Well...that was...unexpected. Putting myself in the shoes of the kempeitai, who were probably expecting unruly soldiers making under the table deals with criminals involving drugs and flesh or whatnot...only to find them involved in semi-legitimate business with legitimate local industry to make up for logistical shortcomings. A bit shifty, true, and while inexcusable in peacetime and in the barracks, it is an unspoken rule on the field to make do with what you have and can do...
Yeah, what they expected as for them to be up to no good and likely doing illegal things. This? It's not illegal, but the sort of strange that they need to kick up the chain to ask what they're supposed to do, if anything.
…those poor kempeitai are going to have a lot of paperwork to write and send around when they get back to HQ. Though I do think the soldiers are going to get a lot of sympathy and even props for initiative and creativity while staying within the spirit of regulations. That, and setting off a shakeup in the logistics department of the IJA, over soldiers being forced to improvise because the rear echelons don't work fast or good enough.
Yeah, this would be a lot of paperwork for the
kempeitai to say the least, especially as it is a real head scratcher as to what should be done. They didn't break any laws, all the things they have were either the type of thing that could get issued, given to them freely, or outright bought.
As for the logistics... well, as mentioned the Navy gets the lionshare of things here with the IJA making due. And anything the IJA gets would need to get through various layers as the best stuff would go to the elite troops, followed by the frontline troops, then to the more important positions... People like Captain Matsuda? He's garrisoning an area surrounding a village far from the frontlines. He
might have a single truck and maybe a car or two between all his men. So when he asked for more vehicles, or parts there of to keep what he did have going? He was told that unfortunately, he was so far down the list he might as well not be on it. Which meant that he needed to make decisions regarding what he did have. For example, does he take the company's lone truck out for patrols through the area in order to cover it all, possibly multiple times a day, which would place wear and tear. And that if something did break, he could be looking at weeks or months for repairs?
Or does he come up with his own solution?
Well, he knew bicycles due to working with his father when he was younger on such and knows that they are both durable and easy to repair. So he goes and checks and finds a local who makes them. He offers to pay for him to produce bicycles of a specific kind to all his troops, including a sidecar. Local of course jumps at the chance because it gives him quite a bit of money. Then he arms them up for use, while having one of his men, whose uncle works in a motorcycle shop, send them parts to make a dozen or so for harder hitting. And what do you know? It works.
And yes, bicycles with sidecars were a thing:
EDIT: I think the International Red Cross would be very interested in those makeshift, motorized or semi-motorized stretchers the Japanese soldiers came up with. They wouldn't be difficult or expensive to make or maintain, and would be very helpful for their operations. They might just take up the idea themselves, with suitable credit for the soldiers behind the idea in the first place, of course.
Actually, they were also used in WWI as a matter of fact:
In this case, it is just another version of them.
As an aside, the IJA in OTL did use bicycle infantry (50,000 in fact), they found them very effective in China and Malaysia because they could use paths and such normal motorized vehicles could not with them being near silent while also allowing them to carry more gear.
That could result in a very upset Quartermaster, a surprise Order of the Sacred Treasure, 6th Class...or both!
I imagine that Captain Matsuda would be sort of shocked about that and utterly befuddled. He just wanted to give his men arms and the ability to get around quickly.
Granted, he nearly pissed himself when the
kempeitai showed up in force wondering what he just did and if he was going to get hanged.
TTL, there is an alternate Washington Naval Treaty in place, hence the buildout being a bit- a lot- different. It's also why the Navy directs policy a lot more than OTL.
As for the tubes themselves... there could, theoretically of course
, be a lighter, no-wire 18.1"/L50 made by one of the various Naval Arsenals, which
could replace the 16.1"s 2-for-3
Ah, that makes sense.
As an aside, the US
did consider 20" guns back in the 1930s. Basically, they got the 18" working and went "Well, that means that we can also use a 20" if we want."
In terms of the Bicycle/Motorcycle based improvements, I can honestly see any Filipinos in theatre adapting this as well.
This strikes me as one of these "Heads, you get a Court Martial, Tails, you get a three step Promotion and an assignment most of the way across the IJA org chart,
Now that could be interesting, I suppose. But yeah, it is a simple and effective way of doing things.
The ultimate reaction from Higher Authority will probably come down to where exactly the money came from. If the good captain and his subordinates were soliciting voluntary donations from friends and family after investing their own salaries into the project, I don't see where anyone really has grounds for complaint.
At worst they get a slap on the wrist and a lecture about the extra machine guns.
The money came from their own pocket as well as family and friends. About the worst thing is the aircraft guns as those would be Type 99 cannons recovered from destroyed aircraft. Not that unusual because in OTL during the Battle of Iwo Jima, one US Marine did something similar and took a gun from a crashed aircraft as a really heavy machine gun.
@HarryLeferts Very nice little snippet there - I like the initiative shown by the Men there.
Promotions all round!
*Shrugs* Who knows? I just wrote it up because the idea ticked me and was amusing.
