Japanese Dog Tag Identification

[ghp95134]

That's an interesting site, Akira-san; I'm sure the original poster will be appreciative.

Note: you have to scroll almost all the way to the bottom of the page -- and it's a long page -- to see two of the three ID tags.

Here's one that was middle-page for Military Doctor Suzuki:



Cheers,
-- Guy

[Akira Komiya]

Guy-san:
Thank you for posting the photo of the tag.
The tag whose photo you posted is an interesting one belonging to a probationary officer Suzuki in the army health department. Contrary to what I have written, here the tag says “陸軍衛生部　見習士官” using the army prefix. The other tags in the site use just the title “軍医” without the army prefix.
The site is the most amazing collection of Japanese militaria and has tons of amazing items and must be one of, if not, the largest collections of Japanese militaria at least here in Japan.

[Akira Komiya]

I forgot to mention that the probationary doctor’s unit is given as the 2nd bridging material company in the 2nd Infantry Division “第二架橋材料中隊”.
Slightly below the photo in the site, there are a few business cards from fellow officers in the same unit.
I am not sure of the significance of the letter “補” on the second line but think it could indicate the owner’s status as a “補充兵役”- Supplementary reserve soldier called up for service.

[benpitch]

Thanks for the detailed post Akira! I was hoping to determine if it's authentic or not in addition to translating it but it seems you bring up some valid concerns which are above my head. I asked the seller for a little more info on both plates.
His response was,

"First ID tag:
thirty-four infantry regiments
4th Company
No. 182

It means the 34th Infantry Regiment.
It is famous for serving as a regiment in Shizuoka Prefecture, at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Japan.

2nd ID tag:
This is a non-simplified tag.

It was used to identify the unit to which a former Japanese army soldier belonged from a large number of people in case he was killed in battle.
For this reason, the oval brass identification tags were often engraved with the unit number to which the soldier belonged, rather than the individual soldier's name.

Sorry I'm not good at English.
Can I convey it well?

thank you"

I'll study your link with other examples. Thanks and much appreciated!
Ben

[benpitch]

Guy,
In your opinion do you think both plates look good or have any doubts that they're not authentic?

[Akira Komiya]

I can’t vouch for authenticity but at least the inscriptions in the first tag is textbook whereas the second one doesn’t make sense with the first line just saying army “陸軍”, where the unit designation should be. The seller’s answer does not answer your question at all and seems to be talking about a different tag than the one in question. Incidentally, the tag was originally sold here in January: Yahoo!オークション - 軍隊 旧日本軍 ネームプレート 認識票 軍医 装備...

[benpitch]

Got it. I'll do some more diggin on the link Akira posted! Thanks for all the help again!

Ben

[ghp95134]

Guy,
In your opinion do you think both plates look good or have any doubts that they're not authentic?

Ben, I am out of my field here and rely on Akira-san who is a seasoned collector of Japanese (and German) militaria.
I will always defer to Akira-san.

Cheers!
-- Guy

[benpitch]

Understood, thanks Guy and Akira! I'm already looking at another example which is not a doctors plate. Does this one look ok?
Thanks in advance!

Ben

[Akira Komiya]

Based on my late brother’s research, the tag is a pre-September 1940 tag belonging to an infantry man in the 1st Company of the 107 Infantry Regiment established in 1937 at Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, which was a component of the 109th Infantry Division. His personal number was 136.
The crossed out description on the reverse is too obscure to read all details but says “特歩” which is an abbreviation of “特設歩兵”- specially established infantry units which were infantry units formed from the depot units of divisions in the standing army to cope with the rapid expansion of the war in China. The 109th division was formed from the depot units of the 9th Division thus the unit designation 109, 9 with a 100 added to indicate its status. I will paste a link to the Japanese WikiPedia page for the 109th Infantry Division which you can translate using Google 第109師団 (日本軍) - Wikipedia
The tag seems fine to me but not being expert enough in dog tags, I cannot vouch for its authenticity. For that you’ll have to await input from dog tag collectors. That said, if I were collecting dog tags, I would have no problem buying this one.