raharris1973
Well-known member
When did Communist China surpass WWII Imperial Japan in quality/performance of various combat arms: infantry forces, cavalry FWIW, artillery forces, armor, fighter aircraft, air defenses, bomber aircraft, naval combatants, etc.?
The Chinese Communist forces impressively showed an ability to engage in a slugfest, toe-to-toe with US and allied forces in Korea, a mere 6-9 years after the end of the Pacific War, in an infantry and artillery dominated war, but not one that gave much scope for big armored action on their side, and in which they used their aircraft defensively and conservatively, although, as jet fighters, they had technical capabilities superior to anything the Japanese or Americans fielded in the Pacific War.
But would the Chinese Communist military of that Korean War era, or even a decade later, have had the air support, including air-to-ground attack skills and and conventional forces logistic support and tactical acumen to imitate the bold long-distance offensive strides the Japanese made in 1941-1942 through Thailand, Malaya-Singapore and Burma? In the Korean War era itself they obviously only had a minimum number of submarines and inherited and imported surface naval combats and scarcely a naval tradition, so I can't imagine them having capabilities at that time to pull off invasions of the Philippines or Indonesia. Chinese/PRC AirPower, and to at least some extent, its naval inventory, may have been substantially upgraded by the end of the 1950s or through the 1960s, though we know they waited until the 21st century to even have any aircraft carriers.
The Chinese Communist forces impressively showed an ability to engage in a slugfest, toe-to-toe with US and allied forces in Korea, a mere 6-9 years after the end of the Pacific War, in an infantry and artillery dominated war, but not one that gave much scope for big armored action on their side, and in which they used their aircraft defensively and conservatively, although, as jet fighters, they had technical capabilities superior to anything the Japanese or Americans fielded in the Pacific War.
But would the Chinese Communist military of that Korean War era, or even a decade later, have had the air support, including air-to-ground attack skills and and conventional forces logistic support and tactical acumen to imitate the bold long-distance offensive strides the Japanese made in 1941-1942 through Thailand, Malaya-Singapore and Burma? In the Korean War era itself they obviously only had a minimum number of submarines and inherited and imported surface naval combats and scarcely a naval tradition, so I can't imagine them having capabilities at that time to pull off invasions of the Philippines or Indonesia. Chinese/PRC AirPower, and to at least some extent, its naval inventory, may have been substantially upgraded by the end of the 1950s or through the 1960s, though we know they waited until the 21st century to even have any aircraft carriers.