Translation Requests

[jeeplover]

thank you very much hisashi.

[photo-war]

Hisashi san thank you very much for translation. There are two final pages from this album, please help to translate them to complete my research!

Thanks in advance,
Alexander

[hisashi]

For a long time I wondered how this album survived. If he served to the end of war and went to POW camp, there was no hope that he kept this album. A possible explanation was his wound/sickness and he came home back with this collection. The author on top two pics seems in bedroom and wearing pajamas.

No.1 A calmness
No.2 In solitude I live in calmness, just calmness

No.3 Clouds goes over the sky so far
Man has an endless row of hangup
Lying on the grass I think of comrades
flying over Mid-China

No.4 Evening sun was still high in Changchun

[photo-war]

Hisashi san many many thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now the translation of entire album completed with your help! I appreciate it very much!

Best regards,
Alexander

[hisashi]

Hisashi san many many thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now the translation of entire album completed with your help! I appreciate it very much!

Best regards,
Alexander

Thank you for sharing your material. I hope other readers enjoyed many pics, from JASDF C-in-S in the future to Mito Komon.

[ijnfleetadmiral]

I've got two pages of a JACAR document that supposedly contain information about officers (XO, Gunnery, Engineer, etc.) of Yamato and Musashi. Anyone care to translate them? TIA for any help.

[hisashi]

海軍辞令公報 is an official circular of navy appointment. It covers all officers' appointment, but in the wartime this circular missed many appointments, intendedly (say, sealing the huge loss in Midway) or accidentally, and many posthumous promotions appeared in this circular much later. Though defense institute has most of copies from the first circular to at least until the end of war, I remember some of them are not yet available via JACAR.

補 hear meant 'appointed as'. Those images are upside down; 六七(67) precedes 六八(68).

BB Yamato launched in August 1941. In October Yamato passed with the final trial, and was commissioned in December. The appointments showed here were dated from 5 Sep 1941, but continues to uncopied page 69 and after; this circular was dated in 19 Jan 1942, showing many appointments being delayed (keeping secrets?) to circular.

宮里秀徳 (Capt.Miyazato Shutoku) , the skipper of BB Yamato (5 Sep 1941)
You see in page 68 高柳儀八 (Takayanagi Gihachi) was also named as 補大和艦長 (appointed as the skipper of BB Yamato). It was dated, though not copied here, 1 Nov 1941.

黛治夫(Cmdr.Mayuzumi Haruo), the XO (5 Sep 1941)
松田源吾(Cmdr.Matsuda Gengo), the gunnery officer (5 Sep 1941)
宮田栄造(Cmdr.Miyata Eizo), the deck officer/buntai leader (5 Sep 1941)
In IJN system 甲板士官 (kanpan shikan=deck officer) meant somewhat different assignment from deck department officer(s) in the U.S. counterpart. Kanpan shikan was a rather young officer, responsible for the discipline of petty officers and sailors, and also clean-keeping of the vessel in general. On the other hand, the job of deck department in the U.S. ship, rope work, anchoring etc. was led by 運用長 (Unyo-cho), and his department was 運用科 (unyo-ka). Though they were not craftsmen, the damage-control in combat was primarily their duty.

Typical departments on the vessel in the U.S.
https://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/navy/rfs/part04.htm

He was concurrently appointed as a buntai leader. Buntai meant, as appeared several times in this forum, a group of men assigned for a department.
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... &p=1655175
Perhaps unyo-ka staff was relatively small in number so the top leader must share some administrative work on his men.

植村正夫(Cmdr.Uemura Masao), the navigating officer(5 Sep 1941)
野崎虎雄(Cmdr.Nozaki Torao), the communication officer/buntai leader(5 Sep 1941)
野田知行(Lt.Cmdr.Noda Tomoyuki), the secondary battery(fuku-ho) master/buntai leader(5 Sep 1941)
Here fuku-ho meant her 15.5cm guns.
弥永常人(Lt.Cmdr.Yanaga Tsuneto?),the AA-gun master/buntai leader(5 Sep 1941)
常人 is a rare name so I am not sure of the reading.
Four lueutenants and two lieutenants were appointed as buntai leaders in BB Yamato. No indication of their assigned departments.
Two ensigns were appointed at the disposal of skipper, BB Yamato.
小山敏明(Maschinery Lt.Cmdr.Koyama? Toshiaki) , the maschinery officer(5 Sep 1941)
小山 often reads Oyama.
Two lieutenants and a sublieutenants of machinery were appointed as buntai leaders (for maschinery-related buntai). An ensign went at the disposal of skipper, BB Yamato.
木村芳雄(Medical Lt.Cmdr.Kimura Yoshio),the medical officer/buntai leader(5 Sep 1941)
岩渕賢治(Accounting Ensign Iwabuchi Kenji), at the disposal of skipper, BB Yamato.
Usually a battleship had an account officer, Lt.Cmdr. or Cmdr. for supply management, kitchen management and other paperworks. It seemed IJN thought for a while BB Yamato had little need of such service until she was commissioned.

