The Armored Samurai

One of the main problems with Japan was that it tried to prepare for three different wars at once; a land war with the USSR, a long drawn out war with China and a naval war with Britain and America. Most of the technology used for each war could not really be used for any of the others. Perhaps because of this, Japan always lacked a tank comparable with any other nation, even Italy had better tanks! So, I asked myself, what would it take to give the Japanese a few squadrons of compatible tanks and how could they be used. However, the only point I could find when they would make a difference is my favourite POD: Nomonhan. Tanks have little value in Island warfare and, unless the Japanese leaders get a spine implant to go with the new tanks, they won’t head north in 1941 (and I’ve done that POD elsewhere). 1945 is too late, the USSR has far more tanks, far more experience and the Americans won’t come to grips with Japanese tanks. So, 1939 it is………

The survival of Kanaka Bajo, a Japanese military attaché, may have been one of the more significant events of the century, even through no one, in Japan or abroad, really cared at the time. Certainly, the bullet fired by the German described as ‘short, unshaved, with a funny moustache[1]’, that missed him by a millimetre in 1918 would have killed him at the time, had it hit. However, the young Japanese officer was unharmed and was able to continue his career.

His career proceeded uneventfully until his meeting with the British tank experts in 1930. Having watched the final battles of the First World War, he had obtained a grasp of how useful the new tanks were on the battleground, and how much they could contribute to ground combat. Having managed to convince his superior officers of the importance of the tank, he was allowed to form a small tank-construction division, although the later empersis placed on the Japanese navy meant that resources were limited, particularly when the great depression hit Japan.

Bajo produced only four tank designs, although each of them took him a year to design. There was a basic tankette, more like a heavy armoured car, a medium fast tank, and two heavy designed, one of which was meant for amphibious assaults. The Japanese army purchased about 500 tankettes and 200 heavy tanks, which were formed into several assault divisions. Bajo also managed to convince them to purchase enough spare parts to build about 200 extra tanks, although no senior officer appears to have noticed until 1939.

1937 saw the beginnings of the Sino-Japanese war. Bajo’s tankettes saw service in several of the battles throughout 1937-39, although the story that several of the amphibious tanks saw service at Shanghai is probably just a rumour. The tankettes proved important in the fighting, although they were never decisive[2], while the few heavy tanks proved useless in that field. They were soon sent to Manchuria and trained there.

1939, however, saw the tanks prove to be very important indeed. After months of border crisis’s, maverick Kwangtang Army officers prepared and launched a small attack on the Soviet forces and the forces of their client state. The Japanese tanks spearheaded the attack and caused significant damage to the soviets. Stalin sent Zhukov to take command and push the Japanese back out. However, the Japanese have improved their tanks, assembled the other ones, and manage to blunt Zhukov’s counter attack and give him a bloody nose. Stalin gives him a lead sandwich as a gesture of respect, or not.

The soviets have to scramble to rush new forces east. This imperils Stalin’s plans to invade Poland along with his ally Hitler, who is forced to take more of Poland as the Poles destroy a weaker soviet attack. Stalin protests, but Hitler is unconcerned. The communist parties in the west become very interested in pushing an offensive into Germany, but the French are not ready for it yet.

The Soviet forces engage in brutal land combat with the Japanese, who are soon forced to pull forces out of china and move them north. Japanese planes dominate the skies and make the soviets lives difficult, while the Japanese navy destroys the Soviet Far eastern Fleet and occupies the naval base of Vladivostok, as well as the disputed Islands. To add insult to injury, the Mongolians revolt and Stalin makes the Japanese lives easier by killing a few failed soviet generals, pour encourages les auters.

The Soviets have to make hard decisions very quickly. If they concentrate on the east, they should be able to overwhelm the Japanese and the rebels quickly, but while they do that, Hitler will grab more of Poland. If Stalin does not help him out, Hitler may not feel obliged to hand over the territory to the Russians. He may even attack them next.

Stalin hesitates too long. In November, the Poles manage to ship most of their remaining troops through Romania and open talks with the Germans, which soon turn into surrender talks. Poland surrenders and Hitler quickly grabs the Baltic States as well, disregarding Stalin’s protests. Hitler seriously considers heading east at once, but his generals persuade him to wait until 1940 before attacking again. They also use the fact they are closer to the Russian republics to make contact with Byelorussian and Ukrainian nationalists, and convince Hitler that they could be useful.

Stalin reduces the fighting in the east as much as possible. Not surrendering or conceding territory, but avoiding a major battle. This is a reflection of the war in 1905, but Stalin has the will to see it through. The Japanese are exhausted and prepare defences rather than continue to attack, apart from air raids.

The French and British work to continue building up their forces, while praying for Stalin and Hitler to come to blows, although they have more Poles in France at this time. They offer an under-the-table deal to Hitler, but Hitler does not trust their offer and rejects it.

Hitler goes east in March 1940. He faces a larger soviet army with fewer tanks than OTL, as well as weaker ones. The T-34 is not yet being mass-produced and the Soviets move resources to the tanks they are better at producing. This means that the soviets have more tanks, but fewer tanks that allow young soviet officers to survive their mistakes. The purges have also stripped the USSR of good leadership, although they have the Stalin Line as a defensive line and better propaganda. The Germans have constant resource problems, and are forced to miss heart-breaking opportunities as they don’t have the resources to follow them up, but they get more support from the local people as the Germans have attempted to seriously enlist them in their support.

The war concludes in 1942. The Germans have reached the limits of their endurance, while the Soviets have finally conceded to the British and French demands. The Allied forces move through Belgium, and attack the German rear. Led by tank experts like Deguale and Montgomery, they smash through the weakened German defences and head east. The Germans withdraw to more defensible positions in Poland and hand over considerable amounts of weapons to their allies in the USSR, allowing them to wage a conflict with the USSR for years. Hitler is killed by Rommel’s aide[3] and Rommel becomes the new German leader.

There is no global war. The allies demand that Poland becomes an independent nation again, as do the Baltic states, but place few other restrictions on Germany. Large allied forces are allowed to transit to Poland to oversee the border, while Czechoslovakia becomes an autonomous part of Germany. Rommel slowly returns democratic ideals to Germany.

Mussolini finally leaves office in 1950, leaving a strengthened Italy behind him. Italy would soon work with France to suppress nationalist revolts in their colonies, while the British would grant home rule to most of their colonies in the same year. China would slowly become more powerful and push Japan into Siberia. Stalin would be blamed by his underlings for the disaster and killed in 1945. America remains alone in the world and likes it that way.

[1] Guess who? However, as far as I know, Hitler never saw a Japanese unit or officer until becoming dictator.

[2] This happened in OTL, just different tanks

[3] got bored of Goring