Imperial Japanese Equipment

2022-12-17T20:34:01Z

2A02:A03F:C17D:A400:4DF3:6EEF:C5A:19FA: /* Misc */

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The Empire of Japan: the first East Asian country to successfully industrialize in the late 19th century and from the 1930s to 45 the scourge of the Pacific. While better off than Italy, Japan still lagged behind in a lot of fields and had major raw materials and fuel shortages.

== Small Arms ==
Japan's small arms were generally less advanced than that of other countries at the time; while most countries still relied on bolt-action rifles as their service weapon, many countries still produced decent quantities of SMGs as well as self-loading rifles in more limited numbers. Japan however focused primarily on bolt-action rifles, with fewer automatic weapons to back them up. Weapon quality also suffered later in the war as well.
=== Rifles and SMGs ===
* '''Type 30 Arisaka''': Japan's old rifle, put into service in 1899. Fired a 6.5x50mm bullet. Generally a solid five-shot bolt action for it's day, if a bit underpowered
* '''Type 38 Arisaka''': Update on the Type-30. Used primarily in WWI, and partially replaced by the Type 99 in WWII.
* '''Type 99 Arisaka''': Built to replace the Type 30 and Type 38 by firing a 7.7x58mm cartridge. Improvements to the sights also made it the preferred rifle for snipers. That said, the Japanese still ad a lot of Type 38s and 6.5x50mm, so it never fully replaced the Type 38.
* '''Type 100 Nambu''': The only production SMG made by the Japanese, and made in more limited numbers compared to other militaries. The Nambu SMG fired the same 8x22mm cartridge as the standard Nambu pistol. It had sideloading magazine much like the earlier MP18; while side-loading magazines had fallen out of favor by this time due to the unbalanced weight, it was a hell of lot better than the other experimental Nambu SMGs that had been made at the time.
* '''Last Ditch Rifles''': In the late war, Japanese manufacturing had been effectively crippled and resources were in short supply, so these so-called "Last Ditch Rifles" were made to arm what military forces remained, as well as civilians for the upcoming invasion of the Japanese home islands. These ranged from simplified versions of the Type 99 to very crude single-shot rifles.

=== Pistols ===
* '''Type 26 Revolver''': A simple break-action hammerless revolver, chambered in 9mm Japanese revolvr. Was invented back in 1893 but was still used in WWII to supplement weapon stockpiles.
* '''Nambu Type 14''': The standard sidearm of the IJA following WWI, replacing the Type 26. Chambered in 8x22mm, it wasn't as strong as contemporary pistols, but was solidly built, and later became the inspiration for the Ruger .22 pistol.
* '''Nambu Type 94''': A smaller, lighter-weight pistol compared to the type 14. It was called the "Surrender Pistol" because it had an exposed sear, meaning that pressing down on the sear could fire the gun without pulling the trigger, so supposedly a Japanese soldier could fake surrendering so that they could shoot their captors up close. These stories however are unsubstantiated, as it takes a considerable amount of force to squeeze the sear hard enough to fire the pistol.

=== Machine Guns ===
* '''Type 11 Light Machine gun''': Put into service in 1922, this gun is ''weird''. Basic idea, make a machine gun that could use the 5 round stripper clips used by Arisaka Rifles. That means you don't have to make special magazines for it or ship them to the front, while regular infantry dudes can supply it with bullets. So it has this weird hopper magazine that takes up to 6 clips. This also meant putting the stock off to the side. While it worked, it was heavy, awkward and not terribly reliable.
* '''Type 99 Light Machine Gun''': A more conventional LMG, modeled after the British Bren gun, and chambered in the same 7.7x58mm ammo as the Type 99 Arisaka. Other than that, its one of the few LMGs with a bayonet mount.

=== Anti-Tank Infantry Weapons ===

=== Misc ===
* '''Type 89 and Type 10 Grenade dischargers, aka "Knee Mortars"''': A nifty little Japanese design, these are basically miniature man-portable mortars. Lightweight (around 5 kg) and nominally requiring only a single soldier to use , they were capable of chucking a hand grenade up to 200 meters away, which came in pretty handy in the often close and cramped firefights in the jungle. As an amusing sidenote, the name 'Knee Mortar' comes from a mistranslation of a Japanese manual on how to use the thing: American soldiers first believed they were supposed to be braced against one's leg. While the error was quickly discovered, the name stuck.
* '''Guntō''': Bargain Basement knock-off katanas. It was a regulation that all IJA officers were required to carry a sword and to that end a large number of these swords were made. Since Japan was raising a fuck-huge army under the militarists, they dispensed with the old arts of Sword Production and instead produced lots of blades not up to snuff.
* '''Bayonets''': The IJA stuck bayonets on ''everything''. Not just rifles, but also their LMGs and SMGs. Bayonet charge had fallen out of favor with everyone else, and bayonets were only a last ditch weapon for everyone else, but bayonet fighting was still a mainstay of the IJA and had some success on the Chinese front. Against the Americans, however, who possessed significantly more automatic weapons, it had been rendered a useless tactic.

