History 11/01/20 Why Japanese bombers could not stop the Red Army
the Japanese army for several years been preparing for war with the Soviet Union. In Manchuria were concentrated millionth group that prepared to battle at the fortified positions in advance. Big bet in the battle against the “Northern barbarians,” the Japanese strategists had made for the team of suicide bombers that were supposed to compensate for the lack of heavy tanks and artillery. An important factor was the fanaticism of individual Japanese soldiers who preferred captivity to death for the Emperor.
suicide Bombers in the Japanese army
Imperial army had almost no means to fight modern armour. The most effective was the 47-mm gun, which is 500 meters pierced the armor of a light tank. The situation could be corrected, entered service heat shells, but they had a steep trajectory and a low speed that did not contribute to marksmanship. Due to the lack of weapons the Japanese soldiers had to resort to the tactic of suicide bombers. In each company formed a group destroy tanks.
the Main weapon of these teams steel bottle with an incendiary mix, bundles of hand grenades and long bamboo poles with attached mines. Such men were hiding in a narrow single trenches in front at a distance of 100-200 meters from the main position of the unit. During the advance of the Soviet armored vehicles, they tried 3-meter poles to shove mine under the bottom of the tank. If this was not possible to do that, they pelted the car with Molotov cocktails.
the Most effective kamikazes were in a marshy area, where they were ambushed. In one of the military reports said: “Much has been discovered of individuals, well-camouflaged and is located directly near roads, with the aim of sabotage. The single, so-called “suicide” hung themselves with tol vzryvatelem and when the opportunity threw themselves under the tanks, and sometimes in a group of people, which undermined the sacrifice of himself.”
Live mines
the memories of the participants of the Manchurian operation highlights of the battle near the Chinese town of Mudanjiang. According to the historian Yuri Ivanov on the direction of the red army was opposed by the 1st mechanized brigade of suicide bombers, consisting of 5 thousand soldiers and officers. Kamikaze, strapped with bags with tol and grenades, formed a moving mine fields and hiding in dense thickets, rushed to the Soviet tanks.
In one of the clashes of the red army had to fight two hundred of the “live mines”. However, the tactics of the Japanese not had much success. To the direction of the bombers managed to undermine two dozen tanks. Thousands of kamikazes were shot by the Soviet submachine and machine guns on the approach to the target.
After the war, tank company commander Alexander Fadin recalled: “…approaching the edge Dubea we saw that the scouts have completed the defeat the enemy without us, leaving the battlefield dozens of dead bodies of Japanese soldiers and officers. Circling the dead, I noticed that some of them in the hands bamboo poles with a length of four meters, at the end of which something like German hand grenades — only in contrast to the Nazis, a Japanese soldier was supposed to shoot this shaped charge on the tank, and when reaching the goal pole at the ready to stick mine in the side, undermining not only the tank but also himself. Apparently, fighters-bombers was in the Japanese army common…”.
the Technical superiority and the presence of the red army relatively large quantities of automatic weapons played a decisive role. Soviet soldiers at a distance of shot of Japanese bombers and just don’t let them get to the goal.
Aircraft bombers
Frequent were the attacks of Japanese pilots suicide bombers. Only 12-13 of August the column of the 5th guards tank corps rammed more than 50 enemy aircraft. Most raids the goal is not reached. Another approach of the Japanese was shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft gunners and fighters accompanying the convoy during movement.
a Typical case was described by Hero of the Soviet Union tanker Dmitriy Loza. August 19, near the railway station on their convoy was hit by Japanese bombers. It turned out that six of the enemy planes are not going to bomb and go to the RAM. Four cars crashed into a building, sheltering Soviet paratroopers. Two aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft gunners on the approaching armored vehicles. As a result, the Japanese had lost six planes, and only one tank received damage to the tower.
throughout the Second world war Imperial leadership relied on military force and Navy, and the army practically did not develop. Japanese military leaders did not bother to formulate a doctrine of war, or at least borrow from the Federal German tactics for the production of cheap but effective Panzerfaust. Instead, from school Japanese boys prepared to die for the Emperor and taught the possession of a cold weapon in battles with well-equipped red Army was useless.
the Fighting in Manchuria has demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the tactics of suicide bombers. Sacrificing himself kamikaze, could blow up the tank or kill the officer, but rare successes could not affect the outcome of the company.
Alexander Brazhnik
Source:
© Russian Seven
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