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the old japanese army's tank equipment was generally weak. during the entire world war ii, japan only formed 4 tank divisions (tank divisions), and their combat situations may be relatively familiar to everyone. however, there is a special organization called the "1st tank regiment". this unit mainly appeared in the kwantung army and participated in the battle during the nomonhan conflict, but suffered heavy losses.

lieutenant general michitaro komatsubara, the highest commander of the japanese frontline during the nomonhan incident

interestingly, when the translator first came into contact with this unit, he translated it as "the 1st tank division", but now various materials basically translate it directly into "the 1st tank regiment". however, whether it is understood as a division (division) or a regiment (regiment) according to the literal meaning. it is inaccurate, because the 1st tank regiment is actually a brigade-level unit temporarily formed. if translated according to the meaning, it is more appropriate to translate it as "the 1st tank brigade", but at that time, the brigade was not completely a truly independent combat unit. it was often formed by drawing troops from within the division, so it did not have a number. for example, the 10th division that participated in the battle of taierzhuang at that time organized a brigade commanded by seya kei, so it was called the seya brigade, or the seya detachment. therefore, as far as this unit is concerned, calling it "ansuoka detachment" can better reflect the actual situation. let's take a closer look. for the convenience of narration, i will directly call it the 1st tank regiment.

organization of the 1st tank regiment's main group

in fact, the 1st tank regiment was a temporary unit of the japanese kwantung army, with the 3rd and 4th tank regiments as its core. however, some sources claim that it was specially formed for the nomonhan battle, which is a bit exaggerated. the unit was formed on august 12, 1938, more than half a year earlier than the outbreak of the nomonhan battle in may 1939 and the transfer of the unit to the battle in june. the most likely possibility is that the kwantung army tried to explore the organization of division-level tank units, so it formed such a brigade-level unit with a number.

yoshimaru kiyohide (1892-1939)

miro tamada (1891-1989)

the 3rd tank regiment under the 1st tank regiment was originally the 3rd tank battalion formed in kurume on october 1, 1933, and was affiliated with the 1st independent mixed brigade of the kwantung army. after the full-scale invasion of china by the japanese army in july 1937, most of the brigade was transferred to the interior of china to fight, and was affiliated with the north china expeditionary army. however, this 3rd tank battalion remained in northeast china. on august 1, 1938, it was reorganized into the 3rd tank regiment, with hideo yamaji as the commander at the time. on january 31, 1939, kiyotake yoshimaru took over as the commander of the regiment. after yoshimaru was killed on july 3, ikoma hayashi succeeded him as the commander of the regiment on july 6. the situation of the 4th tank regiment was similar. the unit was originally the 4th tank battalion formed in narashino on april 1, 1934, and was affiliated with the 1st independent mixed brigade of the kwantung army. after the july 7 incident, the unit was transferred to fight in the interior of china. the 3rd tank battalion remained in northeast china, but the 4th battalion followed the large force to fight in shanxi. after the end of the taiyuan battle, the unit was transferred back to northeast china. on august 1, 1938, it was reorganized into a regiment-level unit, and on the 31st, yoshiro tamada took office as the regiment commander.

yasuoka masaomi (1886-1948)

in other words, the two units were originally together and belonged to the 1st independent mixed brigade of the kwantung army. however, after the battle of taiyuan, this brigade was dismantled to strengthen other units. as a result, the unit had only an organization but could not fight together. therefore, on august 12, 1938, the kwantung army simply cancelled the unit number. since the artillery and engineers had been dispersed, only the tank units were concentrated in the northeast and had been upgraded to regiments, so the 1st tank regiment was formed based on the two regiments. at that time, the commander of the 1st independent mixed brigade was masaomi yasuoka, who was directly transferred to the 1st tank regiment as the commander.

the japanese tank unit in the nomonhan incident. judging from the equipment, this should be the 3rd tank regiment

at that time, the kwantung army mainly supported the division-level units with tank squadrons or battalions. now that they were organized into brigade-level units, they were naturally highly valued. the equipment of the two units represented the highest level of the kwantung army. the 3rd tank regiment was equipped with 4 type 97 medium tanks, 26 type 89b medium tanks, 4 type 97 light armored vehicles and 7 type 94 light armored vehicles. the 4th tank regiment was equipped with 8 type 89b medium tanks, 36 type 95 light tanks and 4 type 94 light armored vehicles. together with the yasuoka command, the total number of tanks and armored vehicles equipped by the entire 1st tank regiment was 92.

the 4th tank regiment assembled

the 4th tank regiment on the march

the 4th tank regiment resting

but what's interesting is that, perhaps because it was established too recently, the unit did not have any other auxiliary forces. if we refer to the organization of the japanese tank division in the future, the unit would have to have at least one infantry battalion, 1-2 artillery battalions, one rapid-fire artillery battalion, a cavalry search team, an air defense force, engineers, and one battalion each of logistics and repair to be considered decent. but in fact, the unit only had two tank regiments at the time.

japanese tank troops advancing during the battle of nomonhan

looking back at the combat situation of the japanese tank troops in the battle of nomonhan, we can only say that there was no problem with yasuoka masaomi's command. tanks were very good at both roundabout and attacking. yoshimaru led his troops to attack the soviet front, and tamada led his troops to attack the soviet artillery positions at night. there were no mistakes in command. the main problem was that the japanese armored equipment technology was too poor, and there was no training in infantry-tank coordination. the entire tank was completely destroyed in nomonhan. the 40% loss rate made the kwantung army dare not take risks with its treasures again, so the unit was transferred back to gongzhuling.

the japanese tanks suffered heavy losses in the battle of nomonhan

this unit existed until june 1942. on june 24, the kwantung army formally formed the 1st tank division based on this unit. the two tank regiments participated in the battle of nomonhan. the 3rd regiment remained in the division, and the 4th regiment went south to fight after the outbreak of the pacific war.