Why were the Japanese Army and Navy so at odds during World War II?

There were serious disagreements between the Japanese Army and Navy during World War II. This is an open fact. There must be many reasons behind such a result, but there is only one most important reason, which is the conflict between the two armies. There are huge differences in strategic objectives.

Looking at the entire strategic layout of Japan during World War II, it can be seen that they initially adopted a strategy of going north, but then they chose to go south. While attacking the entire mainland of China, they also fought in Southeast Asia. After seizing parts of Southeast Asia, the Japanese actually wanted to form a large defense circle, relying on each island chain to form the so-called East Asia Great Defense Circle to prevent the arrival of the United States.

But generally speaking, such a strategic layout is what the Japanese Army does not want to see. This is actually the result of the strategic battle between the Japanese Army and the Japanese Navy, and the Navy won. At the beginning of the war, Japan had completely different opinions on how to use its troops. The Japanese navy advocated going south, that is, advancing south, to seize various resources in Southeast Asia and other places, especially petroleum, rubber and other resources, to sustain the needs of the war. According to this strategy, Japan is bound to harm the interests of the United States, so war with the United States is inevitable.

Due to geographical factors, what they need is to fight a decisive naval battle with the United States at sea and prevent the U.S. naval power from entering East Asia. If it develops according to this strategy, then Japan's resource investment will focus greatly on the navy, while the army can only get a pitiful allocation of resources. This is also in line with the setting of the entire World War II. The Japanese army is poor even with tanks. They couldn't afford it. The reason was very simple. They couldn't even get the most basic steel materials, and all the steel materials were given to the Japanese Navy. So much so that the Japanese Navy can afford to build dozens of aircraft carriers, but the Japanese Army cannot even build 2,000 tanks.

Because the navy has greatly occupied the army's resources, it is understandable that the Japanese army is very unhappy about this. Of course, it is worth noting that even if Japan's top brass really reverses its strategic decision and chooses the northward strategy, the Japanese navy and army will still not have a good relationship. If Japan chooses to advance north, then the Japanese army will need to attack the Soviet Union north. Its strategic purpose is to achieve convergence with Nazi Germany in the east and jointly occupy the huge Soviet continent.

Under this strategic situation, the Japanese Army will assume all major combat tasks. By that time, Japan will have to invest a large amount of money and military expenditures in the Army to help them build a military base capable of confronting the Soviet Union. With a strong army and military power, the Japanese Navy would never have the resources to build cannons and ships at that time.

Although the army and navy may have various discords due to the forces behind them and the arrogance of each other, in the final analysis, there is such a big rift in the relationship between the two services because they both Want to seize limited resources and control the entire Japan strategy. In this sense, Japan's navy and army are dissatisfied with each other, and may even hope that the other party fails, and then give themselves a chance to get ahead. This kind of relationship between the army and the navy has severely restricted Japan's war. As for countries with real strength, such as the United States, they first satisfy the navy. The navy wants money, but the army is also good. It has the Army Air Force, and the army wants money. There are no restrictions on mutual assistance between the two services. Although There are also conflicts between the military services, but the relationship seems to be relatively harmonious.