The Imperial Japanese Navy's Special Landing Force units enjoyed a reputation out of proportion to their small size. Often wrongly termed “Imperial Marines”, they were in fact sailors led by Naval officers, and traced their origins directly to landing parties from warships. Their true combat debut was at Shanghai in 1932; thereafter the SNLF expanded and fought in the assaults that followed Pearl Habor in 1941, and were dispersed as island garrisons during the Pacific campaigns. This book describes their uniforms and equipment in unprecedented detail, including color photos of original items from private collections.

The Imperial Japanese Navy's Special Landing Force units enjoyed a reputation out of proportion to their small size. Often wrongly termed “Imperial Marines”, they were in fact sailors led by Naval officers, and traced their origins directly to landing parties from warships. Their true combat debut was at Shanghai in 1932; thereafter the SNLF expanded and fought in the assaults that followed Pearl Habor in 1941, and were dispersed as island garrisons during the Pacific campaigns. This book describes their uniforms and equipment in unprecedented detail, including color photos of original items from private collections.

This long awaited title provides a fantastic reference resource on the uniforms, dress, flight gear and personal weaponry of the Imperial Japanese Navy airmen of World War II. It includes detailed descriptions of flight gear, including manufacture information, and interviews with IJN pilots such as Sakai, Komachi, Tanimizu, Kawato and Saito regarding the use of a variety of equipment are integrated into the text. Packed with great contemporary illustrations, photographs of original items, and colour pictures, this title provides a meticulously detailed examination of the dress and equipment of the Imperial Japanese Navy's aviators in World War II.

For the first time in English, this book offers a concise but fact-packed account of the organization, equipment, and all operations of Japan's small but elite wartime parachute forces. Correcting and amplifying previous accounts based on wartime intelligence, it traces the Imperial Army's Raiding Regiments and the Imperial Navy's parachute-trained Yokosuka 1st & 3rd Special Naval Landing Forces from the first trials units, through their successful assaults in early 1942, to the last desperate battles and raids of 1944–45. Thetext is illustrated with rare photographs, and meticulouslyreconstructed color artworkof the men and their gear.

This document presents a concise narrative of the major events which took place when Marine air and ground units were deployed to the main islands of Japan at the close of World War II. The text is based on official records, interviews with participants in the operations described, and reliable secondary sources. The pamphlet is published for the information of Marines and others interested in this significant period of Marine Corps history. The war was over, but the victory was not yet secure. Foremost among the multitude of new and pressing problems confronting Allied planners was the question of how the Japanese military would react to the sudden peace. On bypassed islands throughout the Pacific, on the mainland of Asia, and in Japan itself, over 4 million fighting men were still armed and organized for combat. Would all these men, who had proven themselves to be bitter-end, fanatical enemies even when faced with certain destruction, accept their Emperor's order to lay down their weapons? Or would some of them fight on, refusing to accept or believe the decision of their government? Logically, the focal point of Japanese physical and moral strength was the seat of Imperial rule. If Tokyo were occupied without incident, the chances for a successful and bloodless occupation of Japan and the peaceful surrender of outlying garrisons would be greatly enhanced. General MacArthur's command contributed the 11th Airborne Division to stage from Luzon through Okinawa to an airfield outside Tokyo. Admiral Nimitz ordered the Third Fleet, cruising the waters off Japan, to form a landing force from ships' complements to seize Yokosuka Naval Base in Tokyo Bay. To augment this naval force, the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific (FNFPac) was directed to provide a regimental combat team (RCT) for immediate occupation duty. These Marines, and others that followed them, were destined to play an important part in the occupation of Japan.

Following the assault on Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese military saw action across Asia, from the capture and defence of the islands of the Pacific to the occupation of territory in China and Burma. With this latest supplement for Bolt Action, players have all the information they need to build a force of the Emperor's fanatically loyal troops and campaign through some of the most brutal battles of the war.

This book is the account of the Battle of Tinian. It was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Tinian in the Mariana Islands from 24 July until 1 August 1944. The American forces eliminated the 8,000-man Japanese garrison, and the island joined Saipan and Guam as a base for the Twentieth Air Force.