assesstheeffectivenessofarmourinthejungleduringthe（53页）.docVIP

How Effective Was the Use of Armour in the Jungle During the Second World War? Mike Cubbin 2013 Contents Introduction 3 Case Study 1: The Japanese in Malaya 10 Case Study 2: The British and Indians in Burma 16 Case Study 3: The USA and Australians in the South Pacific 26 Question 1. How did the terrain in South-East Asia and the South Pacific affect the use of tanks? 33 Question 2. Did the use of tanks significantly aid the eventual Allied success in Burma and the South Pacific? 36 Question 3. Did the Japanese Armys jungle tactics make best use of their tanks? 40 Conclusion 42 Bibliography 48 Introduction The use of armour in the Second World War was the first time that the theories of such thinkers as J.F.C. Fuller and Heinz Guderian had been tested in actual combat. Mistakes were made and lessons learned, and the Second World War was the first war where tanks were important and integral parts of all major armies from the outset. Whilst the Western Desert and Russian steppes may have been ideal for the sweeping massed armoured manoeuvres Fuller and Guderian envisaged, the jungles of South East Asia appeared, at first glance, to be areas where tanks would not be able to operate effectively. This dissertation will look at how the armies of Japan, Britain and India, the United States of America (USA), and Australia used their tanks tactically in the jungle. It will, by examining the historical evidence, seek to answer the question of the effectiveness of the employment of armour in the jungle from 1941 to 1945. Very little has been written specifically on the use of armour in the jungle during the Second World War, with Bryan Perretts, Tank Tracks to Rangoon a notable exception. In the foreword to Perretts work, Major General Ralph Younger says of the use of armour; It is fair to say that in all the three major campaigns [in Burma] in which tanks took part, they had an effect out of all proportions to their numbers. The theory