VJ Day (Victory over Japan), 15 August 1945, marks the end of the Second World War with the surrender of Japan following the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Although fighting continued for some weeks as isolated Japanese garrisons fought on, it represents the end of one of the bloodiest and hardest fought parts of the conflict.
Armour in the Pacific
In terms of armoured warfare, the Pacific was probably the worst and most difficult theatre to operate tanks and AFVs, ranging from dense jungle to isolated and heavily defended islands.
In spite of this, Allied armour played a significant part with crews demonstrating skill, tenacity and adaptability in fighting their tanks in condition for which they were really not designed.
Tank-on-tank engagements played a relatively small part in the Pacific theatre. Japanese tanks such as the Chi-Ha and Ha-Go were generally primitive designs, few in number and not much of a match for Allied designs like the Sherman.
Tanks, for the most part, would function in an infantry support role, using HE to blast enemy strong points, a role in which the M4 Sherman would particularly distinguish itself.
Japanese Anti-Tank Tactics
Tank losses were generally down to the Japanese use of mines, the effective 47mm anti-tank gun and more or less suicidal tank killer squads armed with grenades, lunge mines and demolition charges.
The effectiveness of these tactics and the sheer difficulty of using tanks in the Pacific theatre was demonstrated in the US Marine Corps (USMC) first use of M4A2 Shermans in the landings on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands in November 1943.
In a steep learning curve for the USMC, a number of Shermans were lost to drowning, anti-tank fire and infantry attacks. This was exacerbated by the failure to allow Marine Corps Infantry to train with the tanks they would be operating with, a lesson that would be learned.
Beach Landings
In spite of the losses at Tarawa, the M4 Sherman proved itself to be a huge improvement on the M3 Stuarts the USMC had used previously, but it did present a problem – actually getting a 66,000lb Medium tank from ship to shore was far more of a challenge than a 26,000lb light tank, which could be stowed onboard a cargo ship and swayed out into a waiting landing craft using standard cargo handling equipment.
As the Pacific campaign would involve a mass of island hopping and opposed beach landings, the problem had to be solved.
The Landing Ship, Tank (LST), effectively a cargo ship with a clamshell bow and ramp was one solution, but required a clear beach behind a defensive perimeter, something that could not be guaranteed in the Pacific.
The eventual solution was the Landing Ship, Dock – a well vessel that could offload tanks into smaller and more manoeuvrable Landing Craft, Mechanised (LCMs) which could then land directly onto a beach.
Another innovation to facilitate beach landings, extensively used in the Pacific, was the LVT – the Landing Vehicle, Tracked.
Originating as a design for rescue use in the Florida Everglades, the LVT was initially a transport vehicle but, following the Tarawa landings, where versions with improvised armour had been used, the basic LVT evolved into the LVT(A) 1, a hybrid amphibious tank. This mounted a 37mm gun as well as two MG positions with .30 cal Brownings. A later version, the LVT(A) 4, mounted the turret and 75mm howitzer from the M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage.
Improvised Tank Protection
The desperate nature of Japanese infantry anti-tank tactics plus a tendency amongst Allied infantry to regard tanks as “shell magnets” and therefore a reluctance to provide close support, led the tank crews to improvise their own defences.
These included welded-on spikes, sand tracks used as grenade screens and ‘backscratchers’ – anti-personnel mines attached to the turret which could be detonated from inside the tank.
Revival of the Matilda II
If the M4 Sherman proved itself as a good and serviceable tank during the Pacific war, the Australian Army fighting in the jungles of Borneo and New Guinea had a high regard for another vehicle that was considered obsolete elsewhere – the Matilda II.
Designed as an infantry tank for the British Army, in jungle warfare, the Matilda, small but solidly built with exceptionally thick armour, was at an advantage over the lighter M3 Stuart in “bush busting”, smashing its way through dense undergrowth. Extra armoured guards were added to the tracks to prevent damage.
While the 2 Pdr gun and coaxial Besa MG of the basic Matilda gun tank were appreciated, the 2 Pdr HE round was not particularly effective. The 3in howitzer of the Close Support variant was however ideal in knocking out enemy strongpoints. CS Matildas were frequently deployed 1:2 with 2 Pdr gun tanks, the CS Matilda usually going point as the Section Commander’s vehicle.
Another Matilda variant that proved horribly effective in jungle warfare was the Frog flamethrowing tank, used for burning out enemy positions.
The Japanese, realising that their 3.7mm anti-tank gun wasn’t a lot of use against the Matilda’s armour, took to improvising high yield anti-tank mines from heavy artillery rounds.
In a tribute to the sheer toughness of the Matilda, a tank of 2/9 Armoured Regiment in Tarakan, Borneo, was hurled 18 feet (5.5 m) into the air when it hit one of these. The crew survived with only minor injuries.
The Burma Campaign
Following the Japanese invasion of Burma in December 1941 and the disastrous fall of Singapore, the British and Indian Armies had been driven backwards in a thousand-mile retreat into Assam and the Chindwin River.
Here in March 1944, the Japanese were finally halted in the twin battles of Kohima and Imphal.
The battle for Imphal and the Japanese route into India hinged on the Imphal Ridge and the British District Commissioner’s bungalow with its gardens and tennis court.
In an action immortalised in a painting by Terence Cuneo, a Grant tank of 149 Regt., RAC, commanded by Sgt. Waterhouse was winched up a precipitous slope through the jungle hillside and dropped six feet down onto the tennis court.
By knocking out a series of enemy bunkers with his 75mm gun, Sgt. Waterhouse, in one of the most unusual tanks actions ever, enabled 2/Dorsets to take the tennis court and bungalow.
Following Kohima and Imphal and the ending of the threat to India, armour supported infantry in the long advance back into Burma.
Despite the dense jungle terrain and monsoon conditions turning roads into mud, tanks, principally M3 Grants and Stuarts but also Valentines, Churchills and later M4 Shermans were able to spearhead attacks and provide fire support.
Specific actions include the 1945 Battle Of Meiktila, where Shermans of the 254th Indian Tank Brigade assisted in the destruction of Japanese resistance in central Burma and Operation Dracula, an armoured and amphibious action that captured Rangoon in early May 1945 with minimal resistance.
The Planned Invasion of Japan
As Japan was gradually driven back across the Pacific, with the destruction of large parts of her fleet at Midway and the fall of strategic outposts such as Iwo Jima and Okinawa, planning began for Operation Downfall – the proposed invasion of Japan itself.
This was to take place in two phases; Operation Olympic, planned for November 1945, which would secure the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, to be followed by Operation Coronet in March 1946 to land on the Kanto Plain and capture Tokyo.
The latter would have been the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving at least 25 divisions.
As planning for these operations, which would have almost certainly resulted in the death of millions, was going on, and fighting continued in Burma and elsewhere, troops in Europe and the USA were contemplating the move East.
In Germany on 25 May 1945, 4th Royal Tank Regiment, having fought their way across Europe, were among many units told to prepare for service in the Far East. The prospect must have been more than a little daunting. Fortunately, it was not to be…
Japanese Surrender
The first, and only, use of atomic weapons in war brought WWII to an end.
Atomic bombs detonated by the US over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima on 6 August and Nagasaki on 9 August, led to Japanese surrender to the Allies 6 days later on 15 August 1945. This was formalised by a treaty on 2 September.
The Second World War was over.
