ORIGINAL: Wilhammer
I agree that the idea that the Japanese Engineering was 'primitive' smacks of left over propoganda from the war.
NO, it doesn't! The idea that one people are "inherantly" inferior to another is jingoist
propaganda and basically BS. But the Japanese were every bit as guilty of that type
of thinking as any Western nation..., just witness their treatment of Koreans.
The "primative" nature of much of the Japanese economy is fact, not fiction. Their
infantry weapons are right up there with the Italians in the competition for the War's
Worst, as were their tanks. They DID have the best swords, but in the age of the
machine gun that's not much of an accomplishment. They were PRIMITIVE in many
industrial capacities simply because they hadn't had the time or the experiance or the
need to develop improved techniques. Look at the Yamato's. They were designed
to be "all welded"..., but the welding technology of Japan wasn't up to the task and
3.5 million rivets had to be added. Civil engineering was primitive as well. Not because
of some inherant inferiority of the Japanese, but because the need and resources just
weren't there. Manual labor was cheap and abundant in Asia, and Japan is the size of
California with even less usable acreage. There was no time or need for the Japanese
to develop construction equipment, experiance, or expertise compared to the US.The War in China had never created the kind of demand for massive and rapid Engineering
Support that American Civilian Construction had before and during the Depression.
The Britian and French may have been the first to develop Tanks (they had the need),
but they built them on the specs and chassis of American Holt Catipillar Tractors (which
only America had had the need and capibility to design and build in the first place.
This is not an arguement about what the Japanese economy has done since the 1960's
but one about what it could do during the early 40's. It has nothing to do with whether
one "race" is better than another. It's about CAPABILITIES in the field during the War.
And in regard to Engineering Capibilities during WW II, they were not in the same league
with the general run of Western Powers---and the US was in a league of it's own far ahead
of the rest of the world. The Japanese may have had some rather primitive engineering
vehicles (you see ocassional photos), but compared to the 10's of thousands of "modern"
Engineering Vehicles adopted by the US (and the skill and experiance to use them) they are not worth even mentioning in WITP. This whole discussion is silly..., and in response
to the original thread topic; NO, the Japanese hadn't invented the Buldozer. They were
still at the shovel stage.
