Something different...

[Ardee]

I noticed the SMG in your NLF photo, with a bottom-loading magazine. Can anybody identify it?

[Brady]

Thats the rifle sling, I beleave.

[tom!]

Hi.

Type 92 Battalion Gun indoors.

This is not a type 92 70 mm batallion gun but a type 94 37 mm rapid-fire infantry gun.

Yours

tom!

[Peter H]

Thanks tom!

Your expertise on weapon types is always appreciated

Peter

[Peter H]

I've posted this before.Hinomaru flags carried on the march.

[Peter H]

Officers with vests on getting a ride in

[Peter H]

Scaling near vertical positions seems a Japanese speciality.

One Australian commented at Buna:

"They are beauts at getting up the coconut trees and sniping..I can't climb them stripped,yet they can take a machine-gun up one.."

Fighting the Enemy,Mark Johnston,page 104.

[Brady]

Intereting, see the pole, looks like it was intended just for this, sectioned posably?

[tom!]

Hi.

Following a IJA field manual I bought the use of local materials like wood or coconut stems to built climbing equipment, ladders and even river crossing devices was trained.

So I would assume that it was built for that purpose.

Yours

tom!

[Peter H]

Trying to keep cool

[Sewer King]

I noticed the SMG in your NLF photo, with a bottom-loading magazine. Can anybody identify it?

Thats the rifle sling, I beleave.

The SNLF did carry 7.63mm Bergmann submachine guns, imported from Switzerland in the 1920s. These were chambered for Mauser cartridges of that caliber and could also mount the standard rifle bayonet. Although these were said to be used in the Philippines and possibly in China, I do not fully understand why the Japanese did not develop and issue submachine guns more widely than they did.

Pack horse

This mule wearing a Japanese steel helmet reminds me of the 1950s comedy movie series about Francis the Talking Mule, a US Army mule who only spoke to one soldier and no other. These were similar to the later American TV series Mister Ed, about a talking horse.

Two kinds of standard IJA pack saddles are illustrated in the standard US War Department TM-E 30-480 Handbook of Japanese Military Forces, pages 298-302. The one in this photo does not match them, but there could have been other (or older) models not shown there.

This must be the total solar eclipse of the 21st September 1941--observed in China, other parts of Asia.

Even if filters are used, isn’t viewing the sun directly through a telescope an especially dangerous way for anyone to observe a solar eclipse?

A total eclipse across parts of China would still produce partial eclipse elsewhere along its track, and as such be visible from still more parts of Asia.

I suppose that these soldiers happened to have access to a telescope for the moment, and are not particular troops that might be more likely to have such an instrument to hand, such as air force or engineers.

The women looking up at the eclipse through filters of some kind also happen to be standing under a signboard clock that reads 8:30AM. If that clock is correct, an academic check of historical astronomy might place the eclipse over a certain region of China at that time of day. Of course, that would not narrow down any one location there within a wide track of partial or full eclipse.

Not remote control cars but the latest in military radios.

These radios should be identifiable. A similar-looking Type 66, though not the same, is shown in the Handbook of Japanese Military Forces, page 309.

What type of small craft are these SNLF men on board?

Girls visit wounded soldiers

The nearest patient’s hospital robe has his rank insignia of jotohei (Superior Private) –- and his name below it?

The women are showing him what looks like a photographic album. They are wearing organizational sashes for which I can read no more than the kanji for “Japan” at the top.

Aren't they also from the same women's organization as hisashi explains in the following excerpt? This was about a illustration of Japanese home-front support:

Re: Food rations in the Japanese forces
by hisashi on Sat Dec 06, 2008 10:11 am

…a lady wears a sash which reads 国防婦人[会] (kokubo fujinkai), a Japanese domestic woman (mainly housewives) society to support soldiers.

Tank crew enjoy a drink together

The IJA did not seem to issue a drinking cup with all of its different canteens, only some kinds. Here these men are using their mess kit dishes instead, as is also seen in the “Japanese food rations” thread.

Ship band

The high-power binoculars on the tripod at right do not seem like something to be set up and left unattended. Whoever will use them will do so to the band’s music.

Another submarine,1943.I-8 at Brest,France.

The Japanese officers seem to be presenting a wreath(?)

The successful visit of I-8 to occupied France in September 1943 is well-documented in all its goodwill. There were probably many more photos taken of it that we haven’t seen, but which would be just as interesting to see.

I suppose this one below is also well-known enough from that occasion, of I-8 sailors dancing a conga line led by two Kriegsmarine officers, and it seems a dog as well:
from Dorr Carpenter and Norman Polmar’s Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy, (Naval Institute Press, 1986), page 39

Baby donkey joins the Japanese War Machine

If that is a yosegaki, it seems that it could soon get soiled this way. Maybe it is also an identification for friendly aircraft.

Indonesian PETA troops?

The troops are trailing arms, and seem to be goose-stepping.

They are wearing only one ammunition pouch each. In German Army practice this was done by soldiers in a rear area or communications zone – second-line or security troops -- while only front-line troops wore two pouches. Could the same apply here? Did Korean guards and service troops do this?

The two leading soldiers second and third from right are wearing tunics with shoulder straps, stand-and-fall collars, and seven buttons down the front. Could these be re-issue of Dutch Army clothing?

Japanese troops surrender Korea,1945. Look well equipped, groomed.

The American seems to be checking the Japanese soldier's ammunition pouch. He and the other Japanese at port arms next to him in the first photo may be the only two carrying rifles in their formation -- if they are the same troops marching away under escort in the second photo.

