Any tank battles during the Pacific War?

Discussions on WW2 in the Pacific and the Sino-Japanese War.
User avatar
Admiral Yi
Member
Posts: 22
Joined: 15 May 2005, 18:27
Location: Seoul/Korea

Any tank battles during the Pacific War?

#1

Post by Admiral Yi » 29 Sep 2005, 15:38

Dear Gentlemen,

Were there any tank battles between Japanese and Allied forces during the Pacific War? Sorry for asking but I am mostly interested in German and Japanese WWII-planes. So I don't know much about tanks and their history. Thx.

User avatar
Michael Emrys
Member
Posts: 6002
Joined: 13 Jan 2005, 19:44
Location: USA

#2

Post by Michael Emrys » 30 Sep 2005, 02:30

Depends on how you define the Pacific War. If you include fighting between Japan and the USSR, there was a pretty good dust up on the border between Manchuria and Mongolia at Khalkin-Gol in the summer of 1939. That was probably the biggest tank vs. tank battle in that part of the world. The Soviets used more tanks when they invaded Manchuria six years later, but the Japanese had little to match them with, so there was little or no tank vs. tank fighting at that time.


tigersqn
Member
Posts: 175
Joined: 03 Jun 2004, 03:14
Location: Canada

Re: Any tank battles during the Pacific War?

#3

Post by tigersqn » 30 Sep 2005, 14:01

Admiral Yi wrote:Dear Gentlemen,

Were there any tank battles between Japanese and Allied forces during the Pacific War? Sorry for asking but I am mostly interested in German and Japanese WWII-planes. So I don't know much about tanks and their history. Thx.
The invasion at Wakde, New Guinea saw some tank vs tank combat IIRC. I'll run a quick check and get back with details.

Larry D.
Member
Posts: 4103
Joined: 05 Aug 2004, 00:03
Location: Winter Springs, FL (USA)

#4

Post by Larry D. » 30 Sep 2005, 14:52

The Japanese 2d Armored Division (Lt.Gen. Iwanaka) with 6th, 7th and 10th Tank Regiments was transferred from Manchuria to Luzon/Philippines in late July/early August 1944 and began arriving in September for assignment to 14th Area Army. By early January 1945, it was deployed in the Cabanatuan - San Miguel area with approximately 200 tanks prepared to counter the expected Allied invasion of Luzon at Lingayen Gulf. On 8 January it was ordered to the Tarlac area to block and defeat any enemy attempt to push southeast toward the Clark Field complex and Manila. It fought numerous engagements over the next month, but because the terrain was mostly rice paddies it could not use its tanks in the traditional way and was forced to dig them in at road junctions and other key positions. By 8 February, the Division had lost some 180 of its 200 tanks and its remnants became more of an infantry force than an armored unit.

[Source: Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP). Reports of General MacArthur: Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area. Volume II - Part II. WashDC: GPO, 1966. pp.327, 334-35, 436-38, 454, 458, 460, 463-65, 469-83, 506, 508, 515-19, 522, 523-26].

Over the past 40 years, I have seen numerous accounts of this Division's tank operations and battles in the Philippines, so it should not be difficult to find material on the subject. For example, here's a very useful link:

http://www3.plala.or.jp/takihome/history2.htm

--Larry

TRose
Member
Posts: 205
Joined: 20 Jun 2004, 23:08
Location: California

#5

Post by TRose » 01 Oct 2005, 07:04

There where also a few small tank clashes in the 1941-42 invasion of the Philippines. The Usa haveing a small number of m2A4/m3 tanks and the japanese a tank regiment.. There was also Im willing to gues some amall battles in China, Chinese tanks includeing German PZ1's, Italian L3, British light tanks and vicker 6 tons tanks, French renualts FT17 and Soviet T26 and scratch built armored cars all in small numbers

User avatar
Admiral Yi
Member
Posts: 22
Joined: 15 May 2005, 18:27
Location: Seoul/Korea

#6

Post by Admiral Yi » 07 Oct 2005, 20:06

Fascinating informations! Thank you very much.

User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#7

Post by Peter H » 09 Oct 2005, 13:23

The Japanese also sent their 8th Tank Regiment to Rabaul in 1943. A wasted asset and the 40 or so remaining tanks were surrended to the Australians in 1945.

User avatar
Sewer King
Member
Posts: 1711
Joined: 18 Feb 2004, 05:35
Location: northern Virginia

Tank battles in the Pacific

#8

Post by Sewer King » 12 Oct 2005, 05:20

On August 2, 1944, the US Army 77th Infantry Division was attacking dug-in Japanese defenders near Barrigada, Guam, when it set afire a hut. This exposed a Type 97 tank that drove right at the Americans, causing numerous casualties. They brought all the fire they could to bear but failed to stop its advance right through one of their battalion command posts. It then turned toward the US Marine sector, where two Marine Shermans finally knocked it out.

In this same attack another tank, a Type 95, was hiding elsewhere in the jungle until four Shermans blew away its cover and easily despatched it.

That night, two more Type 97s with accompanying infantry attacked the 77th. The foot soldiers were cut down but again the tanks broke through and killed 20 more Americans. They were destroyed only when a mortar barrage caused their crews to abandon them.

The Japanese kept up what tank-infantry defenses they could through the week. Other tank assaults were defeated by the alert Army troops who heard them coming in time. Marine Shermans destroyed two more of their tanks on August 10, and seven more Type 97s were found abandoned. One of their captured officers said these ones had run out of fuel.

On all of Guam there had been only 38 Japanese tanks.

