The Garden of Forking Paths

This is it. A change.

I am shifting my blog to http://shyuechou.blogspot.com

I am unlikely to be posting here further.

Among the more fascinating information in the book ‘Japanese Army Air Force Fighter Units and Their Aces, 1931-1945′ is the Ki-43’s interception of B-24s. Given the lightness of the Ki-43’s armament (two machine guns mounted depending on the model), it is amazing how Ki-43s were able to bring a few B-24s down.

This book includes some photos of Japanese fighters that were previously not seen in English language publications.

The operations of individual army air force units is the most interesting aspect of this volume.

Apparently, Ki-27 units were deployed in Malaya during the campaign and some Ki-27s were caught on the ground and destroyed by British bombers.

From the claim figures, I have a suspicion that a significant number of Japanese claims arose from the Allied penchant for diving when escaping the slower Japanese fighters.

People rarely learn from history. The events illustrated in ‘Tumbling Bear and Rising Sun’ is indicative of the Russian inability to learn. In the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, the Japanese army utilised similar approaches to that taken in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

The same routes used were literally the same ones used in the earlier capture of Port Arthur then.

Divided Russian leadership with widely political diverse goals coupled with incompetence in some quarters were contributory factors to the military failure as well.

Japanese military success was due to a large variety of factors including that of a simple aggressive plan with improvision.

Given the current tensions in North-East Asia, I think the study of this campaign is becoming increasingly relevant.