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A few articles concerning the Japanese Armor of WWII.
The Most Effective Japanese Tank
The most effective Japanese armored vehicle thus far met by U.S. forces is the Type 97 (1937) medium tank (improved), a 15-ton tank mounting a high-velocity 47-mm gun as its chief armament. This vehicle, which first appeared in the Philippines in 1942, has since been encountered in Burma and the Pacific theaters.
Although this tank is considered a superior fighting vehicle, Japanese armor on Luzon never mounted an attack with more than 16 tanks at any one time, and never employed the principle of mass. Instead of making use of the mobility of its tanks, the Japanese division chose, instead, to fight from fixed defenses and emplacements and to make piecemeal counterattacks
http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/jp_type97_tank/
Japanese Armor [The Battle of Tarawa]
Of the few Japanese defenders to survive the battle one was a tanker. His name was Tadao Onuki and his story was published in Japan in 1970
After driving about 800 yards Onuki took up a position north of the aircraft revetments at the base of the cove. Here he had a good field of fire toward the beach and out into the lagoon where the amtracs were heading for shore. Interestingly Onuki said he saw no evidence of other well camoflauged Japanese except for a "...tremendous curtain of fire against the lagoon." Onuki began firing the turret machine gun and the 37mm main gun at the approaching Marines, "There we broke our silence. Under roaring fires, enemy craft wrecked, American soldiers went down one after another, went falling into the sea."
http://tarawaontheweb.org/japtank.htm
The Most Effective Japanese Tank
The most effective Japanese armored vehicle thus far met by U.S. forces is the Type 97 (1937) medium tank (improved), a 15-ton tank mounting a high-velocity 47-mm gun as its chief armament. This vehicle, which first appeared in the Philippines in 1942, has since been encountered in Burma and the Pacific theaters.
Although this tank is considered a superior fighting vehicle, Japanese armor on Luzon never mounted an attack with more than 16 tanks at any one time, and never employed the principle of mass. Instead of making use of the mobility of its tanks, the Japanese division chose, instead, to fight from fixed defenses and emplacements and to make piecemeal counterattacks
http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/jp_type97_tank/
Japanese Armor [The Battle of Tarawa]
Of the few Japanese defenders to survive the battle one was a tanker. His name was Tadao Onuki and his story was published in Japan in 1970
After driving about 800 yards Onuki took up a position north of the aircraft revetments at the base of the cove. Here he had a good field of fire toward the beach and out into the lagoon where the amtracs were heading for shore. Interestingly Onuki said he saw no evidence of other well camoflauged Japanese except for a "...tremendous curtain of fire against the lagoon." Onuki began firing the turret machine gun and the 37mm main gun at the approaching Marines, "There we broke our silence. Under roaring fires, enemy craft wrecked, American soldiers went down one after another, went falling into the sea."
http://tarawaontheweb.org/japtank.htm