The Marines on Saipan faced what was reportedly the largest tank-infantry battle of the central Pacific. There the Japanese 9th Tank Regiment sent its 37 tanks alongside the 136th Infantry Regiment to retake a radio station from the 6th Marines. They attacked by daylight and en masse, against the American expectation. But they had not scouted well enough to see how strong the defense was, and were decimated by Marine artillery and naval gunfire.

Unfortunately for our interest, and unlike the small actions on Guam, this particular battle was not fought tank-vs-tank.

(cf Denfield, D. Colt. Hold the Marianas: Japanese Defense of the Islands. Shippensburg, PA, White Mane Press, 1997, pgs 56-59 and 201-203.)

There is some room for speculation about what the 26th Tank Regiment might've added to the defense of Iwo Jima, had its tanks not been lost en route to that island.

aghart
Member
Posts: 170
Joined: 02 Jun 2011, 20:39
Location: Poole, Dorset, UK

Re: Any tank battles during the Pacific War?

#9

Post by aghart » 20 Apr 2017, 23:54

In Burma during March 1944, 6x M3 Lee tanks of the British 3rd Carabiniers engaged 6 Japanese type 95 tanks, destroying 5 and capturing the 6th. Although Burma is in the Indian Ocean, the conflict there during WWII is generally included within the Pacific theatre for historical purposes.

In 1971, the 3rd Carabiniers amalgamated/merged with the Royal Scots Greys to form the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

User avatar
Kingfish
Member
Posts: 3348
Joined: 05 Jun 2003, 17:22
Location: USA

Re: Any tank battles during the Pacific War?

#10

Post by Kingfish » 21 Apr 2017, 01:03

The Oct 23rd attack along the Matanikua river on Guadacanal involved a mixed company of Type 98 mediums and type 2598 tankettes. Marine AT guns, tank destroyers and artillery accounted for 12, along with numerous infantry

Image
The gods do not deduct from a man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing.
~Babylonian Proverb

Hoist40
Member
Posts: 215
Joined: 30 Oct 2009, 17:59

Re:

#11

Post by Hoist40 » 21 Apr 2017, 13:00

TRose wrote:There where also a few small tank clashes in the 1941-42 invasion of the Philippines. The Usa haveing a small number of m2A4/m3 tanks and the japanese a tank regiment.. There was also Im willing to gues some amall battles in China, Chinese tanks includeing German PZ1's, Italian L3, British light tanks and vicker 6 tons tanks, French renualts FT17 and Soviet T26 and scratch built armored cars all in small numbers
I know this is an old reply but since the thread has been restarted I will make a slight correction, the US had two tank battalions in the Philippines, 192 and 194, each with 54 M3 tanks

The m2A4 was only used in combat in Guadalcanal, the Marines having received 36 of them in place of M3’s which were in short supply

Not that there was much difference between the M2A4 and the M3. The most obvious is that the M2A4 had a raised rear idler while on the M3 the rear idler was lowered to ground level

User avatar
tom!
Member
Posts: 880
Joined: 15 Dec 2003, 12:42
Location: Dorsten Germany
Contact:

Re: Any tank battles during the Pacific War?

#12

Post by tom! » 22 Apr 2017, 11:12

Hi.
Kingfish wrote:The Oct 23rd attack along the Matanikua river on Guadacanal involved a mixed company of Type 98 mediums and type 2598 tankettes. Marine AT guns, tank destroyers and artillery accounted for 12, along with numerous infantry

Image
The Type 98 Medium was a test prototype only with one built. These tanks on Guadalcanal were Type 97 Chi-Ha Mediums and Type 95 Ha-Go Lights.

Yours

tom! :wink:

User avatar
Kingfish
Member
Posts: 3348
Joined: 05 Jun 2003, 17:22
Location: USA

Re: Any tank battles during the Pacific War?

#13

Post by Kingfish » 22 Apr 2017, 13:55

I recline corrected

Thanks
The gods do not deduct from a man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing.
~Babylonian Proverb

Delta Tank
Member
Posts: 2512
Joined: 16 Aug 2004, 02:51
Location: Pennsylvania

Re: Any tank battles during the Pacific War?

#14

Post by Delta Tank » 23 May 2017, 20:51

To all,

No one mentioned the Japanese tank attack on Peleliu. I don't have a real good description in front of me, but it was a Japanese tank company and I do seem to recall that they were engaged by Sherman tanks.

Mike

LineDoggie
Member
Posts: 1275
Joined: 03 Oct 2008, 21:06

Re: Any tank battles during the Pacific War?

#15

Post by LineDoggie » 20 Jun 2017, 04:34

Admiral Yi wrote:Dear Gentlemen,

Were there any tank battles between Japanese and Allied forces during the Pacific War? Sorry for asking but I am mostly interested in German and Japanese WWII-planes. So I don't know much about tanks and their history. Thx.
22 December 1941
Damortis, Philippine Islands


Lt. Benjamin R. Morin led 5 M3 Stuarts of Baker co. 192nd Tank Bn. against the Imperial Japanese Armys 4th Tank regiment. M3's vs. Type 95 Ha-Go 37mm vs. 37mm

His Stuart was hit and burned out. he and his crew among the First POW's of the Japanese. the other 4 Stuarts took hits but were able to withdraw.
SOURCE- http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/rev-be ... ead-at-94/
"There are two kinds of people who are staying on this beach: those who are dead and those who are going to die. Now let’s get the hell out of here".
Col. George Taylor, 16th Infantry Regiment, Omaha Beach

Post Reply

Return to “WW2 in the Pacific & Asia”