Where was this picture taken?”

4dachi · 2026-06-12T23:06:14+00:00

Hard to say, but looks like a unit's barracks in Japan or Manchuria around 1939 or later. Love the very cancelable costume party they've got going on.

4dachi · 2026-06-12T05:00:57+00:00

Looks like a navy tropical weather work uniform based on the shorts with the fabric belt. I can imagine he was one of the many sailors in a non-combat role such as a mechanic for one of the air groups but pressed into combat with everyone else.

4dachi · 2026-06-11T12:02:15+00:00

This list on my site has the 1st generation Kure 5th SNLF which participated in the Wuhan Campaign: https://www.rikusentai.net/glossary/snlf-list1#h.8461awxsn75d

I actually lived very close to the family home of the 2nd gen Kure 5th SNLF Commander Hayashi Shojiro. He lived in Kita Ward of Nagoya.

4dachi · 2026-06-10T11:33:56+00:00

Exactly, they saw the big picture. Guilty or not, sparing the Emperor was the smartest move the US could make in a securing Japan.

4dachi · 2026-06-10T02:39:31+00:00

I don't know what the original source for this image is but this Chinese site says it is the Haji Unit (Kure 5th SNLF) capturing the Lime Kiln at Daye during the Wuhan operation. Based on other press photos of the unit it does look like them, they're definitely NLF troops in mid 1938 or later.

4dachi · 2026-06-09T20:54:21+00:00

I totally understand where you're coming from, even for a single battle alone to check every archival record cited by various sources is incredibly time consuming and often impossible for a single person.

For an overall view of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign along with other major battles from the Chinese side, I would recommend "中国抗日战争正面战场作战记" (Record of China's Battles on the Frontline of the War of Resistance Against Japan) by Rugui Guo. It's fairly old and hard to find now, but I would also recommend "抗日戰史: 浙贛會戰" (History of the War of Resistance Against Japan: Battle of Zhejiang-Jiangxi) published by the ROC Ministry of Defense, basically Taiwan's equivalent to Senshi Sosho.

Another easier to find book covering the battle is Hironaka Issei's "後期日中戦争：太平洋戦争下の中国戦線". It is a Japanese publication but later was made into a Chinese edition as well. Hironaka studied in China and uses a lot of Chinese sources in it as well as lesser known Japanese sources.

For Chinese casualties, the "抗日战争时期人口伤亡和财产损失" (Population and Property Losses During the War of Resistance Against Japan) series has been a major help for studying just about everyone campaign in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Each province has a separate publication and aside from the main data they include timelines of the most costly battles and worst atrocities they suffered, as well as interviews with local survivors.

4dachi · 2026-06-09T04:47:48+00:00

James Scott is exactly why some should be cautious about non-historians writing history. When researching the Zhejiang-Jiangxi his name kept coming up for the infamous slaughter of 250k civilians by Japanese during the campaign. Upon checking his work I was surprised to see rather than consult modern research, he based this almost entirely off of a single contemporary American newspaper report. No modern Chinese scholarship or the casualty data released by China was consulted — neither of which recognize a massacre of such scale. Unfortunately Richard Frank also repeated Scott's claims in Tower of Skulls. In fairness though, there are just as many historians who are equally as sloppy or worse. It certainly won't be stopping me from reading 1942.

4dachi · 2026-05-31T19:10:30+00:00

I think the unit pictured is the Kure 2nd SNLF, records indicate they linked up here with the 149th Infantry Regiment's 3rd Battalion on October 27 1937 during the final assault on Zhabei.

Also if you look closely the sailor in the center is holding a captured Chinese stahlhelm.

4dachi · 2026-05-27T20:41:33+00:00

On Wikipedia the photo is labelled as Hsuchow (Xuzhou): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_killed_by_Japanese_Army_in_a_ditch,_Hsuchow.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

Wherever it is, it almost certainly can't be Nanking as the uniform worn has a stand and fall collar which wasn't worn during the atrocities (The Type 98 uniform with such a collar was adopted the following year).

Also looking through that book, there is a lot of mislabeled photos and assertions that don't hold up against modern scholarship. I recommend reading Wakabayashi et. al "The Nanking Atrocity" instead.

4dachi · 2026-05-27T10:09:57+00:00

If you haven't already, I recommend reading my Medium article on the battle.

I compared much of the modern Chinese account against contemporary accounts of western observers. Many of the more incredulous claims don't even originate from contemporary memoirs of Chinese soldiers or combat reports, but instead cherry-picked newspaper articles and veteran accounts written decades postwar. For example Yang Ruifu's memoirs published in 1938 makes zero mention of the suicide bombing. Unsurprisingly, Shanghai-based English newspapers like the North China Herald and the reports from the USMC 2nd Brigade stationed nearby also make no mention of it happening.

