Introduction; Prologue; 1 Innovation and Stagnation---Issues in Japanese Tank Development; 2 A Mauling by the Red Bear---The Undeclared Border Conflicts with the Soviet Union; 3 Three: 'Don't Miss the Bus'---Stalemate in China and the Expansion of the War into South East Asia; 4 Bicycles and Tank Tracks---The Malayan Campaign; 5 From Victory to Defeat---Burma, Java, and Guadalcanal; 6 The Imitation Game---German Influences on Japanese Doctrine and Tank Design; 7 A Miracle on Tarawa---The Against all Odds Survival of Volunteer Tank Crewman Chief Petty Officer Tadao Onuki; 8 The Road to India---The Imphal Operation; 9 Breaking the Deadlock---The Continental Cross---Through Operation in China; 10 Carnage on Red Beach---Saipan; 11 'The Enemy Must Be Annihilated'---The Defence of Luzon; 12 Bloody Beaches---The Evolution of Island Defence Tactics; 13 The Last Lines of Defence---Iwo Jima and Okinawa; 14 Shattered Jade---The Homeland Defence Strategy and the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria; Epilogue; Appendix 1 The Kungchuling Mixed Brigade, Appendix 2 The Yasuoka Detachment; Appendix 3 Tank Groups; Appendix 4 The 1941 Army Mobilisation Plan; Appendix 5 Tank Divisions; Appendix 6 Japanese Armoured Tactical Principles; Appendix 7 Principal Japanese Tank Models; Appendix 8 Principal Japanese Self-Propelled Guns and Tank Destroyers, Appendix 9 Japanese Tank and Armoured Fighting Vehicle Production 1931-1945; Appendix 10 Tank Guns; Appendix 11 Communications; Appendix 12 Maintenance; Appendix 13 Tank Crews; Appendix 14 Uniforms and Equipment; Appendix 15 Tank Schools; Appendix 16 Tank Commander Kojiro Nishizumi and the Japanese propaganda machine; Bibliography.