In 10 Sep 1941, three more officers were assigned.
奥田重信(Lt.Cmdr.Okuda Shigenobu) , the aviation officer/buntai leader
Both in naval air group and vessels 飛行長(hiko-cho) was on paper the leader of flight crew, but in fact he was a staff officer. In CV or naval air group, they had at least one 飛行隊長 (hiko-taicho), who fled with his men, such as Fuchida in CV Akagi, Dec 1941.
In BB the senior pilot was usually a warrant officer and the others were petty officers. Sometimes a staff officer of battleship squadron concurrently acted as the hikocho of a few battleships, but it worked because aviation team in each BB was so small and administrative work was little.
山本良材 (Maschinery Cmdr.Yamamoto ????), the maintenance officer/buntai leader
工作長 kosakucho and his department 工作科 kosaku-ka was a craftsman group. Originally engineer department (機関科 kikan-ka) in the navy dealt with engines and related machines (boiler, turbine). Gradually they needed a specialist group on metal working, wood working and canvas sewing, thay was kosaku-ka. For emergent repair, some of them must be used to underwater work.
A machinery ensign was appointed at the disposal of skipper, BB Yamato.

14 cadets, 11 line and 3 machinery, were appointed to BB Yamato in 20 Sep 1941.
士官候補生 a cadet was a graduate of navy war school, not yet commissioned as an ensign. 1 Dec every year was the date cadets were commissioned. Until next December, cadets served typically an year, sometimes a few months longer. Often they experienced two vessels by the day of commission.

梶原季義(Cmdr.Kajiwara Sueyoshi), the XO (10 Oct 1941)
So BB Yamato had the second XO along with the second skipper before commissioned...
A line ensign and a medical sublieutenant was assigned to BB Yamato (31 Oct 1941)

[ijnfleetadmiral]

THANK YOU!!!

This fills in some much-wondered-about information! One of the officers that surprised me was the Surgeon...a LtCdr seems fairly junior to be appointed the initial Chief Surgeon for such an important ship. I'd imagine such a position would warrant a Surgeon Cdr who is about to be promoted Surgeon Captain.

These were just two pages of the document I have; the entire thing's 50 pages long. If you PM me your email, I'll send it to you for you to look at if you're interested.

[JCB99]

Translation request. Japanese or possibly Chinese markings on weapons. If somebody can help it would be much appreciated!

Jim

[hisashi]

THANK YOU!!!

This fills in some much-wondered-about information! One of the officers that surprised me was the Surgeon...a LtCdr seems fairly junior to be appointed the initial Chief Surgeon for such an important ship. I'd imagine such a position would warrant a Surgeon Cdr who is about to be promoted Surgeon Captain.

These were just two pages of the document I have; the entire thing's 50 pages long. If you PM me your email, I'll send it to you for you to look at if you're interested.

Ah, sorry. You are right. Correctly Medical Cmdr.Kimura Yoshio.
I am afraid to say my time is not yours. I don't want to refrain why your requests on name list are often not replied. It is very unproductive time for me to simply translate individual name knowing many of the readings are wrong and no way to find the truth. I don't accept any PM request unless privacy concern is needed, and I don't help anybody if I feel the request is too demanding. I AM NOT PRIMARILY INTERESTED IN IJA/IJN. I am now reading books about Soviet deep battle and struggling Russian Names such as Владимир Арсеньевич Меликов.

This kind of biographical research on IJA/IJN is one of the hardest nuts on IJA/IJN research. Only men of the strongest will, the deepest knowledge and of enough budget (Defense Institute Library is open only on business day) challenge and go alone, because so little number of men can catch up. Enjoy as far as your resource allows.

[ijnfleetadmiral]

I am afraid to say my time is not yours.

I apologize if it came off like I was asking you to translate the whole thing for me...I just meant I would send the document to you for your own records if you were interested.

[Akira Takizawa]

Translation request. Japanese or possibly Chinese markings on weapons. If somebody can help it would be much appreciated!

Experimental 7 Rocket
--------
54 Ho

These are in Japanese. They seem Japanese rocket weapons. But, I don't know what they are.

Taki

[JCB99]

Taki, Thank you for your translation. These are markings found on a Japanese WWII rocket launcher that is in a Museum. I was curious what the meaning of the markings. Here is a picture of a Japanese army 70mm rocket launcher.

Thanks again
Jim

[Akira Takizawa]

Jim,

I did not know that 70mm rocket is existing. Where is this museum?

Taki

[hisashi]

Perhaps this is a Type 4 70 mm AT Rocket Launcher.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_4_70_ ... t_Launcher

This Japanese stamp is from left to right, rather rare in IJA weapon. But it was sure this weapon was finished as experimental ones.