TO&E drawing of the infantry company of the Imperial Japanese Army 1940-1945

 TO&E drawing of the infantry company of infantry regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army according to the 1940 and 1943 mobilization plans.

This was the standard organization of Japanese infantry during 1940-1945. 

Compared to 1936 plan, strength of rifle platoons was reduced, but company services were increased in number. Number of firearms was also reduced: LMG gunners and loaders lost their pistols while grenade discharge gunners lost their rifles.

TO&E drawing of the draft of the new organization of the infantry company of the Type “A” IJA infantry regiment, 1936

 TO&E drawing of the draft of the new organization of the infantry company of the Type “A” infantry regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army, based on the 1936 document, acquired by the Soviet intelligence.

After few changes during 1937-39 this will become the standard organization, in which IJA infantry fought till the end of the Pacific War in 1945.

I’ve made 2 versions: one based on symbols of my own design, another based on NATO symbols with my symbols added.

TO&E drawing of the infantry company of the Type “A” IJA infantry regiment, 1936

TO&E drawing of the infantry company of the Type “A” infantry regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army, based on the original TO&E from Mobilization plan for 1937, approved in 1936. This is the organization in which IJA infantry went to war with China in 1937.

Organization of the infantry company of the Type “B” infantry regiments, which were formed on mobilization (they didn’t existed in peace-time), was essentially the same, but with only 4 grenade dischargers: which means two of three grenade discharger squads had only 1 grenade discharger each.

For purists: grenade discharger squads were not considered squads in IJA manuals (only “groups” or “units”). Probably that was the reason they were not led by non-commissioned officers.

Note, that IJA TO&Es does not provide detailed organization below company level – only general guidance and overall number of specialist personnel. That’s why some guesstimation was involved in making this TO&E.

I’ve made two versions of the TO&E drawing: one, based on well-known NATO symbols, another, based on symbols of my own design, which shows details on individual armament and special assignments.

UPDATE: Added another version of the TO&E drawing, combining NATO and mine symbols.

Click on the drawing to enlarge it.

Ukrainian People's Republic Army Infantry Regiment - December 1918 TOE organization

 

Infantry Regiment TOE, authorized on 31 December 1918, was the basic organization of the infantry of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1918-1919.

Authors of the TOE tried to make organization, based on experience of the WW 1. But due to the lack of weapons (especially LMGs), equipment and trained personnel actual organization of the regiments never corresponded to the TOE.

That's why in May 1919 it was officially ordered not to form 4th (regimental) machine-gun companies, “Lewis” machine-gun platoons in infantry companies, foot reconnaissance and sapper-chemical companies in all infantry regiments.

Anime "Fuku-chan's Submarine" = Fuku-chan no Sensuikan = フクチャンの潜水艦 (1944)

Fuku-chan is a character from the comic strip of the same name by Ryuichi Yokoyama, which was so popular that it was published from 1936 until 1971.

During the Pacific war Fuku-chan obviously "went to war", appearing in three military animes.

In the anime "Fuku-chan's Submarine" (1944), he and his friends serve on the submarine "I-1" and dashingly defeat US enemies.

See full anime below:

Mind you, that’s not ordinary propaganda cartoon. I don't know, who studied the IJN submarines so thoroughly when creating it - but in this anime you can see a lot of details of service on a submarine: from attacking an enemy convoy to cooking in the galley, from a duel with an enemy submarine to replenishing supplies.

Cartoon shows many details. For example, after refueling the submarine, the hose is not simply disconnected - a cap is put on the fuel neck, and the pit with the neck is closed with a special hatch. It feels like the anime authors had a real submariner as a consultant.

  

The purely artistic part is also interesting. With primitive graphics (the norm in anime of that time), two combat missions with a lot of details were packed into half an hour. The characters does not look primitive, despite the fact that there are almost no dialogues in the anime. The almost complete absence of PATHOS!!!! in a product of military propaganda is also interesting. Not once characters cry ubique "Banzai!".

 

For the anime fans I will add, that for the first time in the history of Japanese anime all songs were specifically written for this anime, and not taken from somewhere else. Yes, the entire anime music industry traces its lineage to "Fuku-chan's Submarine".

The song about the submarine galley (潜水艦の台所) is still sung by Japanese submariners:

Also this anime shows you the coolest picture of the "Big Ben" - US aircraft carrier USS "Franklin" (CV-13):

Ukrainian Halician Army infantry battalion. TOE organization from February 1919

 

First Ukrainian TOE, introduced in February 1919 for the infantry battalion of the Ukrainian Halician Army (Western Ukraine).

Corrected version with more data added and number of rifle squads corrected.

Battalions like this were grouped into infantry brigades together with one artillery regiment and other supporting troops.

Battalion total:

officers - 33,       priest - 1,                riding horses - 31,           "Lewis" LMG - 16,

officials - 5,         men - 1 326,          draught horses - 157,      "Maxim" HMG - 8

doctors - 2,         of them 299           waggons - 96,

                             non-combatants,  field kitchens - 15,

Organization and armament of the IJA type "A" infantry regiment for the Mobilization plan for 1937 (1936)

Organization of Type "A" infantry regiment of 1936 was the forerunner of the IJA standard infantry regiment of the 2nd Sino-Japanese and Pacific wars.

For comparison, Type "B" infantry regiment of 1936 (to be formed for reserve divisions) retained old organization and armament. It had neither battalion gun platoons nor anti-tank company, its battalion machine-gun companies had only 4 machine-guns, while regimental gun company had only 4 obsolete mortars and 2 37-mm infantry guns. Thus its amount of heavy weapons extremely small.