The 4th Tank Regiment was a unit of the Imperial Japanese Army in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
History
The 4th Tank Regiment was created in 1934 by an upgrade of the 4th Tank Battalion. The 4th Tank Regiment participated in the
Battles of Khalkhin Gol
The Battles of Khalkhin Gol (; ) were the decisive engagements of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese border conflicts involving the Soviet Union, Mongolian People's Republic, Mongolia, Empire of Japan, Japan and Manchukuo in 1939. The conflict wa ...
against the Soviet Union in 1939. The commander was Tamado Yoshio, and the 4th Tank Regiment was brigaded into the 1st Tank Corps with the
3rd Tank Regiment, the group under the overall command of Major General Yasuoka. The 4th Tank Regiment at that time was equipped with mostly light tanks, complementing the medium tanks of the 3rd Tank Regiment. The 4th Tank Regiment order of battle at this time was:
[
*35 ]Type 95 Ha-Go
The was a light tank used by the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War, at the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It proved sufficient against infantry but was not effective against othe ...
light tanks armed with the Type 94 37 mm tank gun
*8 Type 89 I-Go medium tanks armed with a short-barrelled (low-velocity) Type 90 57 mm gun
*3 Type 94 tankettes armed with a light machine gun
The 4th Tank Regiment was part of the forces used for the Japanese conquest of Luzon in the Philippines, and the conquest of Java and Sumatra in 1942. For the campaign, it was under command of Lieutenant Colonel Kumagaya, and consisted solely of 38 Type 95 light tanks with five captured US M3 Light tanks.[
Thereafter, the 4th Tank Regiment remained stationed in the Dutch East Indies for the rest of the war.
]
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{cite book , last=Coox , first=Alvin , title=Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SIAwKiNRmrAC&pg=PA351 , access-date=August 3, 2016 , year=1985 , publisher=Stanford University Press , isbn=978-0804711609 , pages=349–350]
[{{cite web , url=https://takihomepage.web.fc2.com/history.htm , title=The History of Battles of Imperial Japanese Tanks – Part I , author=Taki , work=Taki's Home Page , access-date=August 3, 2016]
Tank Regiments (Imperial Japanese Army)
Military units and formations established in 1934
1937 establishments in Asia
Military units and formations disestablished in 1945