Japanese Artillery assignments & changes

[garywjamison]

Dear Fellow Wargamers:

JAPANESE INTRINSIC ARTILLERY AT THE CORPS AND ARMY LEVEL

Internet research does not always clarify which artillery units are intrinsically part of an individual Japanese infantry division, armor division, or specialty division, vs. which units are attached to either a Japanese corps HQ or a Japanese Army HQ. A second question is: are there any Japanese artillery units in WWII that are completely independent (thus unattached to either a Japanese corps HQ or a Japanese Army HQ).

I have been able to find unique Japanese artillery units that APPEAR to be attached to the respective Japanese Army invading Malaya, Burma, or the Philippines. Do they stay that way for the entire war? Are any attached Japanese divisional, corps, or Army artillery transferred from their Chinese mainland commands to the non-Chinese fronts during the war?

Does anyone have a complete printed list of all Japanese artillery units, with their assignment status, for the entire war?

During WWII the American Army established a new TO&E for divisional artillery in mid-1942, with forty-eight tubes. This was upgraded with a new TO&E for divisional artillery in mid-1944 with a total of sixty-six tubes. Did the Japanese Army ever change their divisional artillery TO&E from December, 1941 to August, 1945?

Thank you,

Gary Jamison

[PaxMondo]

Gary,

I do not know the answer to the TOE question, but irrespective of that, the IJ had a serious shortage of tubes throughout the war. Their capacity to build them wasn't that high to begin with and then they struggled to utilize the capacity that they did have.

So .....

[adarbrauner]

All I can say, is that from sources I read in the net, Japanese artilery production was particularly minuscole (somehow surprising, if they were ever gearing for a confrontation with the Bear), as Pax stated, and situation did not ceirtanly improve toward end of war

[Chris21wen]

ORIGINAL: garywjamison

Dear Fellow Wargamers:

JAPANESE INTRINSIC ARTILLERY AT THE CORPS AND ARMY LEVEL

Internet research does not always clarify which artillery units are intrinsically part of an individual Japanese infantry division, armor division, or specialty division, vs. which units are attached to either a Japanese corps HQ or a Japanese Army HQ. A second question is: are there any Japanese artillery units in WWII that are completely independent (thus unattached to either a Japanese corps HQ or a Japanese Army HQ).

I have been able to find unique Japanese artillery units that APPEAR to be attached to the respective Japanese Army invading Malaya, Burma, or the Philippines. Do they stay that way for the entire war? Are any attached Japanese divisional, corps, or Army artillery transferred from their Chinese mainland commands to the non-Chinese fronts during the war?

Does anyone have a complete printed list of all Japanese artillery units, with their assignment status, for the entire war?

During WWII the American Army established a new TO&E for divisional artillery in mid-1942, with forty-eight tubes. This was upgraded with a new TO&E for divisional artillery in mid-1944 with a total of sixty-six tubes. Did the Japanese Army ever change their divisional artillery TO&E from December, 1941 to August, 1945?

Thank you,

Gary Jamison

According to the Handbook on Japanese Military Forces they did, in name anyway. I also did some research a long time ago that backs this up. As far as I can tell they came in 105mm, 75mm Mtn, and the heavier guns 150mm 240mm, 300mm etc. They could be formed into Bn, Rgt or Art Group sizes. As to a list, no. I was never able to find anything that comprehensive.

I've attached a word doc with some basic TOE info that is old but not far off accurate as far as I could tell but it only shows the actual fight elements. E.G Tubes. Note it's a word doc so rename it .doc to read it.

[rustysi]

I have read that at some point the standard Japanese ID was to be equipped with an arty regiment consisting of 24 105mm and 12 75mm. You can see some of the Japanese divisions in the game are indeed configured that way. As for anything as comprehensive as you seek all I can say is good luck.