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.

Organization of the Independent Helicopter Detachment, Armed Forces of Ukraine

Organization of the Independent Helicopter Detachment, Armed Forces of Ukraine - TO&E No. 2/228 from 26 October 2003. 

Independent helicopter detachments of the UAF were formed for the peacekeeping service in Balkans and Africa. 

Air Assault Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, training OOBs, 2018

 

Airborne Brigade, Air Assault Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, training OOB, 2018.

BMD/BMP-armed 25th Airborne Brigade.

Air Assault Brigade, Air Assault Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, training OOB, 2018.

BTR-armed 79th, 80th and 95th Brigades.

Compare it with OOB of the same brigade some 10 years before, which I've posted previously - airmobility is replaced with more combat power of armor and tanks.

Battle of the Philippine Sea - can you afford your battle plan?

Battle of the Philippine Sea 80 years ago (19–20 June 1944) wrecked carrier aviation of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Much was told about qualitative and quantitative superiority of the US Navy in this battle. Indeed, those were a factor in battle. 

Less is told about battle tactics of the opposing commanders.

Spruance’s tactics of “wait and see” was unimaginative. But he could afford it, after all IJN simply had to come to Saipan to save IJA garrison, where USN was waiting in force.

Ozawa’s tactics of outranging the enemy and aiming not for sinking the enemy carriers, but for eliminating their flying decks, was very bold and novel. But could he afford it?

To find the enemy at great distance Ozawa needed good reconnaissance crews. Which he didn’t have. As a result a lot of his force was simply wasted due to errors of recce crews.

To eliminate many US carriers’ flying deck at once, IJN strike groups were ordered to spread into many targets – failing to hit a single US carrier.  BTW, much-praised US fighters failed to intercept a single attack against US CVs.

After the defeat Ozawa bemoaned, that his force was of poor quality and was unable to fulfill his bold plans. That’s true. But isn’t it commander’s duty to make plans according to the actual quality of his force and not some fantasies?

Airborne Brigade, Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, organization c.2010

OOB of BMD-armed airborne brigade. 

UAF had only one such brigade - 25th Airborne Brigade, formed in 1993.

Seems its organization and armament changed little between at least 2003 (if not 1993) and 2015.