The IJA used chloroacetophenone, CN gas, better known as Mace for training. Only small amounts were enough to provoke immediate reaction, but recovery possible in 5 to 10 minutes. Horses were largely immune to it. Low dosage was already enough to force the opponent to wear masks, so the IJA saw its main use as disrupting command communication by forcing the enemy into masks. Masks were 100% effective against CN gas.
Further to post 39 about the navy's switch in weapons naming practices, I now found the official army announcement of the change, which came on 20th April 1927. So the army switched systems one year earlier than the navy.
Awesome and well researched article! Some years ago I came across this nice T-99 gas mask. The kit appears to be complete except for the anti freeze bottle
I finally picked up the small anti freeze flask to complete this mask. The anti freeze was used to keep the exhale valve from freezing up and it was also applied to the inside of the lens in freezing weather. Pretty neat how it has a little bipod so it could be stood up when using the swab.
Edit; I should have read this thread more thoroughly. I now know that the syringe antifreeze applicator replaced this metal bottle. So, my rig was already complete and correct. Still, it's an interesting accessory.
Does anyone know if a cloudy lens can be repaired by separating the two glass pieces and removing the gelatin that is between them?
Civil Defense and Gas Masks
Civil Defense and Gas Masks
An American university professor contacted me seeking some information on Japanese Civil Defense during WW2 and civilian usage of gas masks for a book project in progress. So I quickly put together what I readily had on hand, which I thought may also be of interest to members of this forum.
Although I do not actively research WW2 Japanese civil defense, a lot of forum members seem to end up buying civil defense helmets, mistaking them for army helmets, and some others even seem to find the great variety of civil gear an interesting topic of collecting on its own. Civilian gas masks, though to a lesser extent than air raid helmets, also sometimes end up as fillers for the rarer army versions. Because of such peripheral interest that others tend to have, I do try to set aside a few documents in that area in the course of my other archive studies.
As I recently went through all issues of a wartime pictorial magazine, I also paid some attention to civil defense topics, as I too was mildly curious how awareness of civil air raid defense gradually built up. My findings in that effort should give you some historical perspective to the Japanese concept of civil defense.
The August 1938 issue of the pictorial Shashin Shuhou seemed to be the very first issue that called for public attention to civil defense awareness. Though the bombings of Japan itself were still a few years away in the future, the international settlements in Shanghai were exposed to heavy bombing by the Chinese in August 1937, and Japanese citizens there were exposed to this baptism of fire, killing roughly 1500 civilians. The August 1938 issue thus became a dedicated feature to air-raid defense for the first year memorial of this tragic event.
In July 1939, a Civil Defense Group (Keibou Dan 警防団) was organized in Japan, which was like the German Luftschutz. What was simply a fire brigade before, thus took on additional responsibilities such as surveillance of airspace against raids, issuing of Raid Alarms, Blackout enforcement, traffic control, Rescue operations, countermeasures for gas attacks and providing shelters for bombed out civilians.
The establishment of this Civil Defense Force must have encouraged Showa Chemicals to feature a full-page advertisement in the November 1939 issue, featuring a civilian gas mask, a spin-off of the Army’s Type 95 mask (model 1935).
By then, WW2 had already broken out in Europe, and the “Battle of Britain” bombings of London by the Luftwaffe made all countries painfully aware of the need to protect its citizens from such air raids.
The Japanese, monitoring these developments in Europe, successfully smuggled out of England, two examples of gas masks the UK government was issuing to civilians, which were made by Siebe Gorman and approved by the UK government in May 1939. The British designations for these two models were British Civilian Duty Respirator (for Civil Defense & related use) and the Respirator, Anti-Gas, Civilian Duty (for general public use). These masks were, at the time, strictly forbidden from being taken out of the UK, so the army had to engage an unnamed UK company as intermediary in smuggling them out.
The extensive studies made by the army’s research institute on these samples did not appear to be overly impressed with these two government-issue models, but the simple designs that featured canisters integral to the mask will give birth later to Japanese civilian models of a similar design. Japanese civilian gas masks at this time, were still the more heavy-duty, army style system with a separate large canister that screwed directly onto the snout or through a hose, which were obviously too expensive for large scale distribution to the population.
Last edited by Nick Komiya; 07-25-2018 at 07:59 AM.
The 1940, 3 July issue shows how women were engaged in the manufacturing of gas masks as part of the war effort.
And the 1941, 3 September issue reflected the approaching crisis with the USA with another large general feature on how to prepare for air raids. The cover page already featured a sea of gas masks on the production line.
Last edited by Nick Komiya; 07-24-2018 at 10:31 PM.
The 1943, 4 August issue was another large feature on civil defense. Of note were articles on how to deal with American incendiary bombs.
Inspired by the German use of incendiary bombs on London, the USA launched its incendiary bomb development program and had completed their M69 bomb by 1942. Instead of sniping at munitions factories from the air, the Americans started to reason that burning down the whole city along with its factories was a more efficient approach.
These bombs would release many tubes filled with napalm that would scatter in the air after release from the bomber, and each tube, once it hit the ground, were made to bounce around while spewing burning napalm from their tail ends. These bombs became the norm for bombing by the US in summer of 1944, and razed cities like Tokyo to the ground, which were vulnerable to fire, because most housing in Japan was of wooden construction.
As a result of such a 11:50 PM raid on Kumamoto City, on 1st July 1944, which dropped 1,107 tons of incendiary bombs from 154 B29 bombers, 20% of the city was left in flames, and my grandfather's Second Class Order of the Sacred Treasure remains in our family as a blob of melted silver.
The article also shows that, by this time, the simplified gas masks similar to the 1939 British models were in use for families.
Last edited by Nick Komiya; 07-25-2018 at 07:00 AM.
I personally find the Civil Defense items interesting due to the wide variety of items and variations.My thanks to Nick for the information on this somewhat less glorious,yet equally valiant branch of service. Here are a few photos of a piece I have in my collection.
Last edited by Geoff Ward; 07-25-2018 at 05:17 PM. Reason: Fatigue
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