Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Second World War => Topic started by: MiniPigs on 05 November 2020, 04:34:54 AM
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Does anyone know the uniforms of the various Japanese troops on the islands in WW2 facing the US marines? I cant figure them out from a shade pov. They seem to sometimes wear a dark green, sometimes a light khaki tan and sometimes combinations of tops and bottoms in either color; sometimes with white tennis shirts.
Maybe someone knows the best source to get an overview? The Osprey books often dont really explain why some troops wear one shade over another, or even if it is a different shade or just bleached by the sun!
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As I understand it earlier in the war Japanese army uniforms were khaki or at least the tunics and trousers were, shirts could vary. The Navy’s SNLF uniforms tended to a more olive colour. As the war progressed the Army also adopted darker, more olive toned uniforms. Naturally enough there would have been transition in the adoption, exhaustion of existing stocks of older kit and the natural vagaries of different manufacturers, dye batches, environmental induced fading etc, etc.
I mix ‘n’ match mine.
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By the by, Wikipedia has a quick and dirty guide that might help you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_of_the_Imperial_Japanese_Army#M98_(98_Shiki-Gun-i)
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Also, there was a lot of fading from the sun. local soaps, etc so there was quite a range of colors represented, from almost "new" color to almost white regardless of what it might have started as. Also, sometimes uniforms needed to be replaced with local procurement.
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The bushido ethic despised physical comforts, including smart uniforms, and held that any old rag was good enough for a soldier to die and rot in. One observer in Malaya described Japanese soldiers in the field as looking like 'badly wrapped brown paper parcels'. Cut off from supply on rocks out in the ocean, Japanese soldiers often went threadbare and ragged. In tropical heat, men sometimes stripped off their uniforms and fought in their underwear. You have a lot of latitude.
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I painted my 15mm Japanese in a range of Vallejo Paints through from very Yellow "Japanese Uniform" to dark coloured "Canvas". They look ok as a group as some are in helmets and some soft caps. Adds some flavour. I was looking at Burma or islands so cut off from supply they could be anything and everything really.
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I have looked at many guides and illustrations I finally settled on this one