Japanese Use of Captured Equipment

[Peter H]

Captured British SMLEs.I think this is in the NEI.I wonder what happened to these weapons?

[Sewer King]

My thanks Taki for the improved photo. From my source I could not have told that it already held the answer to my question about a captured M3's marking. The author might have already pointed it out, if he too had been able to see better.

When Germans used captured Soviet tanks and SP guns in combat on the Eastern Front, they sometimes painted oversized Balkan crosses on the hulls or turrets to call the attention of their own troops or planes. We cannot see the rest of this Japanese M3, but would it have been marked somewhere with at least a small national flag?

Were the kanji on this captured halftrack just ordinary unit or tactical markings, then? Why would they spell out its capture when it is self-evident?

From another current thread here ("Something different"), and supplied by Peter:

• a comic postcard depicting what are almost certainly captured American troops under guard in the background, with captured vehicles and guns in foreground. An M3 is clearly drawn here, although undersized and stylized.
  
  What are the soldiers saying? Any references to the equipment they are looking over?
  
  

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... [The Japanese] confiscated all kinds of vehicles (military and civilian) and pressed them into service. [Their] M3 halftrack in question probably saw quite a bit of use during the years between its capture and its destruction.

The impress of ordinary captured motor vehicles I understood, but the use of these ones for Japanese anti-partisan operations in the Philippines was what I wondered at. Though possible, a 75mm gun-armed halftrack seems too powerful for security police-type duty comparable that of the Germans on the Ostfront.

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Captured British SMLEs.I think this is in the NEI.I wonder what happened to these weapons?

More likely in Malaya? Or Australian Mk IIIs?

-- Alan

[Peter H]

Alan

Those guys look like SNLF(note badge on arms) so that would discount Malaya,Singapore or Butrma.Might even be at Rabaul.

Peter

[Akira Takizawa]

> Were the kanji on this captured halftrack just ordinary unit or tactical markings, then?

The kanji letters on captured halftrack mean "XX unit captured".

> Why would they spell out its capture when it is self-evident?

To be proud of their achievement.

> What are the soldiers saying?

They are proud of their achievement.

> Any references to the equipment they are looking over?

No

Taki

[Peter H]

M1919 Browning in use

[Peter H]

Courtesy of Taki.

Soviet BT tanks in Burma:

They were captured by the Japanese in Burma from the Chinese.They were used by 56th Field Artillery Regiment.

[Brady]

Courtesy of Taki.

Soviet BT tanks in Burma:

They were captured by the Japanese in Burma from the Chinese.They were used by 56th Field Artillery Regiment.

To what end?

[Akira Takizawa]

Courtesy of Taki.

Soviet BT tanks in Burma:

They were captured by the Japanese in Burma from the Chinese.They were used by 56th Field Artillery Regiment.

To what end?

Pillbox

Taki

[Brady]

Ah, so they kept them with them for local security, opresumably this Artilerly unit was not an AT Gun unit but a Full fledge Field Artilery Unit?

[Sewer King]

Thanks again, Taki, I understand now the M3 markings were specifically for unit pride.

An illustration is not always meant to be very accurate, but the artist drew this halftrack with what looks like Japanese camouflage painting of the time.

Those guys look like SNLF(note badge on arms) so that would discount Malaya,Singapore or Butrma.Might even be at Rabaul.

The blunt nosecaps on this many captured Enfields make me think it's Rabaul. The Lithgow-made SMLE Mk III had that; wasn't it the standard Australian rifle throughout the war?

We have seen at least one other probable Enfield in Japanese hands in another thread about handrail antennas on tanks.

Soviet BT tanks in Burma:

Rather, these are T-26s, probably the furthest south those tanks ever went.

-- Alan

[Akira Takizawa]

Ah, so they kept them with them for local security, opresumably this Artilerly unit was not an AT Gun unit but a Full fledge Field Artilery Unit?

56th Division including 56th Field Artillery Regiment was defending the Burma Road against the Chinese. They built fortifications and used any weapons including captured enemy tank.

Takl

[Peter H]

Another captured Soviet tank held in Manchuria

[Peter H]

From WW2 in Color

Said to be Burma.The tankers posing before this captured Stuart suggests they may be crewing it.

[Brady]

Ah, so they kept them with them for local security, opresumably this Artilerly unit was not an AT Gun unit but a Full fledge Field Artilery Unit?

56th Division including 56th Field Artillery Regiment was defending the Burma Road against the Chinese. They built fortifications and used any weapons including captured enemy tank.

Takl

Thanks Taki, whats hurting my brain is that I thought the Chinese t-26 did not see any real service, or their were non left this late in the war, we dont know what unit the Japanese captured them from do we?

[Akira Takizawa]

we dont know what unit the Japanese captured them from do we?

I don't know exact unit, but some unit of 56th Division.

Taki