== Artillery and AT guns ==

== Vehicles ==

=== Tanks ===
The Tank Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Army was not that great, largely by being at the back of the line. Tanks take a lot of money, labour and equipment to produce and a lot of fuel to operate. In China, 1930s era tanks were still quite effective and if war happened with the United States the fleet and air force obvious took priority.

=== Halftracks and armored cars ===

== Ships ==
Of all the Axis powers, the Empire of Japan had the strongest navy. Germany had to rebuild it's fleet effectively from scratch over six years and Italy...well had all of Italy's problems. Japan in contrast kept it's fleet from WWI and upgraded and expanded it fairly well in the 1920s and 30s.

=== Aircraft Carriers ===
* '''Akagi'''

=== Battleships ===
* '''Yamato class''':
* '''Nagato class''':

=== Cruisers ===

=== Destroyers ===

== Airplanes ==

== Wunderwaffen ==

== Other ==

[[Category:History]]

DShK AA MG Platoon

2022-12-17T20:23:50Z

2A02:A03F:C17D:A400:4DF3:6EEF:C5A:19FA: Corrected for legibility

The DShK AA MG is basically what one would call today a [[Tank|Technical]]: A heavy weapon, in this case a 12,7mm heavy machine gun, mounted on the flatbed of a (Soviet-era ZiS-5) truck. That's really all there is to it.

==Mid War==
[[File:DShK Stat Card.jpg|thumb|Da Stats]]
The DShK AA MG is a Support Unit consisting of 3 trucks for 3 points. You don't get any other AA in Mid War, since the [[ZSU M17]] isn't available yet, so the choice is simple: you either take them or you don't. It's not like a measly HMG is going to ''reliably'' shoot down a plane, but a few lucky potshots can save your day. Failing that, you can engage infantry or half-tracks and generally be a nuisance, but 5+ Cross makes it a problematic unit. There are worse way to spend 3 points, but don't expect much of them.

==IRL==
The DShK (nicknamed 'Dushka' or 'beloved one') is the Soviet standard heavy machine gun and the first of many to use the 12.7×108mm cartridge that's still in service today. (Technically it was preceded by the DK-32, but despite it officially entering serial production less than 100 were made). Entering service in 1938, it quickly became a workhorse of the Red Army and was used by infantrymen teams, tanks, airplanes, other vehicles and even patrol vessels and heavier ships as point-defense guns. Over 11k were produced before the end of WW2 and many more have been made after that, since it remained the standard HMG of any Soviet tank up to the [[T-72]]. Even today, in spite of no longer being manufactured and being heavy as hell compared to its' successors like the NSV and the Kord, the DShK stubbornly soldiers on in the 21st century and demonstrate why it got its nickname: just like its smaller cousin the AK-47 it is sturdy and reliable as fuck, and will serve you well no matter the circumstances.

When used in AA role on the back of a truck during WW2, it had one defining quality shared only with its' smaller cousin the M4 (which was basically 4 Maxim machine guns strapped together): mobility. While the Soviets did experiment with mounting actual AA guns on mobile platforms, the results were... mixed. 3-Ks (a 76mm AA gun) mounted on a YAG-10 heavy truck were briefly produced in 1933-1934 with a total series of 61; and similarly, roughly 200 72-Ks (a 25mm quick-firing gun) on a GAZ-MM truck were manufactured in 1941. Obviously, these numbers were insufficient to deter the Luftwaffe's CAS, and since Soviet Air Defence Forces lacked their own fighter wings until early 1942 it was up to these humble trucks and their crews to protect their comrades from those nasty [[JU-87 Stuka|''fascist vultures'']].

If you're wondering why the Soviets didn't use 20-ish mm AA cannons everywhere the way the Germans did, the answer is really simple: their industry was not up to the task. In 1930, Rheinmetall AG (yes, the ones that licensed the M1's cannon) sold two 2cm FlaK 30 and their design documentation to the USSR. Lacking specialists and top-notch tools, the Kalinin factory struggled and ultimately failed to mass-produce the newly named 2-K after 64 guns were made in 1931-1934. Hence, HMG's everywhere instead of autocannons.
{{Soviet Forces in Flames of War}}

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Imperial Japanese Equipment

DShK AA MG Platoon