Japanese infantry regiment Type "A", 1940 – TO&E organization drawing

Organization of the Japanese infantry regiment Type "A", created 1940, was the product of the reorganizations in 1930s.

Unusual feature of this unit was regimental Gun (or Artillery) Battalion to command regimental gun company and anti-tank company, which were previously subordinated directly to the regimental headquarters. 

But those battalions existed but for a short time. Tables of organization for this unit were adopted in October 1940, units were probably created by Spring of 1941, and by November 1941 some of them were already disbanded.  

It is not hard to guess, why this happened: two subordinate companies had too different duties to be put under the same headquarters. So previous arrangement was found out to be the best after all and all Type "A" infantry regiments had those headquarters disbanded.

But other features of this organization were considered successful and survived until 1945.

Proposed IJA infantry regiment, 1941 – TO&E drawing

Proposed organization of the infantry regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army, as seen by US intelligence. This organization was described, as part of the new divisional organization of the IJA, in the TM 30-480 "Handbook On Japanese Military Forces", published in 1941.

One thing immediately noticeable, compared to actual organization: serious shortage of transport horses with no motor vehicles available. Regiment couldn't move even its basic supplies. Maybe author of such arrangement thought, that fully motorized transport regiment of the division could detach its trucks to carry regimental supplies?

This organization does not correspond to the real tables of organization, introduced by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1940. Though some details does show knowledge of the actual Japanese infantry organization. Probably this organization is based on some proposals, published in contemporary Japanese military literature.