Ninety-eight style
In 1938 (Imperial Age of Japan 2598), Showa 13 Decree No. 392 was promulgated to correct the army uniform system, and the Shogo-style military uniform was revised on a large scale and set it as the 98-style military uniform.
The 98-style military uniform changed the stand-up collar on the uniform to a folding collar with two hooks on the collar that allowed the collar to be closed.
The original epaulette rank was changed to the collar rank. The class-colored collar badge has been changed to a chested Yamagata class-colored emblem.
With the change of the stand-up collar to a folding collar, the appearance of the Japanese Army's uniforms changed dramatically. But many veterans and even officers like to wear old military uniforms, and the fabric of the old military uniforms is better, so the old stand-up collar and ** folding collar are allowed to be worn at the same time until the end of World War II.
The ninety-eight-style collar rank continues the four-five-style epaulette rank style. The collar badges for officers and warrant officers are parallelogram-shaped, and the collar badges for sergeants and enlisted men are rectangular and measure 18 mm wide and 40 mm long. Except for the legal officers and soldiers, who have a white background, the collar badges of the other classes have a red background.
The color of the class is the Yamagata military badge worn on the chest, which is 39 mm long and 5 mm wide. Sergeants and soldiers also had an extra 3 mm base cloth on their badges. The color of the troops continued to be four or five, and in 1940 the yellow of the technical department was added, and in 1942 the white of the legal department was added.
To facilitate the wearing of helmets, the 98-style was issued with a slightly hated hat for use as a field cap, while the large-brimmed hat was reserved for ceremonies, outings, work, and Xi. On June 1, 1938, hats were distributed as summer sun protection.
Please refer to this article: What is the use of two pieces of cloth on the hat of Japanese soldiers during the Anti-Japanese War?
Three-style
In 1943 (Showa 18), Showa 18 Decree No. 774 was corrected in the army uniform system, and minor changes were made to the 98-style military uniform, in order to adapt to the increasingly tense war situation, and finally named the three-style military uniform.
The three-style military uniform is only a small change to the ninety-eight style, and the appearance is basically unchanged, but because it is in the middle and late stages of the war, the quality of the military uniform has dropped significantly.
The biggest change to the three-style uniform is the collar badge. Because the size of the previous ninety-eight style collar badge was small and it was inconvenient to identify, the three-style increased the size of the officer's collar badge. The length of the collar badge for officers and warrant officers is 45 mm, the width of the general officer is 30 mm, the width of the colonel is 25 mm, the width of the lieutenant and warrant officer is 20 mm, the length of the sergeant badge is 40 mm and the width is 20 mm, and the length of the soldier's badge is 40 mm and the width is 18 mm. The size of the star on the collar badge has also been increased.
The five-star logo on the 98-style collar badge is arranged symmetrically, so a pair of collar badges needs to be replaced every time you are promoted. In order to save materials, the three-style collar badge has modified the five-star arrangement, one star is on the innermost side of the collar badge, and each promotion level is required to add a star next to it.
The three-style military uniform has canceled the badge of the Yamagata military department with a chest. Each military section (artillery department, cavalry department and artillery department, etc.) has no class color mark identification, and each department (management department, health department and technical department, etc.) adds a branch color identification line at the lower end of the collar badge.
In addition to the soldiers with the collar badge, officers above the warrant officer level added armband rank symbols to their winter clothes, summer clothes and summer coats, and used stripes and five stars to represent the rank and level.
During the entire Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese Army issued three military uniforms, but when the first military uniform was issued, the inventory of the old military uniform was still being issued, so the three military uniforms were used until the end of the war. Because the officers are self-purchased, some officers are still using four- or five-style epaulettes when the army uses the rank of collar badge, so the uniforms of the Japanese army are not completely unified.
Note: The following detailed explanation of military ranks has been explained in the above detailed explanation of the ranks of the Japanese Army in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-1938).
The following rank chart from top to bottom is the ninety-eight style collar badge, the three-style collar badge and the three-style armband.
