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Japanese Inadequacies In Ww2

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Despite the fact, that prior to World War II (and during the first five months of WWII) Japan was the second strongest power of the fascist bloc, her quality and performance of ships closely matched that of the US, and Japanese strategy, doctrine, and tactics produced a fighting force that could quickly strike ; Japan still had various inconsistencies arising from poor planning and financial/logistical crises. Consequently, it can be argued that the mistakes and inadequacies in Japanese pre-war planning were the main contributor to the ultimate achievement of the US national policy objectives in the Pacific during World War II. These mistakes and inadequacies in pre-war planning can be interlinked to the operational and technological inferiority …show more content…

Inadequacies in the Japanese pre-war planning is also seen in the failure to plan and develop the airfield construction techniques and equipment, as well as the units necessary to build air bases, maintenance, supply and dispersal facilities which would have given a land-based air war. This would consist of capturing an island, building an airfield and using that base to gain control over the surrounding waters. Deficiencies in Japanese decision making further contributed to additional shortfalls. A good example is the lack of planning and coordination with the rising air losses in the Solomons. Here, the navy requested that the army bring in aircrafts but without a clear long-range plan or doctrine of what to do, and with no arrangement for the necessary logistical support. Lack of cooperation between the Japanese army and navy further stretched the limited Japanese resources with army aircraft on New Guinea having to fly 1,500 miles to Manila for engine changes even though the navy had closer major maintenance assets as close as Rabaul. Lack of foresight in Japan’s prewar military budgets also affected tactics, as Japanese frontline aircraft were vulnerable to attack on the ground as the Japanese had no mechanized construction assets …show more content…

The allied forces' began advancing from island to island as they sought to close on Japan. This strategy allowed them to bypass Japanese strong points while securing bases across the Pacific. Despite the fact that allied losses was huge in some battles, through strong supply lines and reserves, the Allies were able to continue their decisive advance against the Japanese. After the Battle of Midway, the Allies had also regained their air and sea superiority. The Battle of Okinawa on 1 April 1945 was the last major battle of the war in the Asia Pacific, which is considered as the largest land-sea-air battle in history with Japan suffering devastating losses leaving a large impact on Japan. This played a prominent role in paving the way to defeating Japan in World War II as the Allied forces were considered too strong compared to Japan’s opera. A further characteristic which made the US stronger and victorious over Japan was the tactical priorities taken by Admiral Nimitz who led the US navy, and Macarthur who was in charge of the US army. Their approaches was to first established and protect lines of communication across the south pacific from the US to Australia, with Australia being used as home base for the actions. The control of sea lanes between US and Australia was essential and ensured lines of communication and a secure

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