What weapons did Japan use in World War 2?

Answer 1

Like any mechanized nation at the time, Japan had a myriad of systems organized into groups, Naval, aviation, land. The answer would be extensive and long and have many subcategories. To start I'll generalize with naval forces, the Imperial Japanese Navy possessed many of the same types of ships as the U.S. Navy. Being an island nation, Japan needed a large navy to "project power," that means to get the forces that will enforce their will away from their homeland to the area where they wanted to exert their influence. For that reason they had aircraft carriers (they understood their use and tactics better than the U.S. Navy did at the beginning of the war), battleships, cruisers, destroyers and submarines. They had ships for landing troops and supporting their larger warships. The Japanese philosophy for naval architecture (building ships) reflected their strategic philosophy that the fleet was not to defend the homeland, but to be offensive. Their submarine fleet viewed hunting for transports and cargo ships to be beneath their efforts and they failed to understand the importance of destroying commerce and resupply until the allied navies had already established strong defensive capabilities. The U.S. Navy, by contrast, used their submarines almost exclusively for strangling Japan by sinking commerce ships wherever they could be located.

With their Aircraft they would be divided into many groups, bombers, fighters, naval aviation, cargo and reconnaissance. Famous examples are the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighters and the "Betty" bombers. They weapons they used for these aircraft were 7.7 mm machine guns and 20mm cannons. Again, their aircraft reflected an offensive mind set as the aircraft were fast, agile, heavily armed but lightly protected. There was a failure, as the war went on, to adequately address weaknesses in their designs and improve their aircraft designs. They did not have an adequate bomber force for using what the U.S. would later use against Japan, strategic bombing for the destruction of industry, military installations and civilian labor force.

In land warfare, the Japanese were extremely motivated, very skilled, brilliant tactically and strategically, but poorly equipped. Everything from rifles and grenades to tanks and artillery were horribly outdated. Their early successes depended on the ferocity of their troops and superior tactics. But as the war went on, the poor quality of their equipment was clear to everyone in the theater. They attempted to copy our M-1 Garand rifle without success before the war ended. Their machine guns, grenades, pistols and other basic infantry equipment were all hopelessly outdated. This reflected the Japanese emphasis on aircraft and naval forces. Again, they were depending on the ferocity and tenacity of their troops and a lack of concern for improving basic infantry equipment. Their tanks were designed to fight in confined, jungle dominated areas. They had thin armor and light guns and were handily defeated by U.S. troops and tanks. So, I know I haven't listed enough equipment specifically, but the list would go on forever without telling you very much about the weapons themselves, but sometimes, understanding the thinking that went into their designs, sometimes, is a better look at their frame of mind than just about anything else.

• They also use gillie jackets or dug little pits in the ground that they would hide in and suprise the enemy.

Answer

The most common hand held weapons were as follow:

Arisaka model38: A standerd issue bolt action rifle usualy with a bayonnet. This also had a pop up site and use a 5 round strip clip. (5 rounds on a thin piece of metal that fell off when loaded it)

Arisaka model44 carbine: Amost the same as the 38 exept it use pistol rounds. (carbine) and didn't have a popup site. (ALthough it was just as lethal and very accurate)

Model97 sniper: A long range rifle (bolt action) that held 5 rounds and had a strip clip. NO adaitional bayonnet.

Model96 (Type99) LMG: This light machine gun (LMG) was very big and was top loaded. Fired their larger type99 round and held a 30 round mag. (clip) Almost all had bayonnets.

The type100 SMG: A Sub Machine gun (SMG) (which means it fired pistol rounds instead of rifle rounds) That was side loaded. And light weight.

Nambu Pistol(s): Usualy to distinguish officers the nambu came in 3 sizes. The baby nambu was the smallest. Then the Papa Nambu was the medium. The bigest and most common was the "Nambu Pistol". This heald a 8 round mag (U.S.A Colt 1911 held 7) and was made by a radio companie in Tokyo.

The model92: A mouted machine gun nick named "Woodpecker" by the US marines because of how slow it was. This used ammo strips which needed a seperate loader and only lasted 20 secounds before it had to be reloaded (which only took about 3 sec). This also was super heavy and had a nasty habit of biting the reloader.

Answer 2

The Japanese had a full complement of arms with which to fight WWII.

Japanese Army weapons tended to be lighter and less powerful than those designed for European warfare. The reason for this was multifold fold. First, the traditional enemies of the Japanese were countries like China and Korea. These type nations possessed few modern arms and Japan did not need large tanks or heavy artillery to beat them. Second, Japan was an island nation and shipping 35 ton tanks along with support equipment, was a strain. I suppose we should add too that the overall Japanese economy was only about an eighth that of the USA and less than a quarter that of Britain or Germany. As such they did not have the economic resources to pour into large heavy Army weapons. This lack of heavy armor, modern anti tank weapons and better AA guns made the Japanese vulnerable to the well equiped Soviet armies in 1945.

Alternatively the Japanese did develop outstanding (and large) naval weapons. Their AC carriers were the finest in the world, overall, unit for unit better than the early USA carriers. Their battleships and cruisers were top rate. Japan poured its resources into its naval forces at the expense of the Army. After Midway in 1942, the Japanese were frightfully low on petroleum - their fleet being petroleum run. Thus all these excellent and costly weapons were not fully utilized for the duration of the war.

