Osprey - DUE 108 - USMC M4A2 Sherman vs Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go - The Central Pacific 1943-1944 By Romain Cansiere Conv.pdf

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Dedication

To the American and Japanese tankers of the Great Pacific War.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chronology

Design and Development

Technical Specifications

The Strategic Situation

The Combatants

Combat

Analysis

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

When the Japanese air and naval forces attacked the American fleet at Pearl

Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japan had been at war since 1931. Experience

gained in the battles fought against China led the Japanese to modernize their

weapons. The thriving Japanese war economy allowed for the development

of a new light tank: the Type 95 Ha-Go, armed with a 37mm main gun. It

made its combat debut in China in 1936. It would become the most produced

tank the Japanese built during the war.

America was unprepared for war: its army ranked nineteenth in terms of

size, behind Portugal. At the end of World War I, the US Army generals

decided the US Marine Corps had no part in a future war in Europe. Since

then, the Marine Corps had struggled to survive budget and manpower

restrictions. In tandem with the US Navy, it began to specialize in

amphibious warfare in anticipation of an eventual war in the Pacific against

Japan.

The US doctrine of the early war period provided a number of antitank guns and tank

destroyers (called self-propelled mounts—SPMs—by the Marines) within infantry regiments to

deal with enemy tanks. Here, a 1st Marine Division M2 SPM is landing at Cape Gloucester in