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WWII Japanese Army Helmet -
The Imperial Japanese Army was the official ground based armed force of Imperial Japan from 1871 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of War, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor of Japan as supreme commander of the army and the navy. Later an Inspectorate General of Military (Army) Aviation, became the third agency with oversight over the army. During wartime or national emergencies, the nominal command functions of the emperor would be centralized in an Imperial General Headquarters (IGHQ), an ad-hoc body consisting of the chief and vice chief of the Army General Staff, the minister of war, the chief and vice chief of the Naval General Staff, the inspector general of military aviation, and the inspector general of military training.
The item featured here is a Japanese military helmet. As issued during World War Two.
This helmet is a model 1942. The design consists of a metal shell which is fairly evenly divided.
There is not much of a visor or neckguard presence. A star has been placed in the front. however,
this is not the typical metal type but rather one made from canvis covered in a lacquer material.
Possibly a theater made star.
The dome shows two different size rivets. Small and large. The rim has an exposed finish. Most
of the original paint remains in the shell.
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Most modern military helmets saw their birth during World War One. The need to address the
multitude of head wounds in the trenches was the foundation for the widespread development
and deployment of helmets.
This section discusses several of the military helmets of the world.
The helmets from various armies came in a variety of designs. There were a large number
of different types developed. In many cases the use of the spilled over into non-military
applications such as police and civil defense. most of the helmets during WWI and WWII were
constructed of a combination of metal and leather.
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The liner is heavily modified. The original metal band remains attached to the body of the
helmet. Sections of the leather liner are still in place. A white headband with Japanese
characters has been inserted and is used as an improvised sweatband.
Japanese military helmets are more scarce because many of them were destroyed during the last months
of the war as they were melted to produce bullets. The end of the war saw even further destruction
as they were tossed into the ocean, sent to other countries for use by their military forces or
melted as scrapped iron.
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