Japanese in Overcoats?

[Mysterioso]

Does anyone produce "Japanese in Overcoats" that could be used for RCW in Siberia?  Something to work with Copplestone's "Bolsheviks in Overcoats" and Brigade Games' "US Polar Bears".

[Ignatieff]

Not that I know of.  Come to think of it, does anyone know of any good reference material on the Japanese in this theatre.  Everything I have refers to them, but doesnt give orbats or organisational detail???

[Mark Plant]

Just use WWI Japanese organisation. There were no large scale set-piece battles, so orbats are largely irrelevant, and it is hard to see why organisational detail would change drastically.

As far as I know there are no books on the Japanese in Siberia in a western language at all. I know of some on specific aspects, but no overall history. The archives, being in Japanese, are inaccessible to most European researchers (assuming they didn't go up in smoke in WWII).

[Ignatieff]

Thanks Mark

[argsilverson]

Does anyone produce "Japanese in Overcoats" that could be used for RCW in Siberia?  Something to work with Copplestone's "Bolsheviks in Overcoats" and Brigade Games' "US Polar Bears".

The only thing is conversion.
Use Russians in geatcoats with chinese heads (peaked cap) they will fill the rank and file.

[Mysterioso]

RE Books:

The Russian Fascists: Tragedy and Farce in Exile, 1925-1945 (John J Stephan)
http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Fascists-Tragedy-Farce-1925-1945/dp/0060140992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255112637&sr=1-1

You have to read between the lines but if you do this book has some interesting information on Japanese plans in Russia during and after the RCW. 

The 'Die-Hards' in Siberia: With the Middlesex Regiment Against the Bolsheviks 1918-19 (John Ward )
http://www.amazon.com/Die-Hards-Siberia-Middlesex-Regiment-Bolsheviks/dp/1846774233/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255112847&sr=1-6

This one also has some between the lines information on the Japanese.

White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian (Jamie Bisher)
http://www.amazon.com/White-Terror-Warlords-Trans-Siberian-Military/dp/0714656909/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255111755&sr=8-1

This book was great, from what I read of it.  I got it through interlibrary loan and was only able to read some of it before I needed to return it.  The Japanese were mentioned quite a bit, though again they were not the primary focus.  I wish I could buy it, but $150.00 for a book is a bit too dear.  Maybe they will loan it me again as it is a new school year.

As Mark Plant points out, there does not seem to be anything written in English totally dedicated to the Japanese in the post WWI period.  After I read the Russian Fascists book, I looked for something on the clash between the Japanese Army's desire to push into Mongolia and China and the Japanese Navy's desire to head into Southeast Asia and could not find anything.

[Mysterioso]

I was dreading the C word!  I am far too ham-handed to pull off conversions. 

I was hoping there might be something from the Russo-Japanese War era that could be used but that does not seem to be available either.

[Mark Plant]

That Bisher book is fabulous. I would say it is the #1 historical book on the Far East at the time.

Others::
Vladivostok under red and white rule : Revolution and Counterrevolution in the Russian Far East, 1920-1922 by Canfield F. Smith. Only the later period, and only tangentially on the Japanese, but a good book.

The Japanese thrust into Siberia, 1918 by  James William Morley. This is a political book and it stops at the decision to send a large army. Only for completists.

The Destruction of Nikolaevsk-On-Amur : An Episode in the Russian Civil War in the Far East, 1920 by A. Ya. Gutman, and Richard A. Pierce. Only one episode, but if you want to get a real feel for how the Japanese thought and behaved, then this is a must read.

The Siberian Intervention by John Albert White, is an old book (1950) and I can't remember it to be honest. My notes say it is mainly about the US, but since the US were mainly there to stop the Japanese it has to be about them a bit too.

[Helen]

The Siberian Intervention by John Albert White, is an old book (1950) and I can't remember it to be honest. My notes say it is mainly about the US, but since the US were mainly there to stop the Japanese it has to be about them a bit too.

There are a few chapters that cover the Japanese intervention. I just checked my copy.

Helen