That's a well known photo. To my eyes I do not see an Imperial Guard emblem. It looks like one of the French insignias. Maybe it can be enlarged ? We know the Japanese looked at foreign helmets during trials.
That's a well known photo. To my eyes I do not see an Imperial Guard emblem. It looks like one of the French insignias. Maybe it can be enlarged ? We know the Japanese looked at foreign helmets during trials.
There should not be any mystery about that. He served with the French during WW1, so naturally he'll be wearing a French helmet at the front as Japan still had none of its own. It does not look like Imperial Guards insignia to me, but still it's an interesting photo. But most remarkable is the fact that he was an antisemite. Japan only won the Russo-Japanese War because of a Jewish loan, so it is ironical.
Very interesting Nick! Can you explain how or why he was an antisemite?
Ah! Just as there is a photo of Winston Churchill wearing one.
なるほど ... naruhodo! Now I see.
Thanks!
--Guy
Thanks Nick! Fascinating read!
Very nice thread. I see you include some Navy variants that are similar to their Army counterparts. What about round top Navy helmets, or heavy shipboard helmets? Do you have any information on those? Also, do you know anything about the so-called Shin-yo helmets? Recently discovered footage shows one on use on a surface warship in 1943.
Thanks!
Scott
Scott,
Sorry, but this is meant to be an army helmet thread. I only featured navy helmets for the purpose of showing how the army helmets were in comparison. Navy is not my area of interest, so I have no idea what a round top or heavy shipboard helmet is.
Regarding the so-called Shinyo helmets, besides that shipboard use in the film I identified for you (the film has been around a long time, not discovered recently) the only other with some factual background is one in khaki color marked to a navy vehicle unit, which my former colleagues in Japan assumed to be developed primarily for tanks. Shinyo apparently is only hearsay and not supported by any facts. If you want to discuss navy helmets among navy collectors, please open a new thread and not here, please.
Thanks, Nick. I became confused because there were many references to Navy helmets on this thread.
I have limited expertise so I am not sure that I am the right one to open a thread on Navy helmets.
Scott
Correction regarding the Navy's helmet type designations
I found the navy’s own definition of its steel helmet types of Type 1 to 3.
This proves that I was in error about what the Navy meant by each type. In the article, I had interpreted navy documents referring to Type 1 to mean the shallow pan style helmets used by the Shanghai Special Naval Landing Forces, and Type 2 as the Cherry blossom helmets bought from the army, Type 3 being the Type 90.
The 1932 memo dated 15th September said Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 helmets were now adopted as weapons. The chart further shows that the pan style helmet, as well as the cherry blossom helmet, were both bundled together as “Type 1 helmets” and “Type 2” referred to the army style Type 90 with the 1mm thick steel shells. And “Type 3” were “planned” helmets of the navy’s own specs, having steel shells 1.2mm thick. Perhaps that is what is meant by "heavy shipboard" helmets? A Type 3 navy helmet in large would have weighed about 1,417 grams, which is heavier than a Type 90 by about a half of a 0.5 liter bottle of Sprite.
The references to the types within my chronological accounts are accurate, as they are taken directly from navy documents, only which helmets they were referring to need to be reinterpreted. Thus as I mention in post 27, the first appearance of the Type 3 in navy issue records was late 1933.
See next page, too, for 1939 navy helmet color change.
Last edited by Nick Komiya; 01-21-2017 at 01:25 PM.
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