I posted a message on a WWII Axis History forum about axis one-man tanks. Have you ever noticed how every one-man tank, either built or on paper, was an allied vehicle? Russia, France, England, USA! I was wondering if there had ever been an Axis one-man.
I got a reply from someone without a scanner, saying in one of his books he had seen a such a vehicle. He described to me the dimensions, how it looked, etc. I emailed a WWII Japanese Armor expert, and I got a reply.
The 'one man tank' was not tracked, or powered. It was simply a one-man mobile gunnery shield. Some had wheels, some didn't. The one in the book the guy had mentioned was one without wheels, sort of a static emplacement.
They were called 'Jugai', Machine Gun Armor. They were to be employed much the same way creep tanks were in WWI, an they were used in China sporadically.
Here are some pictures, note how it looks quite a lot like a WWI creep tank!
So, nope. Not a one-man tank. Just something equally interesting. WWI technology in WWII. Like we always say, it's amazing how many strange WWI ideas were recycled in WWII.
Vilkata wrote: I posted a message on a WWII Axis History forum about axis one-man tanks. Have you ever noticed how every one-man tank, either built or on paper, was an allied vehicle? Russia, France, England, USA! I was wondering if there had ever been an Axis one-man.
The Italians had several types planned at some stage before the war, and even built some ZI believe. Will have to check my books.
Look at this! http://www.horae.dti.ne.jp/~fuwe1a/newpage55.html The tenth item is IJA(Imperial Japanese Army)'s Type 93 "movable infantry shield" in WWII. There was a type 11 LMG in it. It looks really like the WWI creep tank. It also had 2 wheels. Japanese is very similar to Chinese, so I can read Japanese sources without difficulties.