Good study of IJA heavy marching order. If they are homeward bound for Japan, their ex-army clothing and complete kit could be very necessary in the coming days of domestic shortages.

Wreckage from a shot down B-29

I think that the man at right is a civilian policeman. Is he wearing a bayonet sheath at his side? There seems to be little English-language study of Imperial Japanese police apart from the Kempeitai.

Can it be told what part of the plane this was? It looks like a fuel tank to me. The Germans made good use of aluminum salvaged from the Allied (and their own) warplane wrecks on their territory. Presumably the Japanese did the same when they could.

NLF

On landing force duty, did Navy sailors normally wear white gloves with "square rig" uniform? It does look dashing, but impractical for the field.

What is the nearest sailor wearing on his back? It almost looks like another yosegaki but not quite so.

Insect covers on heads.

A short, sharpened bamboo stake is stacked with the rifles in the foreground. Even though these soldiers have taken the precaution of wearing nets over their heads, their hands are still exposed.

The nearest soldier is wearing a wristwatch. How common were these among IJA soldiers? Would they have been more so among NCOs and officers?

Tank factory

A production line of Type 97(?) tank hulls. As a less-common photograph where the tanks are bright and factory-new, it is the polar opposite of more widely-published photos of IJA tanks, in which so many of them are wrecked.

Pilots visit memorial. Port Arthur?

These airmen are wearing full flying clothing, headgear, and parachute harness. Would that be unusual for something ceremonial, and depending on what the monument's inscription reads? They are stepping down from the obelisk, implying that what they were doing was when they were all standing up there on the steps a moment before. Three of them are just now putting on their flight helmets, as if they are going right to their aircraft.

Kaiten buntai sections 1945

The first photo looks conventional enough. But the second shows Navy men in field uniform (? khaki or green?), with blue peaked service caps, white gloves, and half-boots. How unusual is the combination of all these? although front-line men, and especially those dedicated to die, often do not feel so bound by regulations.

In 1944 conscription was extended to Korea ... Postcard was marked Pusan so these might be Koreans.

The soldiers are wearing old-style uniforms with old shoulder-strap rank insignia. However, I understand that the old tunics could still be found in use up through the end of the war. As in the picture of possible Indonesian PETA troops earlier, might the single ammunition pouch suggest second-line duty?

One of the recent Osprey Men-at-Arms series volumes for The Japanese Army 1931-45 has what looks like a studio portrait of three Korean soldiers in IJA uniform. The accompanying text suggests that this was unusual and that they are better turned-out than might normally be for it.

The soldier sitting with the boy in front of him does not have boots or puttees on, but apparently has an NCO’s sword. In other military portraits elsewhere, not wearing something is usually kept out of the photograph.

I expect that this photo’s subjects are all Japanese, despite the post marking. Wasn’t Pusan large enough to have a sizeable Japanese population? This is a handsome group, and like many such pictures it leads to wonder about them. Moreover the young girl is wearing a western-style dress (and hairstyle?), although I can’t tell enough of the young woman’s clothing.

Tanks in China

A dramatic shot of Type 92 Heavy Combat Cars (tankettes) crossing a plowed field. Especially since it seems to have been taken from on board one of them, with fires burning in the distance.

Construction troops

Judging from his shoulder-strapped holster the commander reviewing his formation is wearing a Model 94 pistol, the strange 8mm weapon that could fire without use of the trigger, or even with an unlocked action.

Girls in factory

They seem to be working on very fine equipment. But apparently it is not explosive munitions if they are all sitting so close together without shielding of any kind. What do their hachimaki (headbands) read?

-- Alan

[Akira Takizawa]

> Can it be told what part of the plane this was? It looks like a fuel tank to me.

Yes, you are right.

> Pilots visit memorial.Port Arthur?

They are IJAAF Kamikaze pilots of Tanshin Tai. Before they departed to the Phillipines, they visited a monument of Chukon(Loyalty) at Akeno Airfield. The link below is the page about Tanshin Tai.

http://www.geocities.jp/ikikansai2/huru ... no200.html

Taki

[Peter H]

Thanks Taki

Alan,

Your feedback is most appreciated.

..the total solar eclipse of the 21st September 1941--observed in China, other parts of Asia...

Some astrologers equate such an occurence as a bad luck sign.In hindsight some saw this event as a harbringer of the forthcoming Pacific War.Not my scene but of interest.

These radios should be identifiable. A similar-looking Type 66, though not the same, is shown in the Handbook of Japanese Military Forces, page 309.

I was wondering myself what these radios were.

..Kaiten buntai sections 1945

Being part of the submarine service I assume such garb was worn by submariners.Most of the photos I have posted of submariners show them in whites,tropical gear.Cold or winter conditions must have meant a winter type uniform?

..wearing a Model 94 pistol, the strange 8mm weapon that could fire without use of the trigger, or even with an unlocked action.

Have you got details on this weapon?How was it fired?

..Girls in factory

I know young workers were encouraged to wear hachimaki (headbands) as a sign of solidarity with the war effort.These young people also faced dangers.A lot of students from Kyūshū ended up in Hiroshima,and elsewhere, as factory workers.Death from air raids was always a possibility.

[Peter H]

Can it be told what part of the plane this was? It looks like a fuel tank to me.

Yes, you are right.

These would be self-sealed,such fuel tanks on both the B-17 and B-29s.

From: http://www.sun-inet.or.jp/~ja2tko/eng/o ... seum2.html

Fuel system

[Peter H]

Flamethrower