2013-02-21, 14:09 | Link #4281 | |
Catholic = Cat addiction?
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: MURICA!!
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While the lack of industrial capacity certainly affected the overall output of the Japanese industry during wartime, its inability to adapt to changing battlefield perimeters would have much more to do with military planners, the zaibatsu and the political rivalry suffered by Japan as a whole. For the most part, it was the conservatives who halted the production of new weapons rather than a lack of industrial capacity that prevented their production. The Japanese Army had encountered German submachine guns as early as the end of 1918, yet little efforts were made to reverse-engineer them. Why? Because a majority of the conservatives in the army believed that it was unfeasible for an individual to squander ammunition at a rapid capacity and such a weapon was considered wasteful. This prevalent attitude easily rendered whatever military plans & old records for better arms to be more or less worthless because their designers never acquired the permissions to mass produce them until it was too late. This situation is very similar to the delays in the production of the German ME-262 and the STG44, since Hitler did not approve them, until much later, when it was too late. Let me give you another example. Ask yourself who was the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Imperial Navy. Ask what he wanted to do with the Yamato, ask what he had to put up with from his colleagues, then ask yourself what the Yamato eventually become. Adding to its woes was Yamato's less-than-spectacular wartime contribution. To address your claim about a lack of industrial capacity. The Imperial Japanese Army produced approximately 8 million rifles of various calibers at a time when the Japanese Army manpower was approximately 6 million. A vast majority of these rifles were as good, if not better than their Allied or Axis counterpart. I for one, do not believe they had difficulties keeping up for the majority of the war. Unfortunately, most people tend to focus on the last-ditched weapons produced near the end of the war as an evidence of Japan's lagging industrial capacity. In reality, they amounted to only a fraction of Japan's total small-arms production. This situation was not unlike Germany's own small-arms production near 1945. OTOH, I can speak for their quality since I own a couple myself, some still with their seals intact, which in today's market would be considered as collectables. On another note, after 1949, China's only modern steel production facilities were located in Manchuria, which was built by the Japanese during wartime. That should give you an idea of China's actual industrial capacity as opposed to potential industrial capacity. Anyway, if you wish to discuss this further, I will welcome it with open arms. But you need not be so insulting. - Tak
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Last edited by Tak; 2013-02-21 at 15:00. |
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2013-02-21, 15:46 | Link #4284 | |
思想工作
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 32
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Looks like this thread has become interesting again. The only thing I can contribute is that IIRC Japan had a GDP comparable to Italy during WW2. |
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2013-02-21, 16:16 | Link #4285 | |
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Dai Korai Teikoku
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BTW, thanks for reminding me to tend to my guns. |
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2013-02-21, 16:16 | Link #4286 |
Gamilas Falls
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 47
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One problem I think shared by Germany and Japan was a lack of resources. Not just fuel, but strategic metals used in the contruction of gears, or to coat engine blocks, or even just aluminum was in short supply. While I don't know what specific problems this caused Japan, in Germany it made it so they could not fashion certain parts with the proper materials, so they would break more frequently. The Me262 for example, was suppose to be made with an engine that could withstand the high temperatures the jet put out. But due to a lack of metals, they could only coat the engine resulting it a very short life expectancy for each engine produced. That along with other shortages made such weapons difficult to field with or withour Hitler's say so. Almost all the aluminum was earmarked for the Luftwaffe production lines, and there still wasn't enough for that even. Nickel was in short supply as well.
The later model tanks had similar problems. If they had the metals and time to make a more complex set of gears, they probably could have made the Panther and Tiger tanks reliable, or provided more powerful, but smaller engines to move their weighty bodies across the Soviet Plains. Judging by the introduction of the Tiger (P), the schools, or whoever actually builds these "sports" tanks, is not allowed to really correct the problems the tanks had with their engineering outside of maybe field repairs and maybe juryrig type fixes, unless there was a real solution for the problem made during the War. (though again the context of the rules suggest there was a war that ended in August 1945, yet the backstory makes it seem like there wasn't a war due to tanks being a woman's sport).
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comedy, gup, original anime, slice of life, sports, tanks |
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