly overconfident.

Every battle they fought with the Americans ended up being even more lopsided, with like 1:10 casualty rates, which was absolutely horrible.

Iwo Jima, The one exception but still.

I don't watch much jap porn, this pool is basically their equivalent of the couch right?

Because their only competent land general was in charge of Iwo Jima's defense. If Kuribayashi had been calling the shots at Guadalcanal, America would have been looking at a very different, much costlier and bloody war.

More Americans died at Iwo Jima than Japanese, it was all but a Pyrrhic victory.

I was only really answering to the "Every battle was lopsided" claim, but if Iwo Jima-like battleplans were used earlier on it would still have been bloodier but the 'mericans would have gotten smarter about it too eventually.

>More Americans died at Iwo Jima than Japanese
Nope, the Americans suffered more casualties overall, but more Japanese died.

This movie is fucking awful

Who made this shit

They had totally outdated equipment which a European army would have had in the 1920's. Their doctrine was basically to die and hope for the best.

Even if they had destroyed all the ships and fuel in pearl harbour it would only have bought them a few years, and American submarines would still have crippled them and made it impossible to supply their troops across the pacific.

they could've gotten a lot further in say, China, if they had been even slightly competent on the political level.

>senior KMT official defects to you
>can use this to set a positive example for warlords and other officials to defect as well
>"no, let's proverbially castrate him, then use him as a powerless figurehead"
>other defected officials defect back to the KMT after this and tell the story to all of China

the Japanese did a better job of preventing defection than the KMT ever did.

Iwo Jima was much more favourable to the defender than Okinawa was
Volcanic sand made it impossible to dig in
the rock was hard enough to withstand 7 days of american bombing and bombardment but was diggable enough to make a huge ass defense network
also it was much smaller than Okinawa,even if you can say that is a disadvantage it actually gave the japs some benefit such as basically able to mortar american from anywhere,easier time handling multiple attack prongs and ability to funnel in marines into killzones
in all honesty though Iwo Jima was a cakewalk compared to Peleliu,almost the same environment except swampy as fuck and off the charts humidity
the only place worse you can get sent into the Pacific was probably in Burma

>They had totally outdated equipment which a European army would have had in the 1920'
-Infantry small arms Nope
-Artillery yes, but most of the mayor armies had same or worse.
-Tanks, same as the rest for late 30's, early 40's. Didn't have the mechanized grinders that soviets and germans shared on the eastern front that prompted them to race, which caused that the western allies develop they own models.
-Logistics, as any army on the 30's
Stop the meme, sure you still think that arisakas are shitty

I feel bad for the Allied troops in Burma.

Didn't the Americans even have troops there? Like a special light infantry unit or something.

IIRC the meme about Japanese small arms only really holds true for one of their pistols and I think one of their machine guns.

There was Stillwell's unit and a fair sized air force contingent, the air force was pretty important in the 2nd Chindit operation

Which one?

Merrill's Marauders.

Wang Jingwei

It was the Italy of Asia
Navy's good enough but once they lost Midway it came tumbling down.
Also Inter rivalry autism between the IJA and IJN

Source: "My Way" - Korean film following one korean and one japanese who end up fighting in three different armies and both theaters of WWII

they would have been better if the Navy communicated with them properly

I feel bad that the Korean never got to back to Korea and just stayed in the U.S till death.

>Get drafted by the Japs
>Get caught by the Soviets and drafted
>Get caught by the Germans and drafted
>Get caught by the Americans they send you to a PoW camp in the homeland
>Just fucking stay there and become an American.
Wildest shit

>forcefully moved across the entire planet against your will
>end up in a place that doesn't want to outright kill you
>tired of all that shit
>settle for what you're offered

The troops in Burma had the only half-way good bongistani general of the war.
He was a child molester, but he innovated most of modern jungle warfare doctrine

>Was the Imperial Japanese Army very good in WWII?
Yes.
Most Japanese soldiers who fought against Americans in the Pacific were Veterans of wars fought in China/Machuria, etc. In fact, I think it was in Sai Pan or Guadalcanal that the same army that invaded Nanking was defeated at the hands of American Marines. As Individuals, Japanese soldiers were more resilient, valiant, loyal, (unquestionably) and ferocious. Certainly the effort and workload of a Japanese soldier dwarfed his opponets'. But probably not as tall, strong or big as an American besides.

