During the 1941/42 Philippines campaign IJA first met the US Light M3 tanks of the US-Army 192nd and 194th Tank Battalions. The M5 37 mm Tank Gun was able to defeat any Japanese tank even on long ranges while the Japanese Type 95 Light Tanks could only penetrate the frontal armour of the M3 on short ranges, the Type 89 and 97 Medium tanks even had to attack from the sides on very short ranges. Due to the IJA infantry tactics and the terrain plus a bad tactical use the M3s were not the threat they could be during this campaign. As result IJA speeded up the production of the Type 97 Medium Tank ShinHōtō Chi-Ha and the training of crews for this tanks in January 1942. But before the first tank company equipped with this tanks reached Luzon the battles were over. Only Corregidor remained as a US strong-point. IJA tankers took over several operational Light M3 tanks after surrender of the US tank battalions. During the amphibious attack of Corregidor in May 1942 a Type 97 Medium Tank ShinHōtō Chi-Ha and two US Light M3 landed on the island. Shortly after that the US defenders surrendered.
The captured Light M3 were taken over officially by IJA as medium tanks due to their weight of 12,7 t. All tanks and all captured stocks of supply for these vehicles were handed over to IJA 7th Tank Regiment which formed at least one tank company with these vehicles. One platoon from this unit was shipped to Java to support the attack on the vital cities of this Island.
During the 1942/43 Burma campaigns IJA captured some British Light M3 Stuart tanks and formed at least one company for the 14th Tank Regiment. These tanks fought quite hard during the 1944 Imphal campaign where a Light M3 became the first Japanese tank who destroyed a Medium M3 Grant. The 14th tank regiment was almost annihilated during this campaign and only few Light M3s remained operational. Due to the low stocks of replacement parts the remaining tanks were finally used as pillboxes during the 1945 retreats.
The 7th Tank Regiments Light M3s fought hard during the 1944/45 Philippines campaign but were finally destroyed due to the massive superiority of the attacking US troops.
The file contains all the sounds and pcx files. Model is not my own creation. Information provided by tom! Wyrmshadow provided the animation files and Ares de Borg did the sounds. I merely put the pieces together and cleaned up the model for CivIII and added some what if pieces. A big thanks to everyone that helped out!
The captured Light M3 were taken over officially by IJA as medium tanks due to their weight of 12,7 t. All tanks and all captured stocks of supply for these vehicles were handed over to IJA 7th Tank Regiment which formed at least one tank company with these vehicles. One platoon from this unit was shipped to Java to support the attack on the vital cities of this Island.
During the 1942/43 Burma campaigns IJA captured some British Light M3 Stuart tanks and formed at least one company for the 14th Tank Regiment. These tanks fought quite hard during the 1944 Imphal campaign where a Light M3 became the first Japanese tank who destroyed a Medium M3 Grant. The 14th tank regiment was almost annihilated during this campaign and only few Light M3s remained operational. Due to the low stocks of replacement parts the remaining tanks were finally used as pillboxes during the 1945 retreats.
The 7th Tank Regiments Light M3s fought hard during the 1944/45 Philippines campaign but were finally destroyed due to the massive superiority of the attacking US troops.
The file contains all the sounds and pcx files. Model is not my own creation. Information provided by tom! Wyrmshadow provided the animation files and Ares de Borg did the sounds. I merely put the pieces together and cleaned up the model for CivIII and added some what if pieces. A big thanks to everyone that helped out!
