It was one of the detachments with the new Tiger tanks. This is one of the reasons why the 1st Company of the 502nd Heavy Tank Battalion remained in Siewersi, around 70 kilometers south of Leningrad city center. The Wehrmacht had had a stranglehold on the former Russian capital since autumn 1941 conquering them was one of the main goals of Army Group North, especially of 18th Army. He also spoke perfect German and was friends with Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. That was unusual Actually, such a mission would have been more the task of a military attaché - although Oshima had already been in Berlin from 1934 to 1938. On June 7, 1943, he personally visited the German front in front of Leningrad with a few adjutants. So, Ambassador General Hiroshi Oshima asked to see this new weapon - after all, the Japanese Empire was fighting against the USA, if not against Stalin's Soviet Union. The Japanese embassy in Berlin had concluded from press reports about the unsuccessful battles by German troops in Tunisia, which ultimately ended with a surrender, that the Wehrmacht had a new super tank. This is exactly what happened in the Third Reich between June 1943 and autumn 1944. Anyone who has a particularly effective new weapon passes information about it to the army of the country that is fighting at least one common enemy. In June 1943, Japan's ambassador visited one of the Wehrmacht's heavy tank detachments. The Allied forces were nearing the Japanese Home Islands. Similar to Stalingrad in the East these two battles deprived Japan of the strategic initiative, and their defensive perimeter fell under attack, island by island. In June 1942, the Japanese lost four aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway, and US forces slugged it out for six months during the Battle of Guadalcanal before emerging victorious in February 1943. The Americans and other allied forces began to hit back. The Allies were hard-pressed to keep up.ĭuring their domination in the Pacific region, the Japanese created a defensive perimeter using islands as strongholds. They achieved several early victories, invading the Philippines, multiple islands of Oceania, and part of New Guinea. On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and went to war with the USA. Additionally, except for battle ships, the Japanese industry did not have much experience with the production of heavier tanks, and the respective tools were also not present. All vehicles and equipment had to be transported by sea, onto island terrain not suitable for using heavy vehicles where designs were concerned, lighter was better! At the time, China, the only major mainland rival of Japan, did not have good armor or anti-armor capabilities, so the existing Japanese vehicles were deemed acceptable for the task at hand. The reason that Japan did not develop heavier tanks was not the result of military incompetence, but rather of logistics: Japan was fighting for control of small Pacific islands. Japan did not use heavy tanks, and an examination of the most advanced mass-produced Japanese vehicle-the Type 97 Chi-Ha-shows it lighter, smaller and with worse armament than its contemporaries: the Soviet T-34, German Pz.Kpfw IV and US M4 Sherman. The army was large, but its military equipment could not match rival European counterparts who had stronger ground forces.
BEWARE!Īs an island nation, Japan’s highest priorities for research in World War II were its navy and aviation industries. Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts.
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