>Was it prepared for the war? Could it have won?
No. Not in the slightest. Japanese equipment with the notable exception of planes and naval equipment as well as Knee-mortars was very bad. I think the Nanbu pistol was infamous for going off randomly and shooting officers in the foot. The meager amount of food given to Japanese soldiers couldn't even be kept up as many were forced to starve in tunnels or foxholes isolated on Islands surrounded by an American fleet. The only hope Japan ever had was to successfully incapcitate the Americans at Pearl Harbor, but since they couldn't do that, they couldn't win the war. Losing it was a matter of waiting for American Industrial mobilization and population to begin spitting out equipment, vehicles, tools, supplies, and soldiers, overwhelming any country without an equal population and industrial base, which Japan lacked, especially in regards to raw materials. It also didn't help that in certain instances, Japanese military organization, strategy, and general attitude was rather antiquated and ineffective, such as the in the case of the terrible loss of the Yamato battleship, or the convulated systems that encouraged competition and factionalism in the various military branches that fought wars while simultaneously competing for Government influence.

And no amount of 愛国 and 大和魂 could solve that.

youtube.com/watch?v=C2-vYrMd4kY

it's like all the good British officers left for Burma.
>Alexander
>Auchinleck
>Wavell
>Wingate
pic unrelated

No real evidence about the molesting. There was an allegation that was mever proved and he was unmarried.

Are you guys denying that idiotic banzai charges were a thing?

>idiotic
Banzai charges were almost invariably used when Japanese soldiers had no food, and usually little to no ammo. Even in retrospect, it was the most valiant thing for them to do in that situation, using what little strength they had to charge the enemy, rather than waste away in a hole starving to death until the enemy comes to pick your emaciated corpse from your hiding hole.

Its still surprising how you murridubs know about every little squad sent to the most backward shithole during WWII yet you don't even know what 7 Years' War was

>Why can't dumb foreigners learn MY HISTORY REEEEEE
Is this what nonwhites and POC are referring to when they complain about Eurocentrism? Walking up into a conversation that has nothing to do with you and then imposing yourself on it like you have the right to derail discussions that don't involve you and your history? It must get really insufferable.

surprising how you yuropoors know all those wars that started over the pettiest things but can't even name any ethnic cleansings that took place during the Qing dynasty

*takes your colonies from you*
Psssh... nothin personner... gaijin piggu

Because Europe is the only relevant continent in History

>babby tier european history
>better than based asian history
you sound like a burger tbhfamilia

this

The 7 Years War doesn't affect the U.S

>Was the Imperial Japanese Army very good in WWII?
they were good vs. the Chinese and the Indians Britain threw at them but when they came up against actual Europeans and Americans the got BTFO

>They got BTFO
Except on certain battles: Capture of the DEI, Capture of the Philippines, Capture of Singapore

Except it does as they fought in the war

They had excellent short range infiltration tactics, but then they started doing retarded shit like banzai charges and blew it

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Was it an in-joke that Fourze used THE POOL?

I mean it was a thing, but generally they would just dig in to a hole and refuse to surrender.

every time i fap to javs i get reminded of how sick the japanese were during ww2. it turns me down a little bit but then i forget it and cum eventually

Its cool tho

They've tried their best to change from that.

Arisakas being shit is a meme.
Small arms in general being a deciding factor is kinda a meme, that being said.....
All their pistols were shit (literally insignificant) all their machine guns were shit (not nearly as insignificant) and their light artillery (mortars and the like) were second rate.
IJA were decidedly equipped worse than their American enemies.

You're a fucking idiot, the 7 years' war was an European conflict

Kys

According to Eugene Sledge, the Japanese were extremely resilient, and were strategically quite good, however by the time of the battle of Peleliu the Japanese were just hopelessly outclassed navally, aerially, and logistically. He also did comment that the Japs did in actual fact make suicidal banzai charges in the early stages of the the war against the USMC, as they were so used to routing Chinese/Koreans/outnumbered colonial forces, but stopped them pretty quickly.

It's pretty pointless to speculate about this sort of thing though. American industrial power and natural resource access dictated that they were to slaughter the Japanese on the sea, and thus the Japanese never could have won.

In terms of casualties?
Yes.
The US counts deaths and wounded the same, the actual figure was something around 6 thousand american dead witch was still alot to the japanese whose entire 20000 garrison was decimated.

>>As Individuals, Japanese soldiers were more resilient, valiant, loyal, (unquestionably) and ferocious. Certainly the effort and workload of a Japanese soldier dwarfed his opponets'. But probably not as tall, strong or big as an American besides.

Nip detected, US marines were better soldiers thats why you lost get over it already.

>The conflict that established UK as dominant power in North America and Prussia as the new great power isn't important to world's history
>and you guys are wondering why everybody laughs at American educations

>all their machine guns were shit
Not type 96/99, rest obsolescent but not shit
>Light artillery
Obsolescent, not shit
There's a differences with having obsolescent and shit kit. Get yout facts straights

I never denied that Banzai charges were a thing, I'm just saying the movie is awful because of its highly simplistic and unrealistic portrayal of combat.

