I'm looking for some reference material (photos would be great) on Japanese bunkers, gun emplacements, pillboxes etc... particularly ones that were built on the home islands in preparation for the Allied invasion scheduled for the fall of '45. I am curious if they built on the same scale as the Germans did on the Atlantic wall.

Hi Dave i don't believe the Japs wasted as much effort as the Germans did with there defences simply cause the Japs tended to ambush the US in most engagements i.e spider holes and snipers hiding in trees as for the pillboxes they did use concrete but the japs mainly stuck to tunnels so they could ambush from behind

Hi David,

Take a look at the replies here:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/125469&page=1

That topic reminds me of how grumpy I used to be

Hi david,

I got some pics of it, send me your email and I 'ill post scans of my books.
Cheers.

A.

Osprey Publications Fortess #1 covers Japanese defences. it might be OOP now (judging by their website), but I picked up a copy recently.

David

hi David with regards to japanese defense being on par with what the germans had at the atlantic wall the answer is yes.. and no... their gun emplacements would be set in cliff faces aiming at the landing u.s. forces, i.e. iwo jima and okinawa but in terms of heavily fortified concrete bunkers like those of the germans they did but on a much smaller scale and they weren't as resiliant as the german bunkers, most times if the u.s. troops came under fire from one they called in air support, naval bombardment, a flamethrowing sherman, or the hard way, send a guy up with a portable flamethrower or satchel charge. the main fortified bunkers the japanese had were the ones that housed either heavy hitting field guns or naval guns, again like the germans, so in a way technically they did have similar fortifcations but i don't think their concrete was as thick (they didn't have the raw materials ) and i don't think it was steel reinforced though if i'm wrong on that i'm sure Chas or one of the other guys here will correct me. Ant

Hi david I sent you pics.
Hope this help.

Regards.

Here is preview version of Osprey - Japanese island fortifications:
Google books

It doesn't cover whole book, but the idea is to see what you are getting if you would like to buy that book.

i don't know a lot about japanese fortifications, but i'm aware that wooden stakes, spider holes and tunnells were to be expected from japanese fortifications.

Yes, it did and thanks again for the pics.

Thanks for all the replies. I actually saw one of the bunkers on TV that was outside Hiroshima a woman was telling the story of the only reason she survived the bombing was that bunker. It wasn't as robust as the ones in Normandy, but it was a considerable structure.