Shanghai 1932

[Peter H]

From ebay,seller eby071.

More colorised photos.Motorcycle photo(in b&w) already posted on previous page.

[Sewer King]

From ebay seller, dixie_auctions: (NLF troops manning street barricade)

What type is this armored car?

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From ebay seller,mmtt02: (”Jap Equipment captured by Chinese”)

This is Chinese equipment captured by the Japanese. The thin-crowned peaked caps with white bands look like those worn by these Chinese troops under guard, handing over their rifles after the seizure of Beidaying barracks. A pistol holster in the pile does not seem like Japanese makes.

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From ebay seller,eby071: ("Japanese aerodrome constructed in the east part of Shanghai”)

These are Kawasaki Type Otsu-1 scout planes.

• The Otsu-1 was closely based on the French Salmson 2-A2 flown in World War I. Several Salmsons were brought to Japan by a French Armee de l’ Air mission in 1919, and the Otsu-1 copies saw much service in China.

• (Robert C. Mikesh and Shorzoe Abe's Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941 (Putnam Aeronautical, 1990), pages 10, 42-143)

Odd colorization seen in the pink building in the background, and in the other colorized photos that show the same.

-- Alan

[Peter H]

Thanks Alan.

From ebay,seller mtt02

I think these are captured Japanese relics though

[Peter H]

Same source.

Shanghai race track grandstand in ruins

[Peter H]

Same source,artillery.

Edward Drea (Japan's Imperial Army) relates that Japanese artillery shell stocks were inadequate.Even by 1936 artillery shell stocks were estimated as only being 10% of wartime requirements.This also lead to poor training,a lack of live shells available,and an overambitious artillery doctrine that pushed "one shell,one hit".No mass artillery attacks hence resulted at Shanghai in 1932.

[Peter H]

From ebay,seller dixie_auctions.

1932---war reporters(on left) being escorted up.Might not be Shanghai region though.

[Peter H]

From ebay,seller mmtt02

I think these are Chinese troops though.Note ammo bandoliers.But then helmets look like Japanese Adrian style.

[Peter H]

From ebay,seller historicimages01

[Peter H]

From ebay,seller mmtt02

[Peter H]

Same source.

[Sewer King]

... Shanghai 1932

A well-fortified street intersection. Although probably posed, it shows Navy sailors in their sandbagged position wearing older model helmets.

• Large knife rests are ready in the background for closing off the street.
  
  Street name signs stand at two corners here, mounted on striped crossbucks. These do not look bilingual like this one here seen at another street fortified by the NLF. Or, have the English translations been removed?

As in many other of its photos from Shanghai, the Dowa armored car seems to be painted white on top of its turret. Naval air support had been flown at Shanghai from carrier Kaga. Might the small dome atop the white-roofed turrets have been painted red (like a hinomaru) to mark them for friendly aircraft overhead?

From ebay,seller mmtt02: (Army field guns towed by hand, seen from behind)

(The same type of guns in tow, seen from the front)

These look like regimental 75mm field guns Type 41, but I am not sure. Could those guns have the extra-wide shields seen here? These guns normally had a spade for their tubular trails, but it could be removed for travel. When towed by hand, were these bent handles inserted into them?

Did the NLF also use these same guns? Though unclear, one of them seems to be at the rear of this earlier photo of NLF troops at rest. A sailor is sitting on one of its trails, and the wide gun shield can be seen.

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In the following, what kind of light guns are these NLF using for direct-fire?

• (photo sequence of gun crew at embankment);
  (the same pieces deployed at an urban street corner), and
  (close-up of gun crew in action, wearing drag harness).

In the last photo, the carriage with fixed trails looks like that of a 19th century field gun.

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From ebay seller mmtt02: artillery

150mm howitzers Type 4, each with its limber alongside.

• Maybe this is battery drill? None of the gunners have covered their ears for actual firing, nor are they seeing to ammunition (none in sight?). The nearest gun’s barrel has not been run out like those in the background. When in travel, this howitzer’s barrel is pulled back atop the trail like this, so maybe it is still being set up.

Edward Drea (Japan's Imperial Army) relates that Japanese artillery shell stocks were inadequate. Even by 1936 artillery shell stocks were estimated as only being 10% of wartime requirements. This also lead to poor training, a lack of live shells available, and an overambitious artillery doctrine that pushed "one shell, one hit." No mass artillery attacks hence resulted at Shanghai in 1932.

