WW2: The Composition and Capabilities of the Japanese Military

[PanzerJaeger]

This is a thread to discuss the composition and capabilities of the Japanese military forces during WW2.

I have not spent nearly as much time reading about the Pacific Theatre as the European one, and the Japanese have always been slightly perplexing to me. Two general narratives seem to have emerged surrounding their forces in historical literature. I have seen them portrayed as an advanced military with an emphasis on technology, training, and daring new doctrines. In contrast, they have also been depicted as an almost primitive force – relying on outdated weaponry (including swords) and the suicidal dedication of their troops instead of proper tactics (Banzai charges).

And it seems history bears both representations out. In the beginning of their conflict with Western powers, Japan was unquestionably dominant – in the air, land and sea, kicking the colonial powers around at will. Their emphasis on combined arms tactics (air + land, not so much armor) on land rivaled the Germans, while their carrier-born naval operations were far beyond their counterparts. This all seems to have culminated with the attack on Pearl Harbor – an excellently planned and executed attack utilizing (for the time) advanced carrier, air, and torpedo technology along with highly trained personnel.

From there, however, it all seems to have gone downhill. Besides some notably good late war airplane designs and other advanced tech that never made it into production, Japanese weaponry seemed to lacked updates throughout the war – including small arms, artillery, and ships. More importantly, Japanese tactics and training seemed to drop off both severely and quickly.

As opposed to the Germans who arguably maintained a technological and tactical lead on their adversaries throughout the war and were at least able to keep their troops adequately trained during the latter years, the Japanese seemed to have been quickly outclassed by their American (& Allied) counterparts and forced to resort to the suicidal tactics mentioned above. Witness the air battles around the Marianas, where the Japanese did have significant numbers of decent aircraft yet no skilled pilots; or the many island battles where American casualties were just a fraction of their Japanese rivals.

Finally, Japanese grand strategy during the war seems questionable to me. It seems to have revolved around risky resource grabs with no real coherent and cohesive overall goal other than the creation of a vague co-prosperity sphere. To that note, was the attack on the United States necessary? I know it was based largely on the oil embargo, but was there no other way to secure those resources? Even if the US had sued for peace, it does not seem like that would have guaranteed a lifting of said embargo – as the Japanese were never truly able to threaten the continental US.

It is obvious looking back that the Japanese were destined to lose WW2 based on their industrial capacity, and much of the reason for their military’s sad state of affairs later in the war was due to that reality, but it seems to me that their leadership made some odd and/or poor decisions, and their once dominant capabilities fell disproportionately fast.

What do you think?

(Some interesting pics i found... )

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