The Evolution of the Japanese Army Gas Mask (1918-1945)
Article about: The Evolution of the Japanese Army Gas Mask (1918-1945) I have been absent for the last few days with good reason. It is time to release several best kept wartime secrets, so please don't in
As we ended up discussing variations among the civilian models, let me deal with those alternatives available to citizens in a more structured manner, the way I usually do.
The variables in the devil’s alternative
Even for the most advanced military gasmasks of those times, it was impossible to protect against all conceivable types of toxic gases, as the filter would have ended up too large and heavy to be portable.
Civilian gasmasks for commercial sales had to be even more restricted in the range of gases they could protect against, in order to keep them at an affordable price point. As such, for instance, cyanide gases and carbon monoxide, which could both be encountered on the battle field, never came into consideration for civilian masks.
Each model of gasmask assumed a certain range of toxic gases that it would completely block, only partially block, or offer absolutely no protection against.
Even as of August 1940, Japan had not yet established any civilian standards for gas masks, in terms of what types of gases to anticipate in air-raid situations.
That was compounded by consumer needs to suit family budgets. Thus even Showa Chemicals alone had as many as 9 different gas mask models on offer in their 1940 catalogue.
Besides dealing with different gas types, the basic types by mask configuration were as shown in the following photo from a 1938 booklet.
The basic recommendation of experts was for civilians to purchase models with a hose connecting to the canister. The canister was held in a shoulder bag, so this way, canister size was not restricted. These were recommended for people, who had to remain in a gas-saturated environment for an extended time to assist others, and generally anticipated up to 100 hours of continuous use.
The models that had the canisters directly attached to the snout, on the other hand, had to restrict the weight of the canister, so their anticipated use was reduced to about 70 hours.
In addition to the two basic choices above, there was also the obvious poor man’s choice which was configured like a pilot’s oxygen mask, combining a mouth piece, nose clip and eye protection goggles. Still a small canister did provide approx. 2 hours of protection even in this 2-3 Yen option, so it was sufficient if only passing through a gas infested area during evacuation.
Last edited by Nick Komiya; 07-27-2018 at 11:18 AM.
Gasmasks as Commercial Goods under Wartime Price Control
When the government later introduced national control of consumer prices in October 1939 to alleviate rapid price hikes of consumer goods triggered by shortages from the drawn out war in China and the additional outbreak of WW2 in Europe, these civilian gas masks were initially exempted from price caps, but as of 6th August 1941, they too now had price caps imposed. What I indicated with a frame in red in the chart below names the types of gasmasks and chargeable maximum prices.
It covered 8 types of gas masks as follows
1. Civil Defense Gasmask Type 1 Model A--------14.50 Yen
2. Civil Defense Gasmask Type 1 Model B--------12.00 Yen
3. Civil Defense Gasmask Type 2 Model A--------10.50 Yen
4. Civil Defense Gasmask Type 2 Model B---------8.50 Yen
5. Family Model Gasmask---------------------------4.70 Yen
6. Model for infants with hose---------------------11.00 Yen
7. As above, but without hose (Showa Chem.)----5.70 Yen
8. As above, but made by Fujikura Industries-----4.70 Yen
It is clear from the above that the Type 1 masks for civil defense groups were set up with canisters that could deal with a wider range of toxic gases, making them more expensive than Type 2.
Then on 10th February, 1942 price caps on replacement filters for the models above were introduced, which I indicated with a blue frame.
And finally on 23rd March, 1942 the orange framed announcement added two new gasmasks to the price cap list. They were Type 16 Model A and Model B, costing 4.18 Yen and 5.18 Yen respectively.
This Type 16 is none other than the ultra simple household model newly developed in 1941, which resembled the citizen’s mask issued in the UK back in 1939. I also attached handling instructions for the Type 16 Model A taken from a 1944 handbook.
These price caps were in force until the end of the war, so in Japan, civilian gas masks remained an optional commercial item to be purchased and were not issued free of charge as in countries like the UK and Germany. The Soviet Union did not issue civilian gas masks either, but they ran a program in the late 30s, making it a compulsory purchase (these masks cost Russian citizens only 16 Rubles each, when a pair of shoes cost 200 Rubles. So they were almost free-of-charge issues anyway).
By the end of the war, Gyokusai of the entire 100 Million Population of Japan became the national slogan (一億総玉砕) so it really didn’t seem to matter anymore whether citizens had their masks or not.
Last edited by Nick Komiya; 07-27-2018 at 12:18 PM.
Hello, I'm working on a full story of the kmt gas protection program, you mentioned the Type 22, Type 24, Type 26 and the Italian model.
I think the Italian model is, in fact, the type 22, since the carrier is the same tall tin one. There are two different tall tins of this type, with one being blank and the other having the text and the svastica (this one also had a reproduction made).
By Type 26 do you mean the Jiehe steel factory model? As far as I know it was made in china (the filter was, for sure).
You will need to read these two top secret comprehensive IJA intelligence reports of 100 pages on exactly the subject and scope you want to write about. Post 19 of my story is based on these two documents. I do not research Chinese topics, so it will have to be your homework. Have fun.
Sorry, I did assume you could read Chinese, as you mentioned doing a full story on the KMT chemical warfare program. If you did, you would have been able to read enough of the table of contents to pick out sections for full translation.
The first report was issued on 25th February 1938 and outlines (1) Composition and Equipment of KMT Chemical Weapon Teams and the description of their arsenal is split into offensive and defensive weapons (2) How the KMT units are trained (3) Weapons development, manufacturing and logistics (4) KMT's experience in use of gas (5) Recommendations on how to employ chemical warfare against the KMT (6) IJA readiness
The second report was issued on 30th November 1938 and is topic-wise structured in the same manner as the first report, but is based on the actual experience of taking Wuhan ( epicenter of the current pandemic ) with use of chemical weapons, describing how each enemy unit was equipped, what masks were collected as booty, etc.
That is as far as I will go. Both reports have detailed tables of contents, so you should ask for a professional translation of those parts first and choose which further sections you want translated. It was only 3 or 4 years prior that the Chinese started to equip themselves with gas masks, so nearly 15 types of masks were in simultaneous use, issued in quite an uneven haphazard manner. Thus the reports do not dwell on details of each type, as there was no prevalent standard. The IJA refers to the performance of the Chinese masks comparing them against the Type 87 which was still in widest use at the time.
For RUSSM i try many time to answer you in private message but it seems not work , the reference book from who i take the picture in this thread at n 57 is a book for the people who start to collect.
The title is HEITAI: Uniforms, Equipment and Personal Items of the Japanese Soldier, 1931-1945.
.
Bookmarks