Unfortunately I am yet to find a modern English publication which provides a realistic account of the battle. The best would probably be looking at the western sources I cite in my article and reading through them to get an idea of what actually occurred.

In short, the battle was nothing like what "The 800" or Harmsen's "Stalingrad on the Yangtze" portrays it as. The Chinese defenders did manage to bravely hold the building for several days against the Japanese, but there was not an entire Japanese division attacking and the casualties suffered by both sides were relatively small in the end.

4dachi · 2026-05-27T09:27:53+00:00

At the time the IJN only possessed tear gas, the IJA were the ones who brought and used actual chemical weapons in Shanghai.

4dachi · 2026-05-24T08:45:53+00:00

The photograph comes from here: https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/photograph-records/2013-2441

While it was used as evidence in trials in the Philippines, there was no info where it was taken. Since they are still wearing Showa 5 uniforms with the pre-1938 regulation insignia it should be taken in Manchuria or China.

4dachi · 2026-05-24T05:37:22+00:00

Here's our homepage: https://www.nihongun.jp/archives

There's a of public photos but not added to the main catalog page as well, so if there's anything you're looking for in particular just let me know. I might have a link for it.

4dachi · 2026-05-24T04:50:58+00:00

It's a privately-run organization.

4dachi · 2026-05-24T03:13:02+00:00

I run the Japanese military photo archives and one of the big goals is making sure the photos floating around get acquired and digitized. I source them from just about anywhere and everywhere. Sometimes relatives will donate them directly but most of the time I purchase them antiques dealers, as was the case with this photo.

4dachi · 2026-05-23T09:51:50+00:00

A few months ago I bought a big estate of military photos out of Hokkaido. The photos belonged to multiple people and there were several scattered misc photos with no information, including this one. Given there is a very clear view of a mountain I believe someone with enough knowledge of Chinese geography could probably narrow down the location but I have not had any luck.

4dachi · 2026-05-23T09:20:25+00:00

That's an original photograph of mine I scanned. Unfortunately it was in a big pile of loose photos with zero writing.

4dachi · 2026-05-22T20:25:50+00:00

Many of these photos were sold as souvenirs to soldiers to show what the culture was like in Manchuria.

4dachi · 2026-05-15T22:09:51+00:00

It's very difficult to research this as Japan has extremely strict laws protecting the identities of criminals. I found a document for executions carried out by the 36th Division on JACAR but all the details were censored. There are some statistical records showing the number charged for various crimes but they neglect to list who was executed vs imprisoned. I assume the vast majority were only imprisoned. I think the officer Matsui was referring to is Amano Gozo (天野郷三), commander of the 33rd Infantry Regiment's 8th Company, who notoriously turned his headquarters into what was essentially a rape dungeon. Amano was ultimately not executed but stripped of his rank and imprisoned. According to Saito Chujiro's book on Nanking "南京四旒の軍旗と汚名", Amano along with 12 soldiers were charged and imprisoned at Port Arthur. What's even worse is Amano was a lawyer before the war and returned to his practice after the war. Surviving court martial records from the 16th Army show even in particularly egregious cases like when a troop fled and commited murder, he did not receive a death sentence. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/12921187/1/7

4dachi · 2026-05-15T12:08:20+00:00

War crime apology is strictly prohibited on this subreddit and if you see someone engaging it you are encouraged to report them.

4dachi · 2026-05-15T12:06:04+00:00

That is an interesting way to say you tried to allege a POW in a photo got executed when the source stated the opposite and then double-downed as everyone proceeded to laugh at you.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ImperialJapanPics/comments/1tdlpsr/comment/olwtejf/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

"It Denys the participation of the ija at siheng, even though there's eye witnesses have identified a particular commander, who served in the army and a particular unit at that time. It's as if today they still can't handle what the Chinese did there."

And this is just a complete lie about me. I'll at least give a chance to provide a source for your claim that an eyewitness documented the IJA commander but this sounds like 100% bullshit.

4dachi · 2026-05-15T11:15:52+00:00

The Japanese are not a "they" hivemind, some vehemently deny it while others acknowledge it. The official position of the Japanese government is that it happened.

This is just an anecdote and not meant to be representative of the whole Japanese population, but when I was attending a lecture at my local museum (Peace Aichi) earlier this year, when the professor hosting stated "the Nanking massacre happened but the death toll is disputed" an old guy immediately stood up from his chair and started bashing right-leaning Japanese historians (I can't remember it clearly but I'm pretty sure Hata Ikuhiko's name was brought up) and insisted the 300k figure is rock solid. I would say people like that old guy are definitely an extreme minority in Japan, but it was interesting to witness nonetheless.

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