Flamethrowing tank blasts Japanese on Bougainville. You can see footage of the aftermath here. In the hours-long brawl that followed 33 were knocked out by Marine Shermans, bazookas and anti-tank artillery including towed 37-millimeter guns and 75-millimeter-gun armed half-tracks. Then at dawn, forty-four Type 97 and Type 95 tanks from the 9 th Tank Regiment swarmed over a ridge and stormed the beachhead. That proved a wise precaution, because little island became the site of the largest tank battle of the Pacific Theater.įirst, on the evening of June 16, Shermans defeated a night attack by Japanese Special Naval Landing Force marines and their Type 2 amphibious tanks.
The 2 nd and 4 th Tank Battalion landed on Saipan June 15 with their turret tops painted red or yellow so they could be distinguished from Japanese tanks by U.S. In June 1944 U.S troops began a series of amphibious assault on the Mariana Islands in order to secure bases from which B-29 strategic bombers could strike Japan. Great Tank Battles of the Pacific Theater
Some heavy anti-aircraft guns, like the 75-millimeter Type 88, could overmatch an M4’s armor, but these were not designed for field mobility and were mostly reserved for the defense of the home islands. Even high-velocity Type 1 47-millimeter anti-tank guns introduced in 1943 (2,300 built) could only reliably pierce a Sherman’s side or rear armor. Japanese infantry and artillery could reap a terrible toll on attacking infantry-but their 37-millimeter anti-tank guns could not penetrate the Sherman’s three inches of armor.
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