Wider study of IJA munitions industry would be interesting. In the Economy section of the Forum, note the depth, extent, and sources for study of German munitions industry and production.

• As with other armies, I would expect that the Great Depression had reduced the capacity to keep up ammunition stocks as much as other things. This was on top of the additional economic shocks suffered by Japan throughout the previous decade. Weren’t operations since the early 1930s in Manchuria and China a further strain on ammunition, even with early victories and a low rate of consumption?
  
  Wouldn’t munitions production certainly have been a strong factor in any plans for war with the Soviet Union –- what was then called the “Northern Advance” school of strategy? Historically, Imperial Japan had counted upon winning short, decisive wars. But unlike the Chinese, the Soviets fielded a modern mechanized army of the time.

.
If shell stocks were so low in 1936, when did production rise thereafter? From the 1937 expansion of war in China?

“One shell, one hit” doctrine would seem to need at least ten shells to learn.

–- Alan

[Peter H]

Thanks Alan.

Drea doesn't go much further in studying shell stocks but mentions by the end of 1937 "insufficient ammunitions stocks" hindering operations in China.Furthermore steps were made in February 1938 to "convert essential industries to wartime production schedules"(pp 198-199)...awaiting the full effect of mobilisation of manpower and industry "the army accordingly would avoid large-scale operations while it secured the occupied zones".

Later at the end of 1939 the War Ministry pushed for a reduction of "forces in China in order to increase stockpiles and ammunition reserves for the larger force structure [a planned 65 divisions by 1942]" in case of war with the USSR (page 207).However "the general staff balked at withdrawing units from China....to gain imperial approval [then],the war minister ultimately accepted a 5 percent cut in equipment,a one-third reduction in stockpiles,and the program's extension into 1946".

Drea also mentions a lack of facilities to make heavy artillery("it took for example eight months to manufacture one 150mm Type 15 cannon and eighteen months to produce a 240mm Type 24 howitzer" page 188) and that artillery "training exercises lacked variety and suffered from the scarcity of suitable artillery firing ranges in crowded Japan".

Not a good picture presented on Japanese artillery capabilities prior to 1941.

[Peter H]

From: http://otvaga2004.narod.ru/publ_w5/024_ft.htm

Tanks

[Sewer King]

The Renault NC tanks above together with Type 89s would be those told here:

... Because production of the Type 89 did not begin until 1933, the IJA ordered about ten French Renault NC 1 tanks in 1930 ... Captain Shigemi's 2nd Independent Tank Company, with the Type 89 tanks and ten Renault NC tanks, took part in the Shanghai Incident in February 1932. Although the new Type 89s performed well, the suspension of the Renault NC was troublesome and the type was retired.

• (from Steven J. Zaloga's Japanese Tanks 1939-45, Osprey New Vanguard series volume 137 (Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2007), pages 5 and 46)

Does this one of the NC tanks seem to have barbed wire strung across its rear deck for some reason?

Maybe tanks at rest often left their hatches open because of the heat? The insides of them show them painted a light color to brighten the interior for crewmen, although German practice reportedly painted the inner face of hatches grey to avoid showing a bright color when open.

What unit would be the infantry accompanying the NCs, if this photo is also 2nd Ind Tank Co? Soldiers ride the tanks and one is climbing aboard at right, although there is little room on the rear decks -- and the exposed treads are hazardous when running.

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From ebay seller,eby071: More of Shanghai ...

Probably posed, since this squad is on the alert but wears no steel helmets. Wouldn’t the Type 11 machine gunner normally have an assistant nearby him?

The street sign has its Chinese street name rendition blacked out –- compare to the untouched sign in this photo of NLF at Shanghai. Can anyone read the street name, ________ Road?

-– Alan

[Dave R]

http://forum.axishistory.com/download/f ... ?id=174034
This blade is most likely a "Yari" a Samurai era Japanese spear, of a size normally associated with Temple offerings and processions. It would be a triangular section blade with a fuller down one side, rarely down all three. I wonder if it is one used in a parade, or rescued from a damaged Japanese Temple in the Japanese quarter.