This is a short thread on Japanese bulldozers in WW2.
There weren't many & they were small
My copy of Rikugun. Volume 2: Weapons of the Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Ground Forces 1937 - 1945 does not show a single Japanese bulldozer design. 1/
There are a few hints about them on the internet.
In December 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy commissioned Komatsu to produce heavy earthmovers for the purpose of building air bases.
Even a "small" American D-4 Caterpillar tractor with bulldozer blade was massing 10 tons.
4/
The Imperial Japanese Navy's Komatsu bulldozer was slightly more, mass-wise, at 5,000 kg than a Caterpillar D-2 at 7,420 to 8,536 pounds (3,366 to 3,872 kg).
This thread is another visit into the pyrrhic victory known as Operation Iceberg, the Apr 1945 invasion of Okinawa.
This thread is based on my Aug 2013 Chicagoboyz column "Technological Surprise & the Defeat of the 193rd Tank Battalion at Kakuzu Ridge" chicagoboyz.net/archives/38455… 1/
On 19 April 1945, the US Army’s 27th Inf Div launched an attack against the Kakuza Ridge position held by the 32nd Army on Okinawa with the 193rd Tank Btn's 30 tanks, S.P. assault guns, and attached armored flame throwers from the 713th Flame Tank Btn. 2/
When the battle was over, 22 of the 30 AFV had been destroyed in a coordinated ambush by Japanese AT- guns, artillery, mortars & suicide close assault teams. Among the dead was the commander of the 193rd, on whom blame was laid for attacking without infantry in close support. 3/
@adam_tooze@gideonrachman The Z-20 has a 5-blade rotor system and more powerful engines as well as auxiliary wing-like hardpoints attached to it, similar to the Lightweight Armament Support Structure (LASS) and External Stores Support System (ESSS) wings on the US Blackhawks.
@adam_tooze@gideonrachman Essentially, a fleet of Z-20's with external stores can do 2 round trips from Mainland China to Taipei loaded with 11 troops per lift.
Or they can trade fuel for weapons and play assault gunship to support infantry air-landings.
Alright, since the Bilge Pumps episode 52 is up, and I really didn't get a chance to go deep with US military 3D printing as is, versus what I see coming.
I'm going to drop a background thread here to do just that.
This is a thread on Normandy/Overlord airpower, signals & invasion stripes.
There was a neat post by @militaryhistori about D-Day to D+1 airpower talking about how many aircraft sorties the Allies racked & stacked over Normandy 6-7 June 1945.
Paul Woodage's [@WW2TV] had a very nice video stream today with Kevin Hymel using information from his forthcoming book on Gen Patton.
This thread will expand on a piece of it regards Operation Huskey's friendly fire incident that killed 400 troops 1/
Operation Huskey's 2nd set of air drops resulted in 23 C-47 & C-53 troop carriers, & some gliders, being shot down with 400 US & UK paratroopers plus air crew aboard them. 2/ amcmuseum.org/history/a-very…
The friendly fire incident was due to the lack of a plan for centralized control of fleet and the just landed shore based anti-aircraft weapons.
The Report of Allied Force Airborne Board on Operation “HUSKY” is online (link) fold3.com/image/1/270149…
3/
This MAD sensor data can cue really powerful ground penetrating radars to determine the size of the underground voids associated with the traced electricity.
Then they can use AI to associate that with Hamas personnel movements in the
@TheDEWLine ...IDF version of Gorgon Stare wide angle video movement sensors to associate people with underground facilities.
This in turn cues Israeli Humint to get close to those people.