It's almost like there was a much more relevant conflict happening at the same time that Americans actual focus learning about

Was Japanese Island defense some of the best defensive operations in military history? (in regard of the land battles, not naval warfare)

Also when will the "banzai charges are shit" meme die? do those people actually read or know why and when were Banzai charges conducted?

What? What are you talking? The colonies took part in the 7 years war. We call it the French and Indian war though, which is why europoors think we don't know what it is (we also don't care about any other theatres of war, we just learn about the American theatre)

>the 7 years' war was an European conflict
Does that have anything to do with Japan in WW2? Kill yourself you insipid autismoid

>>The conflict that established UK as dominant power in North America and Prussia as the new great power isn't important to world's history
>>and you guys are wondering why everybody laughs at American educations

Great. Now explain what that has to do with Japan in WW2 and we can talk about it.

>more americans died
No, as always, more Japanese. Kind of hard to fill that in-congruency when one side says 'death over surrender' while the other says 'were not fucking taking prisoners anyways.'

Japan was an utter joke when it came to supplies and equipment.

the abuses suffered by their prisoners is evidence enough of this.

Basically they struggled to get enough food to feed their own army, much less POW's. Couple this with really poor discipline and you've got a recipe for rampant atrocities.

The Type 89 "knee mortar" was one of the most versatile light artillery in WW2

yes

Interestingly enough, a similar weapon is still in use with the French Army, called the LGI Mle F1 (roughly translated as "Model F1 Individual Grenade Launcher", though it's actually a 51mm mortar).

Most of what people have said in this thread is true, but I'm going to add something else. Although Japan technically participated in WW1, they got little-to-no experience in actually fighting on land during the war. So whereas other nations in WW2 had many commanders who'd been chiseled to perfection by the Great War, Japan had far fewer people with actual experience in commanding an army against a heavily armed opponent. This resulted in them often making noobish mistakes, to borrow a term from gaming.

A prime example of this is how Japanese commanders, Army and Navy, seemed to actively disdain planning for any aspect of war that wasn't purely offensive. Things like logistics and communications, both absolutely vital for major war, received far less attention than in other armies. Japanese commanders even liked to mock British and American units for their "tail" meaning the extensive line of support troops who always followed behind the main combat force. The Japanese felt that this tail was slow and cumbersome, which it was. However, the tail of support troops is also absolutely vital for any kind of prolonged engagement.

Test

Let me tell you why a Japanese soldier would have an edge over a marines and you'll make your own conclusion.
Even before the war, Japanese thinker were aware of their biggest weakness: industry. They clearly couldn't win with big guns. Their whole strategy then revolved around one idea, which was the same flawed conclusion the german had: Decisive battle. Against a stronger opponent, if you strike hard and quickly early in the war, inflicting crippling defeats, basically destroying ennemy system, you can force it in a bitter peace.
The first time this idea was tested and showed its limit was in khalinin ghol, against the soviet. Zhukov was really far from his basis and understood that the survival of his army was tied to a methodical logistic. When the skirmish broke out, he truly represented the better armed and supplied ennemy Japan was destined to fight. Even at thousand km of his industrial heartland, his logistics vastly outclasses Japanese one that would break down really fast, even after month of preparation and being close from their bases.Japanese wanted a decisive victory. They wanted it to be quick. By going through soviet defense and forcing them in local surrender with various encirclement.
For this, their main weapon was the infantryman. They couldn't afford large artillery or tank formation. So they focused on that. A splendid soldier that could outclass his opponent.
The idea was that in the confusion of an infantry battle, what won at the end of the day was fighting ability and morale. Fighting ability made possible in an open fight tactical successes and objective achievement. High morale ensure that in highly pressured environment, they wouldn't even need this fighting ability to win the day as enemy dispositive would collapse in front of them.Both idea were valid in certain conditions. That's why they focused so much on infantry. It begin really early with indoctrination and military training at school.

Nazi youth weren't a thing that young Japanese were already learning how to use their bayonets. Because the only way to improve infantry individually is training. Really long training. And when khalinin ghol broke out, they aligned this formidable soldiers.
But they attacked heavily entranched positions, supported by artillery that could fire days and days without supply problems while Japanese stockpile were almost emptied in the first day. Even with that, zhukov was forced into deadly armoured counter attacks to prevent it to collapse. But soviet artillery did the job. Firing randomly by night to jeep soldiers awake, providing heavy defensive fire when needed. The decisive victory was not obtainable in this situation as the ennemy would always feel supported, preventing it too colapse, while fighting ability, was not enoygh to defeat armoured unit and defensive fire support. At least in the timespan it was allowed. Japanese generals made several mistakes because of their idea of what war would be. They were overconfident and didn't prepare logistics for a long period. In less of a month, soldier didn't gad munition to fight with. So they couldn't even try for aprolonged assault that could win the battle eventually. At a heavy price for a country that couldn't afford casualty, but that could eventually achieve operationnal succes if you give it the mean.
Soviet just swept Japanese forces away when they were out of supplies.
After that, Japanese soldiers fought a lot. Most of them fought for longer than the marines were trained. Against inferior opponent some time (which led them to banzai cgarge for example, that were efficient against low morales troop. It kind of illustrate the state of overconfidence the Japanese officers were in after huge succeses all across asia. Ignoring the lesson of khalinin ghol and blind to their own weakness. Enouraging them in their mistakes.

