Daily Blog 05/24/2011


  • In the beginning, Japan had to buy foreign tanks to build an armor force because the nation did not have the industrial capacity or technical skill to manufacture its own. There was a single British Mk. IV, a handful of Whippets, a smatering of Carden Loyd tankettes, and a trio of Medium Cs. But the Imperial Japanese Army realized that the only way to gain the expertise to make their own armored vehicles was to engage in a transitional stage of buying foreign tanks and modifying them with Japanese indigenous equipment.

    This is how the Ko Gata Sensha (First Model of Tank) came to be. In the year 1919, 13 FT 17 tanks were obtained from France and in 1921, a Single Fiat 3000 from Italy. These were eventually modified with Japanese treads, gasoline engines, and weapons including the Taisho 3 machine gun and Sogekiho Infantry Gun. This experience of modifying tanks was instrumental in reaching the point of developing their first tank a decade later.

    tags: ww2 tank japan

  • Police in Mexico seize a three-tonne homemade tank from the Zetas gang amid an escalation in drug-related violence

    tags: tank mexican

  • Over the next two months I talked to about a half-dozen indie bookstore owners, asking them if they would like to sell gift cards for electronic books in their store? All of them said “Yes!”

    tags: publishing

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