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Japanese Paratroopers Illustration. How many things are wrong?


Eric Queen
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Eric Queen

When I first started out collecting as a kid (70s/80s) I bought a number of the Osprey/Men-At-Arms books (mostly German paratroopers). The books contained mostly stock photos but every once in a while there would be something interesting in there. Another thing I really like was the artwork. I always found the illustrators interpretation of the uniforms, and how they were worn, interesting.

 

I recently had the opportunity to obtain an original (unpublished) piece from 1984 by one of the Osprey illustrators, Mike Chappell.

 

Is there anything about the illustration that is technically inaccurate? How many can you spot?

M Chappell.jpg

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That's a great acquisition Eric! Congratulations! My brother and I spent hours painting masses of war games soldiers to look like those illustrations and re-fighting battles with rulers and dice.

 

Army paratrooper: I'm not sure of the year depicted but either the zig zag arm of service patch has to go or the pocket rank patch. By the time pin-on-rank patches came in the army had ceased with collar patches and other visible service identifiers for front line overseas troops as it had become paranoid about enemy intelligence. Tsushogo, unit code names and numbers, were another symptom of the obsession.

I'm pretty sure those rifle ammunition pouches are incorrect for that machinegun too.

 

Sorry, I don't know anything about Japanese Navy items.

 

Mikie, that's a lunge mine for attacking American tanks, if working as intended it guarantees mutually assured destruction.

 

Rod

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As far as the naval paratrooper; All of the insignia are wrong. The helmet cover insignia is wrong design and color. Para patch sewn on the right sleeve never existed.....fantasy piece. Naval round rates were abolished November 1942...if that patch had existed it would have been worn on the left sleeve like other specialty insignia...but like most specialty rates, in the field they were usually eliminated from the uniform. The rank rate on the left sleeve is a post 1942 rate....wrong color combination, wrong sleeve and wrong color blossom....wrong everything. Naval personnel did wear a name patch (white cloth patch) on their uniforms but generally (not always) on the left chest. A lot of artistic license here but it looked good in the 70's and early 80's.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Eric Queen

Indeed. Many things wrong but always found these enjoyable to look at.

 

In regards to the army illustration, the helmet really looks odd to me. Does not look like a paratrooper helmet. Looks more like a steel helmet with a cloth cover which is being held on by the net.

 

As to the wearing of the paratrooper wing on the smock, or the placement of it. Who knows. In 40 years of collecting I have seen one (1) photo of the badge being worn and have seen one (1) tunic with it sewn on (which I believed)

 

The photo is a not so clear photo of a photo. I do not know who owns the original. GP gave me the copy many years ago. The man appears to we wearing the bevo version of the badge above his right pocket.

 

Has anyone ever seen a photo of the wing in wear?

JP016.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Despite all the errors, that’s a nice piece of original artwork to have Eric!

 

The bayonet on the machine gun is wrong too.

 

Regards

 

Russ

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