Cont3

Japanese soldier logistics led the japanese soldier to be the less fed soldier in the world, to the point of mass starvation
Their experience in the war led them into a depply flawed military doctrine that was hard to reform like the german.
Early battle were a complete disaster and rivalry between ijn and ija didn't helped.
Japan was destined to loose in a terrible way, but soldiers themselve were still heavily trained, and experienced in war. They fought in terrible condition, on terrible terrain with terrible logistics for years now and became highly resourceful because of that.
But there is nothing a starved and out of ammo soldier can do.
Japanese army was never build to endure such a long conflict on so much theater and so was the military industrial complex behind it. It was build for tactical war. And against an opponent that was fighting a strategical total war, they didn't manage to get any substantial decisive battle (hawaii or australia or burma) that wold stop their oponnent from just crippling their industry.
Thinking they were invulnerable, they never dealt the final blow anywhere and were forced in a long conflict that was the antithesis of their whole military build up in the last decade.
Bog down to death in China and south east asia, Ija was already a walking dead by the time american army entered the fray.
But as I said, soldier are still soldier and their experience and training is still there.
It doesn't help if you starve.

considering the massive manpower disparity yes
but it needs a special kind of soldier to really emulate what the japs troops had to fight to the last and still be motivated to fight in some god forsaken shithole

all of the tactics and strategy you see is actually carried over from the Russo-Japanese war
banzai charges were there during the battle of Port Arthur,Nanshang and Mukden
they forgot that it was their superior artillery that blew the inflexible russian lines first before the banzais cleaned up

there are people itt who think american soldiers trained more than Japanese ones

The stupiest thing they did was attacking the US: they couldn't compete with the industry of a country the size of a continent with their tiny island. After that, it was like hell upon them, with the end we know: two nuclear bombs and a people cuck for eternity.

You bite your tongue you little twerp

Same here. I never realized that there were others who felt that way too. For the same reason, I find German porn unappealing.

Cont. Obviously modern Germans aren't to blame, and I have no problem with them in regular life, but when it comes to porn there's just some layer of weirdness.

He didn't do much, really. The Japanese Navy and Air Force were not of consequence by the time the slothful bongs decided to stir themselves and get in the war (or more accurately, to walk into former colonial holdings behind the withdrawing Japanese).

They were a primitive army that was very good at killing under-trained and under-equipped Chinamen but fell apart when confronted with well trained, equipped, and motivated white men

So this is how Koreans think WWII was fought

The Japanese BTFO the euros as well, lad.

>The conflict that established UK as dominant power in North America
>dominant power in North America
>dominant
Kek. The "dominant power" that scant few years later got pushed out of America and then intimidated out of Canada?

It’s a stylised rendition of one soldier’s personal experience.

This. And it was primarily Americans who fought that war in North America, not bongs.

>entire 20000 garrison was decimated
so they only lost 2000?

The 7 Years War was the reason the British raised taxes on the colonies, which led to the American revolution. Fuck, short of the discovery and colonization of North America the 7 Years War is probably the first important event in US history, regardless of the fact that the US wasn't a nation yet.

Then why'd they kick the shit out of said white men for a year and a half?

at no point was Japan fighting in WW2 without the US being involved, so what you're saying is 0% chance ever at any point. the US didn't "get involved" either, it was attacked by Japan as response to embargos and conflicts of interests.

Well, for less than 5 months, actually.

>Things that never happened

I understand your obsession with the Pacific War and all, being americans, but isn't China the most important theater for Japan in WW2?

I believe the key to understand Japanese fighting ability and its evolution (or not) in logistics are there, in China, specifically in the battles over Changsha.

More like for about half a year against nations that had either mobilized for a war literally on the other side of the planet, or were still running on peacetime settings because they hadn’t effectively been at/planning for war since 1935.

The instant they get their shit together, Japan starts to lose. Horribly.

Well, if China was the most important WW2 theater for the Japanese, they had a funny way of showing that. Check their original source manifests, and you'll find they were shipping about 5% of the required tonnage a modern ground military required in China. I guess they disagreed with your analysis, and saw their prime threat elsewhere.