Japanese Military Field Manual ?

**tony75** · 07-13-2017, 11:35 AM

Hello
What are your thoughts on this little manual.
It has fold outs and diagrams of all sorts of things.
Thank you for your time and help
Tony

**Nick Komiya** · 07-13-2017, 01:30 PM

That's a pocket-size version of the army's camp erecting manual. The first version manual for setting up camps in the field was issued in 1907, and that was further updated in 1934, which is the version you have.

From around 1938 they started to print the pocket-sized versions like yours. The manual starts out with selecting camp sites, laying out infrastructure like water supply, drainage, kitchen, toilets, etc.

It is just one of the many army manuals, so nothing rare, but extremely important for researchers like me. However, I can access all such manuals in the archives by net, so I have no need to collect them to read them for the articles I write.

The Russian and GI shaking hands is an Allied propaganda leaflet talking about the Russians now entering the war against Japan, now that Hitler's Germany had been defeated. It urges Japan to do the "one obvious thing" to save the country from imminent total destruction. It must have been printed in August 1945.

The drawing of the wheel you are holding is of a manpowered well boring machine still being taught for use in assisting third world developing countries. They can bore down 500 meters with manpower only.

**Nick Komiya** · 07-13-2017, 03:13 PM

Here's an English video showing the simplified version of the Kazusabori Well Boring technique invented in Japan in the 1890s, which is now taught by the Japanese foreign aid program for use in Africa, etc. The IJA used bamboo strips to dig deeper using the big wheel to wind it up, but the principle is the same.

The IJA type contraption was used like below.