Could be Indian Nationalist Army volunteers...
Could be Indian Nationalist Army volunteers...
Look at the difference in shin lengths!! (^____^)by DaveR
--Guy
He appears to be sitting on a board...
Clearly labelled as Shanghai, and pre the blowup. Got others from that time and place as well.... Shanghai had an odd status in the early 20th century, with "Great Nations" having more authority there than the Chinese government. It's worth remembering that the current Chinese regime has neither forgotten nor forgiven that situation.
I have linked this before, but you might still like this.... Propaganda from the Japanese point of view. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mivdkntiis
He's not an officer, he's a Petty Officer 1st Class. The sword is a personal sword, non-military issue brought with him. Not totally convinced it's Shanghai either, this would have to be after 1940 based on the uniform.
On another note, when the NLF invaded Christmas Island in 1942 the Punjabi troops under British Command and Sikh police officers had already mutinied, so the NLF were able to walk right in after an initial shelling.
There is certainly no doubting that Indian troops joined the Japanese forces, it's one of the reasons that India was partitioned post war, with Jinna rewarded for loyalty with a separate Muslim State.
The source I downloaded the photo from was clear that this was Shanghai. There was a window of opportunity here as Japan did not take over completely 'til December 1941, after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. I do like the extra detail you give about the IJN uniform. I have a number of other pic's that I am near certain also feature this gentleman.
Shanghai International Settlement - Wikipedia
Thank you for the additional information. I've come to be very skeptical of all captions I see on photos, as many times I end up coming across the true source material later on and it's a totally different place. Not a lot of new NLF came to Shanghai before the takeover in 1941 so they generally would have the earlier style uniforms from 1937 but there's some exceptions. Considering you have multiple photos all linking them to Shanghai, it's removed my doubts.
Better size
I was able to get a better size scan.
I know what you mean about dubious attributions, I think some stuff just gets put in the category that people are most familiar with. I could still be wrong, but given the source, which is reasonable accurate for most stuff, I would say, "the balance of probability" is Shanghai. One of the clues for me, is that the Sikh has a police baton or lathe rather than military equipment. The Western community in Shanghai (and elsewhere) seem to have been more that a little complacent about Japanese activity in China and saw themselves as immune from any fallout.
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