Reconnaissance regiments (Japan)

Reconnaissance regiment (Sōsaku-rentai (搜索聯隊) or Sōsaku-tai (搜索隊)) in Japanese language, was the type of the military establishment within Imperial Japanese Army in the 1940-1945 period. Reconnaissance regiment was the type of unit derived from Cavalry regiment, tasked with combat scouting. In Japanese military literature reconnaissance regiment is usually abbreviated by SO letters. These regiments were attached to the large number of the Japanese division at the opening stages of the Pacific War. In modern Japan, these regiments are equivalent to Reconnaissance battalion in the divisions of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese military commanders were frequently challenged with situations requiring reconnaissance, rapid messages transfer and using the advantages of the maneuver warfare. Such tasks in Japanese army were regularly performed by cavalry regiments (see ). Unfortunately, development and wide usage of the machine gun during First World War have exposed extreme weakness of the horseback-riding troops against any defensive positions. Simultaneously, the rapid expansion of automobile production have resulted in many experiments with motorized and mechanized cavalry across the world. Although in Japan was observed a long retention of cavalry regiments and battalions, in 1937-1938 the initial batch of seven Sōsaku-tai (reconnaissance regiments) was introduced into the army of Japan. These were renamed as Sōsaku-rentai during the great army reorganization leading to Pacific War. Since 1940, the existing cavalry regiments were also reorganized into the reconnaissance regiments. Some cavalry regiments were retained. Most notably, Imperial Guard division have kept cavalry regiment while also including reconnaissance regiment. Also, 3rd, 6th, 25th and 26th cavalry regiments were not reorganized until the end of the Pacific War. It should be noted what in Imperial Guard division cavalry regiment did include an armoured car company, and many cavalry regiments have unofficially hoarded tanks even when the 1st Tank Division (Imperial Japanese Army) was formed.

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