The Siege of Baler

In June 1898 during the Philippine revolution, about 50 Spanish green conscripts under the command of Enrique de las Morenas were sent to the town of Baler, some 200km north-east of Manila.A "rebel" Katipunan group under command of Teodorico Novicio Luna was known to be operating on the area of Baler.

Portrait of Novicio Luna at the Museo de Baler.

Shortly after their arrival in town and fearing a rebel attack, las Morenas ordered its troops to garrison in the church. The rebel attack occurred just a few days later, starting a siege of the church that lasted for 337 days. 

The Yasuoka Detachment of Masaomi Yasuoka

Masanobu Tsuji (wikipedia)

On June 1939 the Kwantung Army planed an offensive against the Soviets on Nomonhan. Following the plans of  Major Masanobu Tsuji, Kwantung Army commanding General Kenkichi Ueda approved the deployment of reinforcements on the Nomonhan area. As part of these reinforcements, the Yasuoka Detachment was created.

The Yasuoka Detachment, a powerful strike force under command of Lieutenant General Masaomi Yasuoka, consisted on:

• 3rd Tank Regiment.
• 4th Tank Regiment.
• 26th Regiment of the IJA 23rd Infantry Division. 
• 28th Regiment of the IJA 7th Infantry Division. 
• 2nd Battalion of the 13th Field Artillery Regiment.
• 24th Independent Engineer Regiment.

4th Sensha Rentai of Colonel Yoshio Tamada

The history of the 4th Sensha Rentai (4th Tank Regiment) of the Japanese Imperial Army starts in 1934 in Manchukuo, with the creation of the 4th Tank Battalion. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, the Kwantung Army  upgraded the 4th Tank Battalion into the 4th Tank Regiment on August 1938. Its first commander was Colonel Yoshio Tamada.

Yoshio Tamada was born in September 23rd 1891 in Niigata Prefecture. He graduated from the military academy on 1913 and progressively ascended to First Liuetenant, Captain and finally Major in 1935. He was appointed as instructor on the Army Tank School in 1936 and was promoted to Colonel on July 1938,shortly before being appointed as commander of the 4th Tank Regiment.

Type 95 Ha-Go Light Tank (pinterest).

3rd Sensha Rentai of Colonel Kiyotake Yoshimaru

The 3rd Sensha Rentai (3rd Tank Regiment) of the Japanese Imperial Army was created in August 1937 in Manchukuo, as an upgrade of the 3rd Tank Battalion after the Marco Polo Bridge incident.
Its first commander was Colonel Yamazaki Mikichi.

The regiment consisted on the regimental headquarters, the 1st tank company, 2nd tank company, 3rd tank company, 4th tank company and the repair and replacements company.

Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks (pinterest)

Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank

The Type 97 Chi-Ha was a medium tank introduced in 1937 (imperial year 2597 from when it takes its designation) to improve and upgrade the performance of the already obsoleted medium tank Type 89 Chi-Ro. The old Type 89 had proved to be too slow to be effective on modern motorized warfare, and therefore the Type 97 was intended to improve both the Type 89 medium tank and the Type 95 Ha-Go light tank.

Type 97 Chi-Ha, date and location unknown (pinterest).

Type 95 Ha-Go light tank

The Type 95 Ha-Go was a light tank accepted as the main japanese tank for mechanized infantry units in 1935 (2595 in the Japanese imperial year, from where it takes its type "95"), because their old Type 89 medium tank was too slow to keep the truck pace. It started to be produced in 1936 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Type 95 Ha-Go light tank early model (commons.wikimedia.org).

Type 97 Chi-Ha Medium Tank!

The Type 97 Chi-Ha was a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army from the Second Sino-Japanese War until the late battles of the Pacific War. Four Type 97 tanks took part in the Nomonhan incident. In Rising Sun, the Type 97 Chi-Ha can be fielded as Platoon Command of the 3rd Shensa Rentai. Detailed info on how to assembly and paint the Type 97 tanks can be found in the previous post.

Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank.