JAPAN; WORLD WAR II.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Archive of information on Japanese artillery tactics and operations. A far-reaching archive, assembled by an artillery officer attached to GHQ India, including confidential intelligence and technical summaries and documents, as well as material reproduced from War Information Circular (issued by Military Intelligence, GHQ India) and other friendly and enemy sources.Organized into sections, the information in these binders is very detailed and concerns the structure of artillery groups, tactics and deployment, and particular campaigns. For example, a section on the attack on Hong Kong notes, "The Japs were adept at dragging guns to the tops of hills and siting them in positions very difficult to locate... Ammunition was plentiful and was maintained by forced local Chinese labour. Any coolie failing to work up to Japanese expectations was shot out of hand. The 9-inch gun is believed to have been mounted on a previously and secretly prepared concrete mounting in the Japanese Golf Course grounds or even in the Club House on the mainland" (Vol. 1, f. 9). Other material offers technical data and specifications for different guns and shells, and included are pages from Periodical Technical Summary, a restricted briefing issued by military intelligence in India. Supporting the text are photographs taken from other sources, skilled technical drawings of weaponry, and diagrams and sketch maps.The collection offers a forensic perspective on the conduct of Japanese artillery offensives i

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