why is Japan's industry so weak?

[Opanashc]

Don´t get me wrong on this, i didn´t try to make a contest who is the smartest person out of this. I´m only interested, it´s not easy to find a reliable source, if you can´t read russian.

I can.

 

[MGL 86]

This is a very hard question to answer for numerous reasons and one that will never be answered to everyone's satisfaction. Here are some things to consider and some problems that frequently come up when you're dealing with Lend Lease.

First off, significant Lend Lease aid was not felt until 1943. The Lend Lease that arrived before was nowhere near enough to make a decisive difference on how 1941 and 1942 turned out. There are some articles/arguments that have recently come out which attempt to argue that the Lend Lease tanks that did make it in 1941 played a decisive role in the defense of Moscow, but I don't believe they are conclusive enough (see the following article: British “Lend-Lease” Tanks and the Battle for Moscow, November–December 1941—A Research Note).

Secondly, the immediate problems that come up when attempting to qualify Lend Lease are the following. Just quoting numbers of what was sent is not enough. One needs to account for what was sent, when it arrived (and how much arrived), and when it was actually incorporated into the Red Army and used in the field. Additionally, one has to keep in mind that the Soviets began to scale back production of certain things because they knew they would receive them through Lend Lease. One example is trucks. The Soviets were producing practically none because they knew to expect them through Lend Lease, but that doesn't mean they couldn't produce more if they needed to. Many former truck producing factories were switched over to light tank production. Since the Red Army moved to relying on medium and heavy tanks, light tanks were something the Red Army could in theory do without or with less of. This type of analysis needs to be applied to everything the Soviet Union received. Specifically, what they received, if it was not coming through Lend Lease what were the alternatives? Meaning could they produce it internally or import it from another state/country (England, Canada, etc.). The Soviet Union did not just receive Lend Lease from the US.

Finally, the Soviet Union participated in reverse Lend Lease, sending back materials to the US. All of the above is just the tip of the huge iceberg that studying Lend Lease means, it's simply impossible to account for all the variables.

EDIT: Not my words btw

 

[Had a dad]

why are we having a SOV lend lease conversation in a Japan industry thread?

 

[Sir Garnet]

Back to Japan?

If World War Wednesdays can be a guide, Japan seems to have enough industry to get the job done in China or build up a strong fleet - or instead temporize at some intermediate point that represents a trade-off between those two objectives.

 

[alexchau]

Japan was an Industrial power in the WW2 era and bigger than Italy but smaller than France, so ideally it should be at-least 1/2 factories more than Italy and 2/3 less than France but have more production efficiency and more manpower and better laws and bonus so that it can utilise its limited factory base better than France and be actually able to punch at the level of the UK (which it historically did).
Maybe the "Persona of the Emperor" or some such "Research decision" or starting Bonus can apply giving Japan better usability of its existing factory base.
As already written, Korea and Manchuria puppets meant the Japanese were nearly self sufficient in Coal, Iron Ore, Steel, but sorely lacked Oil and Rubber (the reason for grabbing South East Asia). Also pre-War JAPAN needs to have very good starting relations with the USA so that it can buy Oil from USA.

I was planning to first import oil from Iran and then invade Dutch Indies (probably the Dutch only have bunch of militia in the south) then my Japan would be self sufficient in oil and rubber

 

[Muhammad adnan]

japan needs to more industries.

 

[77Hawk77]

Japan should probably have enough industry to build more than 1 factory at a time i agree

 

[Sir Garnet]

It needed more and much more efficient industries to do what it wished to do, but it had to make do with what it had, lavishing industrial effort on the naval forces and scrimping with the army, which punched as ferociously as it did because of powerful indoctrination and motivation (though the practical corollary of the new concept of bushido was that non-combat roles were looked down upon and in practice planning, logistics, and other army staff work was weak).

 

[shri]

It needed more and much more efficient industries to do what it wished to do, but it had to make do with what it had, lavishing industrial effort on the naval forces and scrimping with the army, which punched as ferociously as it did because of powerful indoctrination and motivation (though the practical corollary of the new concept of Bushido was that non-combat roles were looked down upon and in practice planning, logistics, and other army staff work was weak).

Actually Japan fought 2 separate wars-

The Kido Butai supported by about 8-10 divisions (mainly regiment and brigade size slices taken off the Kwantung Army and those SNLF special forces and some garrisons) fought against the Western Allies inc. USA.

The Army i.e. mainly the Kwantung Army (which had 80% of Army resources) fought a distinctly separate campaign against China with 2 major operations against the USSR, the first one failed and led to ceasefire (Khalkin Gol etc) , the second one ended in total collapse of the Army (Manchuria).

 

[Sir Garnet]

Aye, and the better units were gradually siphoned away from Manchuria for service elsewhere through the end of the war, leaving a hollow force to face the Soviets.