"World War Two Japanese Cavalry Attacks" Topic

Has Anyone Ever Heard Of The Japanese cavalry attacking U.S. tanks in 1942 or 1943?My father served in the U.S. army,in the pacific,in a tank,and he claimed he had to repel a japanese cavalry charge.I read that it happened to the Australians,but I have not been able to find any referance to his story that Americans,in tanks,were attacked.Any information would be helpfull.Thanks

Japanese horse cavalry hoperated only in China. So it is improbable that happened to an american unit.

Yet several incidents of japanese officers charging on horseback are reported.

Arrigo

PS: in 1942 the US Army actually employed mounted cavalry in a rearguard action while retreating to Bataan

Japanese cavalry also operated in Burma, though they switched quickly to motorised transport as they captured itfrom the British, so mounted cavalry action was not a feature of the Burma campaign. However, Japanese divisional Recce Regiments in the Pacific did contain cavalry squadrons, so it's not impossible that they conducted mounted action.

I don't know of any mounted charges but there was a Japanese Cavalry unit attached to the 41st Regiment in Papua. They were stationed in an area on the coast between Wye Point and Sanananda. In Nov/Dec 1942 they clashed with the American 126th Regiment first and then later an Australian Cavalry unit (believe it or not). All dismounted and the Japanese were defending in bunkers in swamps so no tanks were involved. Don't know what happened to their horses but they had probably eaten them earlier because the Japanese were starving at that point in the Kokoda campaign.

Thank you for your comments.I know it sounds strange,but my dad didn,t talk about his war experiances until the late sixties and only after he had been drinking.He did say that the sounds of the horses dying was the most terrible screams that he had ever heard,I remember him cying when he talked about this,and also some other experiances.And I believe he was talking about these things for the first time since the war.He described it as being on an island that nobody there could pronounce the name of.He passed on some time ago.Thanks again.

Well … it may seem unlikely but I'm sure a lot of small unit actions took place not just in the PTO but other theaters where events happened and were never reported or documented or even lost … And with the Japanese prediction for suicidal charges … who knows ?

To amplify rat of tobruk's comment.

The Japanese cavalry unit at Buna-Gona was the 3rd Company, 55th Cavalry Regiment reinforced with a 37 mm Anti Tank Gun Section. It disembarked in Papua from Rabaul, New Britain on 17 August 1942. It had a strength of 130 personnel and 170 horses. During the Papuan campaign it received 30 reinforcements. Of these 160 personnel only 30 survived the campaign.

The Japanese landed a further 230 horses on 21 August. Altogether the Japanese had some 500 horses at Buna-Gona. Most of the horses belonged to the regimental/battalion trains and the 55th Transport Regiment. None of these horses survived. They died of starvation, disease, Allied action and/or were eaten by the starving Japanese garrison.

The Australian cavalry unit was the 2/7th Australian Cavalry Regiment – the mechanized divisional cavalry regiment of the Australian 7th Infantry Division. In late September 1942 the 2/7th Cavalry Regiment was shipped from Brisbane to Port Moresby. Its personnel strength was 482 – 27 officers and 455 other ranks [enlisted]. Its vehicles were:

15 Motor Cycle
25 Jeep 1/4 ton
8 Truck 3 ton
44 Carrier Universal/Bren

Initially the Regiment was used as a mobile reserve in the Port Moresby area. Because of the heavy Allied casualties in the Buna-Gona action and the lack of infantry reinforcements it was decided to use the 2/7th Cavalry Regiment in the dismounted infantry role there. In mid-December 1942 some 350 personnel were flown across the Owen Stanley Range to the Papuan north coast. The Regiment was subsequently used in the bitter fighting in the Sanananda Track sector of the Buna-Gona beachhead in December 1942 – January 1943.

An excellent history of the Papuan campaign in 1942-43 is "A Bastard of a Place" by Peter Brune. Highly recommended. The front cover of the book shows personnel of the 2/7th Cavalry Regiment advancing through swamp on the Sanananda Track.

Descartes – What was your father's unit? This should help narrow down the campaigns he was involved in.

Tracker39

Good intel T-39 … Yes, I'd be interested in knowing more about this incedent. Also, what is not well known, the US had 2 CAV Divs at the start of WWII. The "now Famous" 1st CAV was reorganzied as a Big Infantry Div. As the CAV was 25% larger then an Infantry Div. They fought in the PTO. The 2nd CAV was deactivated and used as replacements for other units, etc. – link

Unfortunatly,I don't know the name of the unit that my father was attached to.I do remember that he told me that he was a gunner in a tank,I assumed all this time that it was an american light tank.I never asked him specifics,because well,he was a John Wayne type of character,He didn't talk about it sober,and he was talking about it while watching the Vietnam War newscasts.I assumed that seeing the jungle conflicts triggered some things that he thought he had put behind him.There was an incident where he said he was ordered to shoot everyone in a village and he said he drew his knife on his commander, and refused to fire.He said he lost his stripes for this.I know this sounds unbelievable,but this is what he said.he didn't talk much about the war,and we were already in another war at the time,even so my ears perked up upon hearing any thing about his involvment in WW2.He came home from the Pacific war with yellow jaundice and was treated in a hospital in New York.There he met my mother.I was born some time later, after he had joined the U.S. air force.

"In addition to the mechanized cavalry, the US Army fielded a number of horse-cavalry units during the war, including the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions and the 56th Cavalry Brigade with the 112th and 124th Cavalry Regiments (Texas National Guard), and the 26th Cavalry Regiment (Philippine Scouts). Of these, only the 26th Cavalry fought mounted, during the Campaign in the Philippines in 1941 and 1942. The 1st Cavalry Division, the 112th and 124th Cavalry all were sent to the Pacific, where they fought dismounted as infantry. Finally, the 2nd Cavalry Division was originally activated in April 1941 as a racially mixed division, with one 'Colored' Cavalry Brigade and one 'White' Cavalry Brigade. It was inactivated in July 1942 only to be reactivated in February 1943 as a 'Colored' Division. It was sent to North Africa where it was inactivated again in May 1944 with its personnel reassigned to service and engineer labor units."

link

"The second 2nd Cavalry Division (originally it was the 3rd Cavalry Division, it became the 2nd Division when the original 2nd Division was disbanded) was disbanded in 1944. Ironically, the 2nd Cavalry Division was arguably one of the most experienced and professional divisions in the Army. The 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments of the division, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, were two of the most famous regiments in the Army. When the division was disbanded the men of these two great regiments were assigned as laborers to port and engineer battalions."

Robert

I think that ,as has been suggested,I really should look up his service record.It might take awhile,but that would make things a lot easier to track down.Thanks again for all your feed back.

The 9th & 10th Cav Rgts not only fought in the Indian Wars, but were in Cuba along side(some say in front of !) Teddy's Rough Riders at Kettle Hill, etc. … Yes, we'd be interested in knowing that descartes. Sounds like an interesting bit of history …