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A rare IIWW Japanese helmet
- Thread starter sksvlad
- Start date
If authentic, this "round" helmet is more probably the rarest of all Japanese Helmets, the molybdenum steel paratrooper helmet adapted from an Imperial Japanese Navy Type 3, used by the paratroopers of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF). This specially trained paratrooper units was created in in September 1941 with 2250 paratroopers, all drawn from units based in Yokosuka. made their first combat drop in the Dutch East Indies during the battle of Manado in January 1942, capturing an airfield at Longoan despite heavy casualties. The following month, the paratroopers were again deployed to cut off an Allied retreat during the Battle of Timor, in which they succeeded at the cost of nearly three quarters of their force of 300 killed. Thereafter, the depleted paratrooper force was steadily withdrawn to Yokosuka naval base and would largely remain in Japan from October, 1942 to war's end.
Note that the non-paratrooper troops of the SNLF used a more common modified type 92 helmet or even the regular Type 2 helmet (the Navy version of the type 90 Helmet).
See here for the Type 3 (though they do not understand the difference between the paratroops unit and the rest of the SNLF):
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22965/lot/65/?category=list
Additional info in this thread on the development of Japanese helmets (navy helmets begin page 8)
https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/japa...et-1918-1945-revised-expanded-version-589930/
Note that the non-paratrooper troops of the SNLF used a more common modified type 92 helmet or even the regular Type 2 helmet (the Navy version of the type 90 Helmet).
See here for the Type 3 (though they do not understand the difference between the paratroops unit and the rest of the SNLF):
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22965/lot/65/?category=list
Additional info in this thread on the development of Japanese helmets (navy helmets begin page 8)
https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/japa...et-1918-1945-revised-expanded-version-589930/
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Translates to "Fujin God"
Of the most feared Japanese Gods or deities, there were two: Raijin & Fujin - the Japanese Gods of Thunder & Wind. Fujin was the god of wind:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/103116415/FUJIN-God-Of-The-Wind/modules/593169789
Of the most feared Japanese Gods or deities, there were two: Raijin & Fujin - the Japanese Gods of Thunder & Wind. Fujin was the god of wind:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/103116415/FUJIN-God-Of-The-Wind/modules/593169789
Those kanji are usually read as kamikaze, literally meaning divine wind.