This country is at war with Germany.

We shall go under the end.

I remember the sheets of flames came up and almost blinded us for my guns.

Hello and welcome to another episode of the World War Two podcast. I'm Angus Wallace.

We do not think of armour being widely used in the Pacific campaign,

and compared to other theatres, that is a reasonable assumption.

However, it was utilised by both the Japanese and the Americans from the island campaigns,

such as Tarawa and Guadalcanal, through to the Philippines.

Joining me today is Mike Gadier, who is the author of American armour in the Pacific.

I'm sure people will be more familiar with US armour,

so I thought we should perhaps start with the Japanese.

You know, Japan's a major power in the interwar years.

It was at the top table when it came to the interwar naval treaties.

Had it put much thought into tanks and armoured vehicles?

They had, and it was pretty much a basic effort from the start.

They were incredibly versatile in how they approached their armour formations.

They knew that they had to be light, they had to be mobile,

and they knew that in order to stay an expeditionary force,

they had to rely on pretty much the modern day equivalent of what we call a light tank.

And the Japanese were unique in modern militaries at the time,

because they developed and maintained a vehicle called a tankette.

So try to imagine something smaller than a light tank

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