The Japanese air forces were also excellent. The Zero was the primary fighter and was used throughout the war. A bit expensive to make due to its one piece fuselage, it was noted as being an excellent plane to manuever. It was used with great success for tactical army support, for naval assaults, torpedo launching, and late in the war, suicide Kamikazi runs. It was rather lightly built, which aided it in speed, but this made it vulnerable to attack and it was fairly easy to shoot down.

Used by the navy and air forces, Japanese torpedoes were excellent and reliable. This is noteworthy, as both the USA and Germany had terrible problems developing reliable torpedoes. The USA overcame early incompetence in design to create excellent torpodoes. The Germans discovered sabotage in their program that cost them many probable victories in 1939 and 1940. The German situation was corrected by vigorous criminal proceedings against those perpetrating creative incompetence (and probably traitorous) acts.

Because Japan had attacked U.S. territory, destroyed U.S. Navy ships, killed U.S. military personnel, attempted to take over all of the Pacific Islands, and when the Japanese military was obviously loosing the war they refused to surrender. They wanted to keep their military together so that they could make another run on the Pacific, and they wanted the Emperor of Japan to remain in power. After the Japanese military had been driven back to Japan and Japan was completely surrounded, the Japanese people were starving and lacking in many basic necessities, but the Emperor refused to surrender and believed that further military action would result in a better outcome for Japan. They were continuing to fight in hopes of better "terms", but the U.S. and other Allies demanded that Japan surrender unconditionally after their agression in the Pacific. It was estimated that 750,000 U.S. and other Allied military personnel would die if Japan was invaded. And that was before more of the Japanese military was moved to the proposed landing area. Conventional bombing of Japan caused incredible fires and loss of life. The atomic bombs used on Japan were the only way to quickly end the war and save lives of Allied personnel. It was understood that if the public ever found out that the U.S. had such a weapon and didn't use it and subsequently 750,000 to perhaps over 1,000,000 U.S. soldiers died, the U.S. population would be outraged, and justifiably so. People today often think that they can see a better outcome to the war with Japan. Unfortunately there were no good options, just options that weren't as bad as others. It was a terrible time and the U.S. and the other Allies just wanted it to end so that life could get back to normal... whatever that is.

This is to answer the actual question above: (from triad101, not the guy above)

Rifles: Type 99 (Arisaka) Standard Japanese infrantry rifle that fired 7.7mm rounds

SMG: Type 100, not massly produced

LMG: Type 99, fired same sized rounds as Arisaka, had detachable 30 round clip, featured attachable bayonet (for CQB)

HMG: Type 92/99 (Woodpecker) fired same rounds as others above but didn't feature bullet strap for continuous feeding during automatic fire. Instead included large clips.

Hopes this answers your question! (Please don't take all the credit [to person above])

Answer 3

The Battle of Okinawa, fought on the island of Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands (south of the four big islands of Japan), was the largest amphibious assault during the Pacific campaign of World War II[1]. It was also the largest sea-land-air battle in history, running from late March through June 1945.

Neither side expected it to be the last major battle of the war, which it was. The Americans were planning Operation Downfall, the invasion of the main islands of Japan, which never happened, due to the Japanese surrender after the American use of the two atomic bombs in August 1945 (first in Hiroshima on August 6th 1945), and a second time in Nagasaki (August 9th 1945) and the Soviet Union declaring war on Japan.

The battle has been referred to as "Typhoon of Steel" in English, and "tetsu no ame," "tetsu no bōfū" by Okinawans, which mean "rain of steel" and "violent wind of steel" respectively, referring to the intensity of gunfire that characterized this battle.

At some battles, such as Iwo Jima, there had been no civilians, but Okinawa had a large indigenous civilian population, and the civilian losses in the battle were at least 150,000. American losses were over 72,000 casualties, of whom 12,500 were killed or missing, over twice the number killed at Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal combined. Several thousand soldiers who died indirectly (from wounds and other causes), at a later date, are not included. About a third of the civilian population of the island in spring, 1945 were killed. There were about 100,000 Japanese soldiers killed and 7,000 captured. Some of the soldiers committed seppuku or simply blew themselves up with grenades. Some of the civilians, having been convinced by Japanese Propaganda that the Americans were barbarians who committed horrible atrocities, killed their families and themselves to avoid capture.

Answer

Answer 4

They used many of same weapons that the US and Germany used: machine guns, mortars, artillery, aircraft, tanks, and ships such as battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers, and submarines. The Japanese had developed several unique types of submarines, including one-man and midget subs, and also very large subs that carried their own aircraft. Japanese battleships fired special multiple-projectile anti-aircraft shells called sanshikifrom their large caliber guns. The Japanese had poison gas weapons that were never used in combat. There were fewer tanks in the Pacific island armies of Japan than in their Asian land armies.

Answer 5

There was a small detachment of Japanese Army Type 95 light tanks (3 crewmen, 37mm gun); some field guns placed inside caves within Mt. Surabachi, which exchanged cannon fire with some US warships just off the beach head. The Japanese Infantrymen were mostly armed with the standard Arisaka 7.7mm bolt action rifles (with bayonets), Nambu semi-automatic 8mm pistols, magazine fed machinguns, knee mortars, standard issue hand grenades (which had to be armed by striking their steel helmet), and satchel charges (explosives inside canvas back packs). By this time, in 1945, there was not too much left of the Imperial Navy or their Air Force.

Answer 6

The satchel charge and the flamethrower which had first been used by Marines on Guadalcanal on 15 January 1943 became preferred weapons.

Answer 7

M1 grands and The Tommy gun and the springfield sniper rifle.

Answer 8

m16 and barret 50 cals