We must be ready! Now! - 1940-41
While Germany took it's turn in rampage mode in western europe, Japan was looking inwards. There was a great deal of work to be done.
Japanese research teams continued to work like ants on speed into 1941
Leaving the following projects still underway in July 1941 (a date which has been chosen randomly, for no particular reason...)
Desperate efforts were being made to catch up with the cutting edge. It was not enough. New models of infantry equipment came too late, anti-tank guns were yet to enter large-scale production, cruisers were looking dated... the evidence was damning.
Yet, is was the most that could have been done. Smoke was pouring from Japan's economic engine by the summer of 1941, as attempts were made to rush through enough of everything which had been squeezed out by the naval build plan. This brutal forced-march of militarisation was masterminded by the new, improved war cabinet appointed by the Party leadership:
Under their direction, Japan had become a near-perfect war machine, the model of an Imperial state. By 1941 the hearts and minds of all Japanese were finally focussed on one goal - Victory. Strides had also been made in spreading the word to the other free Asian peoples:
The armies of Manchukuo, and Mengkukuo, and Siam, and China are vital to our cause. They have infantry and Ranger-type troops at comparable levels of equipment to our own and although their discipline may not be quite up to Japanese standards they will not be second-line or reserve forces. They will stand with us!
The flow of technology from Japan to her allies continued into 1941, with an emphasis on armaments...
As the clock ticks down, ships are rushed from the shipyards, Generals take their assignments, intelligence reports come in thick and fast...
Next time!
While Germany took it's turn in rampage mode in western europe, Japan was looking inwards. There was a great deal of work to be done.
Japanese research teams continued to work like ants on speed into 1941
Leaving the following projects still underway in July 1941 (a date which has been chosen randomly, for no particular reason...)
Desperate efforts were being made to catch up with the cutting edge. It was not enough. New models of infantry equipment came too late, anti-tank guns were yet to enter large-scale production, cruisers were looking dated... the evidence was damning.
Yet, is was the most that could have been done. Smoke was pouring from Japan's economic engine by the summer of 1941, as attempts were made to rush through enough of everything which had been squeezed out by the naval build plan. This brutal forced-march of militarisation was masterminded by the new, improved war cabinet appointed by the Party leadership:
Under their direction, Japan had become a near-perfect war machine, the model of an Imperial state. By 1941 the hearts and minds of all Japanese were finally focussed on one goal - Victory. Strides had also been made in spreading the word to the other free Asian peoples:
The armies of Manchukuo, and Mengkukuo, and Siam, and China are vital to our cause. They have infantry and Ranger-type troops at comparable levels of equipment to our own and although their discipline may not be quite up to Japanese standards they will not be second-line or reserve forces. They will stand with us!
The flow of technology from Japan to her allies continued into 1941, with an emphasis on armaments...
As the clock ticks down, ships are rushed from the shipyards, Generals take their assignments, intelligence reports come in thick and fast...
Next time!
