wwii axis reenactment forum

Is there any aspect of the Japanese army you would like me to cover in particular.
If so post your suggestions here and i'll try and get them covered as soon as possible.

Yeah - How DO they use those fiddly chopstick thingys?

Practice

Typical bloody inscrutable Ori-bloody-entals!

I have another question.

Who are you going to get to quote you happy now?

cheers for that Paul

I have one Ryan mate.

Did Japanese vehicles have airbags?

Whats a "Banzai" Attack correct me if im wrong but i heard this was a form of attack, and i dont mean the type of tree growth!!

A Banzai attack is basicly a suicidal charge at the enemy while making that sort of face and the tree growth is a Bonzi tree

Well they got the colour of the face right at least!

Is it true you are taking Vitamin D tablets next year to get your complexion right????

I thought it was Bonsai????

A Banzai Charge was a suicidal attack rushing an enemy in a massed wave across (usually) open ground. Geting and giving no quarter. Initially Panicked opposing forces until they learned to deploy machine guns in enfilade...... Sort of hard to do a Banzai whilst getting shot from at least two directions simultaneously!!!

Next year, what about this year

your spelling is probaly right but after spending 10 yours driving back from Liverpool last night, i really have no interest in little trees.

Officially the Banzai charge was never considerd a suicidal tactic by the Japanese, in the same why that the British didn't consider walking towards the Germans in WW1 suicidal.

The word Banzai was used by most soldiers during an attack, no matter what kind of attack it was, it was also shouted after victories in battle, and was also the essential beginning to each day when the soldiers would all line up and sout BANZAI.

Just so you know what Banzai actually means its "May the Emperor live for 10 000 years!"

Milky Soldat wrote:Whats a "Banzai" Attack correct me if im wrong but i heard this was a form of attack,

"Suddenly there is what sounded like a thousand people screaming all at once, as a hoard of 'mad men' broke out of the darkness before us. Screams of 'Banzai' fill the air, Japanese officers leading the 'devils from hell,' their swords drawn and swishing in circles over their heads. Jap soldiers were following their leaders, firing their weapons at us and screaming 'Banzai' as they charged toward us.
Our weapons opened up, our mortars and machine guns fired continually. No longer did they fire in bursts of three or five. Belt after belt of ammunition went through that gun, the gunner swinging the barrel left and right. Even though Jap bodies built up in front of us, they still charged us, running over their comrades' fallen bodies. The mortar tubes became so hot from the rapid fire, as did the machine gun barrels, that they could no longer be used."

- First Lieutenant John C. Chapin

Fwbl Dollman wrote:Well they got the colour of the face right at least!

Is it true you are taking Vitamin D tablets next year to get your complexion right????

I thought it was Bonsai????

A Banzai Charge was a suicidal attack rushing an enemy in a massed wave across (usually) open ground. Geting and giving no quarter. Initially Panicked opposing forces until they learned to deploy machine guns in enfilade...... Sort of hard to do a Banzai whilst getting shot from at least two directions simultaneously!!!

The Japanese airforce version of a 'Banzai' charge was a Kamikaze attack (meaning 'Divine Wind'.)

In reality, however, the Japanese didn't have an airforce as such, like the RAF. Their planes were affiliated to the Army and Navy.

Didn't the IMperial Japanes Navy have some suicide swuads too? either midget subs or boats?????? What were they called and were any of them successful?

Schäfer wrote:The Japanese airforce version of a 'Banzai' charge was a Kamikaze attack (meaning 'Divine Wind'.)

In reality, however, the Japanese didn't have an airforce as such, like the RAF. Their planes were affiliated to the Army and Navy.

Another example of the problems the Japanese had during the war, because the Army and Navy didn't really get on each had to have there own seperate airforces because neither would support each other during an attack.

Fwbl Dollman wrote:Didn't the IMperial Japanes Navy have some suicide swuads too? either midget subs or boats?????? What were they called and were any of them successful?

Yes the Japanese Navy had both suicide boats and midnet subs.

The Navy boats were called Shinyo and the Armies suicide boats were called Maru-ni. These were successful in a number of attacks.

Great numbers -- 6,200 Navy (Shinyo) and 3,000 Army (Maru-ni) -- were built and stored in caves for the invasion. 400 were at Okinawa and Formosa; thousands waited in the coves of Japan proper. The speedboat had one man and, typically, two depth charges as explosives. See stories

10Jan45. LCI(G)-365 and LCI(M)-974 sunk by Japanese suicide boats in Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippines.

31Jan45. PC-1129 sunk by Japanese suicide boat off Nasugbu, Luzon, Philippine Islands.

16Feb45. LCS(L)-7, LCS(L)-26, and LCS(L)-49 sunk by suicide boats off Mariveles, Corregidor Channel, Luzon.

4 April 45. USS LCI(G)-82 and LSM-12 sunk by Japanese suicide boats off Okinawa.

27April 45. USS Hutchins (DD-476) seriously damaged by a Japanese suicide boat in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, and not repaired after the end of the war.

Hundreds, if not thousands, planned for defense of home islands.

The midget subs were called Kaiten and weren't very successful considering the number of crews lost.

48 feet, 3 feet diameter, 8.3 tons, 3,400 pound TNT warhead.

11Jan45. Begin Operation KONGO, employing suicide torpedoes [Kaitens]. I-36 launches Kaitens that damage ammunition ship Mazama (AE-9) and infantry landing craft LCI-600 at Ulithi.

12 Jan45. Operation KONGO continues; submarine I-47 launches Kaitens that damage U.S. freighter Pontus H. Ross off Hollandia, New Guinea. Kaiten attacks I 53 at Kossol Roads, Palau; I 56 at Manus, in the Admiralties; and by I 58 at Apra Harbor, Guam, are not successful.

20Jan45. Operation KONGO concludes with Japanese submarine I-48 carrying out unsuccessful Kaiten attack on U.S. shipping at Ulithi. I-48 is sunk by destroyer escorts 23Jan45.

28Mar45. Japanese submarine I-47 (equipped with Kaitens) is damaged by 5th Fleet surface ships/craft off Okinawa and forced to return to Kure for repairs.

From 26Apr45 to 10Aug45, ten ships were reported sunk. Other Kaiten contacts include:

6 May45. Submarine I-366, en route to take delivery of Kaitens, is damaged by mine off Hikari.

27May45. Destroyer escort Gilligan (DE-508) is damaged by dud torpedo Kaiten launched from Japanese submarine I-367.

28June45. Japanese submarine I-36 carries out unsuccessful Kaiten attack on stores ship Antares (AKS-3) southeast of the Marianas, destroyer Sproston (DD-577) comes to Antares's aid, sinking one Kaiten and damaging I-36.

24July45. Destroyer escort Underhill (DE-682), destroyed while intercepting 4 Kaitens from Japanese submarine I-53 off Luzon.

5 Aug45. Destroyer escort Earl V. Johnson (DE-702) is damaged by explosion--near-miss of Kaiten fired by submarine I-53, Philippine Sea.

9 Aug45. Destroyer escort Johnnie Hutchins (DE-360) on the convoy route between Leyte and Okinawa, sinks what may have been Kaitens launched by I-58.

12Aug45. Japanese submarine I-58 conducts unsuccessful Kaiten attack on dock landing ship Oak Hill (LSD-7) while she is en route from Okinawa to Leyte Gulf.

A shore based Kaiten station was established on the SE tip of Kyushu in preparation for the invasion, on Hachijojima Island, and others were being prepared on Shikoku and Honshu.