The source of Japan’s weapons: Italy
On September 3, 1943, the Kingdom of Italy signed the “Casibelli Armistice Agreement” (conditional surrender) with the Allied forces.
After the agreement was signed, Japan immediately occupied the “Tianjin Italian Concession” and the “Shanghai Public Concession” (Italian area), and took the Italian defenders within the concessions into custody. Japan offered the Chinese Italian troops two options: to join the German puppet regime “Saro Republic” or to be imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp. Most of the Italian troops chose to join the Saro Republic, while a few were imprisoned in the prisoner-of-war camp. Japan referred to this event as the “September Italian Surrender Incident”.
Subsequently, Japan handed over the Italian concessions to the “National Government (Wang Jingwei)” for management.
Apart from the Italian Army and Navy infantry stationed in Tianjin/Beijing/Shanghai and a few warships stationed in China, one auxiliary cruiser “Raba II” and one colonial patrol ship “Eritrea” of the original Italian Red Sea Fleet were also taken into custody by the Japanese. However, several Italian oceanic submarines on the mission of the Far East underwater transportation line were taken into custody by the Japanese and then handed over to the German Navy, who used them as transport submarines. Among them, the “Marconi” class “Luigi Tonelli” and the “Marcello” class “Caprini” were taken into custody again after Germany surrendered and were directly incorporated into the Japanese Navy, and eventually survived until August 1945 when Japan surrendered.
Italy once had colonies in China.
After Italy surrendered and joined the Allies, it was disarmed by the enraged Germans. And in China, the Italian troops were also disarmed by the Japanese.
This incident occurred in September 1943. The Japanese disarmed the Italian soldiers and obtained these Italian weapons.
I guess these weapons should be distributed to some of Japan’s second-tier teams to enhance their firepower. These weapons might be taken by the Japanese to the Pacific to be used against the Americans; or they might be taken to the north to be used against the Soviets.
Do you think we should consider Italy as a new source of weapons for the Japanese?
Using some Italian weapons as part of an event to enrich the Japanese arsenal?
- Yes
- No