Help With Manchukuo Photo - Ranks

[Bruce Pennington]

The attached photo was listed as being of Manchukuo officers, but I noticed their gunto are Type32 and Type 95 which are both NCO gunto. I've also checked the attached charts, and though the picture detail is poor, I think I'm seeing NCO shoulder insignia.

Can anyone say for sure either way?

Thanks!

[ghp95134]

Hard to tell the rank, but look like cavalry troopers (Type 32 sabers, boots, and spurs).

-- Guy

[Ryoyo]

Any enlisted rank with the stripe in the middle of the tab is going to be a NCO. Officers will have the yellow/gold on the edges and other ranks have no stripes at all.

[Bruce Pennington]

And I don't see any yellow stripes along the edges. I think they're NCO's.

It was a significant question for me because if they were officers, as the source stated, they're all carrying NCO gunto. Which would raise the obvious question "WHY?" But I think the source was wrong. I have seen this before, where an author doesn't understand the difference between officer and NCO. I have a book by the Kapps & Yoshihara, "Modern Japanese swords and Swordsmiths, From 1868 to the Present", where they cite production numbers. They call lump officer and NCO together calling them "officers". Maybe this is the case in the source of this picture.

[Nick Komiya]

Army officers carrying a Type 95 NCO sword was legitimate practice from December 1941, so there is nothing strange about that itself. See here

[Bruce Pennington]

Exactly! And that's the other side of my pursuit of this image - It would be the first picture (to my knowledge) of the practice! Either way, it's a great picture, but it would be fabulous to have a picture of officers with NCO gunto to go along with the discussion of the shortages.

[Kiipu]

And the source of the picture can be found at the link below.
White Russian Officers in The Imperial Manchukuo Army s Asano Detachment, the all ethnic-Russian special forces in the Kwantung Army, organized for carrying out sabotage against Soviet forces in case of any Japanese invasion of Siberia. Harbin 1944. [1171 x 834] : HistoryPorn

And some more links related to the above.
http://www.chinaww2.com/2016/09/27/r...anese-emperor/

Russian soldiers of Imperial Manchukuo Army`s Asano Detachment, organizedfor sabotage against Soviet forces along the Manchurian Border some 4000 served | laststandonzombieisland