PACOPS Type 94 37mm Anti-Tank Gun

This weapon was developed based on the design of the German 3.7cm Pak 36 anti-tank gun to improve upon and replace the Type 11 37mm Infantry Gun that had been in service since 1922. That weapon was considered an inferior substitute for an AT capability due to its low muzzle velocity, poor range and slow reloading time.

The Type 94 began production in 1936 with approximately 3,400 units produced. It could fire both HE and AP rounds and was usually assigned in groups of four to combat infantry regiments. Although the weapon had performed well against Soviet light armor, it was obsolete when facing Allied armor such as the Sherman tank.

PACOPS Type 93 Flamethrower

Both Type 93 and Type 100 flamethrowers were used by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy (SNLF) during World War II, although during the later war period their use devolved into an ad hoc anti-tank capability that met some marginal success on the battlefield. The type that is being modeled for the PACOPS estab is the Type 93 model.

The original concept was to field these weapons in flamethrower companies comprised of between 6-20 units, and these companies were organized into engineer regiments within a typical infantry division. The base unit contains 20 soldiers with 20 flamethrower weapons, with an infantry value of 20, a recon value of 4 and an engineer value of 2 (based on guidelines set forth in the estab editor manual).

PACOPS Type 89 15cm Cannon

Only 150 of these artillery pieces were made from 1929-1945, however it did take its place as the main gun for IJA heavy artillery units. Classified as a Fortress Gun, it had a firing weight of 10,360kg and could fire a HE or AP shell some 19km (it also could fire shrapnel and illumination shells, however those are not being modeled in this build). It could fire approximately two rounds per minute and had a muzzle velocity of 875m/s.

For this effort I will clone the American 155mm M1A1 gun and edit various parameters in order to mutate it into a plausible weapon for the Japanese forces. For the aper and the bombard ammunition I will use the existing JPN Type 1 HE Shell. Several sources reference that the shell was considerably heavier than that used in other 150mm howitzers; however I have not located a specific reference to the shell weight to make a credible change to the cloned data.

Progress Report and Alpha Build 1.0

Happy New Year! While things have been somewhat quiet on the blog for the last several days due to the holidays, a great deal of work has been going on behind the scenes with estab files, force lists, scenarios, briefings and graphics. A change log will be detailed at the bottom of this post to identify some of the work done in the Estab Editor.

I will also be posting the first alpha build of the PACOPS mod which contains battle specific Force Lists for use in the Scenario Editor. A sample mission that mimics the landings by US Marines on Green and Red Beaches on D-Day, June 15 1944 and the tragic counterattack launched by tanks of the Imperial Japanese Army’s 9th Armored Regiment is also included.

PACOPS: Type 97 Chi-Ha Medium Tank

The 9th Armored Regiment of the 1st Tank Division was reassigned to the 31st Army in April 1944 and sent to Saipan where it was effectively annihilated and not reorganized. Commanded by Colonel Tadashi Goshima, the unit consisted of 31 Type 97 Medium Tanks (modeled below), 4 Type 97-Improved Medium Tanks and 12 Type 95 Light Tanks.

Just after midnight on June 16, 1944 the Japanese forces made a large counterattack against the US 6th Marine Regiment on the beachhead near Charan Kanoa and were soundly repulsed due to inexperience in mounting tactical armored engagements. The Marines were able to concentrate their firepower on the assault and were augmented by naval gunfire.

PACOPS Type 38 Arisaka Rifle

The Type 38 rifle was designed by Colonel Arisaka Nariakira and first saw combat action in Japan’s war with Russia in 1905. Influenced by the German Mauser design, over three million weapons were built in several variations. The 6.5X50 mm cartridge was perceived to be weaker than other available at the time so the Japanese Army moved towards the Type 99 rifle with its more powerful 7.7X58 mm cartridge.

The Type 38 I am currently modeling in the game is the “standard issue” 1.280 mm (50.4 in) version, however this might change with additional research into Japanese combat formations, especially when it gets down to the creation of specific force lists for actual battle. At this length it was the longest rifle of the war primarily due to Japan’s emphasis on bayonet training at the time.

PACOPS Type 99 Arisaka Rifle

The Type 99 rifle was meant as a replacement to the Type 38 and was based on the German Mauser design. It is considered one of the strongest military bolt action rifles ever produced, but late war models were made of lower quality materials and fabricated through rushed production resulting in weapons that were noticeably inferior to their original model.

Produced at nine different locations and in four variants, over three million rifles were built between 1939 and the end of the war. The weapon weighed 3.7kg, was 44 inches long and had a barrel length of 25.87 inches. It fired a 7.7X58mm Arisaka cartridge at a muzzle velocity of 730 m/s and had a five round internal box magazine with a stripper clip.

PACOPS – Pacific Theater Operations

With the resurrection of the Marine Corps modification to its current build 2.0, naturally further development would tend to lend itself to a following of history. In order to immediately use the Marines in the Airborne Assault game engine as presently represented by Command Operations:Battles from the Bulge, an alternative history backstory was developed that consisted of the fall of Japan and the Soviet Union.

Work is presently underway to bring the Marines to the Pacific and those efforts center on the creation of maps, establishments and force lists. Once those core components are complete, then the painstaking task of developing accurate battle scenarios will take place.