Rikugun: Guide to Japanese Ground Forces 1937-1945: Volume 1 - Tactical Organization of Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Ground Forces

by Leland S. Ness

Rikugun: Guide to Japanese Ground Forces 1937-1945 is the first nuts-and-bolts handbook to utilize both the voluminous raw allied intelligence documents and postwar Japanese documentation as primary sources. This first volume covers the tactical organization of Army and Navy ground forces during the 1937-45 war. Using the wartime Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) mobilization plans, and the Unit Organization Tables, Unit Strength Tables and Unit History Tables compiled by the War Ministry and the 1st Demobilization Bureau during and after the war, a complete picture of IJA ground forces through the war is presented. The evolution of the Japanese force structure is examined, including infantry, armor, cavalry, artillery and naval ground combat units from battalion to division level, each thoroughly discussed and illustrated with tables of organization and equipment and mobilization data. This forms the framework for any discussion of the Imperial Japanese Army's capabilities and intentions.

381 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2014

Reviews

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is admittedly not the most exciting topic of all time at a certain point, if you're serious about military history, you're going to need order of battle information, and this book fills a real need.

[Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This publication was a mixed bag. On the one hand it brought lots of new information to the table that had been otherwise overlooked. Unfortunately some of the information is either incorrect or is not even supported by citations. Much of the book's information is derived from Wartime US Intelligence, which while offering a plethora of information, is often flawed given 75 years or so of hindsight. Ness does not appear to have consulted primary Japanese sources, as numerous mistakes were made that could have been easily prevented by verifying Japanese sources beforehand. For instance in his Naval Ground Forces section he makes note of a 68th Guard Unit that was destroyed during Battle of Eniwetok, however according to official Japanese War Orthographies and period Japanese documents, this unit was sent elsewhere and disbanded prior to the battle. It is somewhat nitpicky, but small errors like this are prevalent all across the book, with unit information such as their movements and locations being incorrect in several instances. A few important unit types have been completely overlooked, which is likely due to the US Intelligence documents used for sources making no mention of them. Ness introduces some very interesting information regarding the organization of late war units, but after consulting the sources I have not been able to find the origin to some of said information, which is very disappointing. As much of the information mentioned is hard to verify, it leaves me feeling uneasy on the overall integrity of what I am reading. Overall, I commend the effort put forth by Leland Ness, but due to the large amount of errors and poor method of referencing information, I cannot recommend this book in good faith.