Generalissimo: The rank of Generalissimo was officially established on September 30, 1889, and was the exclusive military rank of the Emperor of Japan as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, and Emperor Showa served as Generalissimo from 1925 to 1945.
Marshal General of the Army: The marshal, officially known as Marshal Army General, is an honorary title in the Japanese Army, mainly awarded to army generals with outstanding merits. The rank of the marshal is still insignia of the general, but the marshal is awarded the insignia of the marshal and the marshal's sword. The marshal was the emperor's supreme military adviser and served primarily as the commander of the general army. At the end of the war, the army had four marshals and generals, and Ishimoto Miyamoru Mamoru was the military senate (the military senate was a member of the military senate, which was a state organ in the Japanese military that replied to the emperor's important military consultations, and consisted of the marshal, the minister of the army and navy, and the chief of staff). Motoshi Sugiyama was the commander of the 1st General Army, Shunroku Habata was the commander of the 2nd General Army, and Shouichi Terauchi was the commander of the Southern General Army.
General: Army General is the highest rank actually promoted in the Japanese Army. The army generals mainly serve as chief of staff, chief of military orders, minister of the army, commander of the general army (army group) and commander of the front army (army group).
General Army: It is the largest unit formed by the Japanese Army during the war, responsible for a theater of operations. By World War II, Japan had a total of six general armies, namely: the Chinese Dispatch Army was responsible for the Chinese battlefield;The Southern Army was responsible for the South Pacific and Southeast Asian theaters;The Kwantung Army was responsible for Northeast China (Manchuria);The 1st General Army was responsible for the eastern part of the Japanese mainland;2nd General Army: responsible for the western part of the Japanese mainland;General Air Force: Responsible for the air forces of the Japanese Continental Army.
Front: It is the establishment of the second-level unit formed by the Japanese Army during the war. On July 7, 1937, the July 7 Incident broke out, and on August 31, the Chinese garrison army was reorganized into the 1st Army, and the 2nd Army was formed in the western part of North China, and the two armies were under the command of the North China Front Army, which was the first front army in the Chinese battlefield. On November 7, the Central China Front Army was formed, and on February 14, 1938, it was renamed the Central China Dispatch Army. On February 9, 1940, the South China Front Army was formed, and on June 28, 1941, it was reorganized into the 23rd Army. On September 12, 1939, the China Dispatch Army was established to command the Central China Front Army and the Central China Dispatch Army. By the end of the war, the Japanese Army had formed a total of 17 front armies.
Lieutenant General: Lieutenant generals mainly hold the positions of corps commander, division commander, deputy chief of staff, deputy chief of military command and deputy officer.
Army: Consists of 2 or more divisions. Before the start of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese Army had four corps: the Korean Army, the Kwantung Army, the Taiwan Army and the Chinese Garrison Army.
Divisions: On May 12, 1888, the original military unit Zhentai was abolished and reorganized into divisions, with a total of 6 divisions in the first batch. Divisions are the largest military units in Japan in peacetime, and when divisions are transferred outside of mainland Japan, a new left-behind division will be established in the region. The military rank of division commander is lieutenant general, and the division commander is directly subordinate to the Japanese emperor, so the status of the division commander is very high, higher than the army deputy officer and deputy chief of staff, and lower than the army minister and chief of staff. Before the end of the war, in order to train new generals, the army major general began to serve as division commanders. At the beginning of the war, an infantry division had four wings, but in the middle and late war, it was changed to three wings.
A standard 4-wing division has a full strength of about 25,000 to 28,500 people, and a standard 3-wing division has a full strength of about 15,000 to 17,000 people.
Major General: Major General mainly served as brigade commander, chief of army staff, director of the army provincial bureau and head of the General Staff Headquarters. At the end of World War II, in order to promote young generals, some major generals could even serve as division commanders.
The Japanese Army brigades are divided into intra-divisional brigades and independent mixed brigades.
The earliest brigades were temporarily formed and sent to the theater of operations, and were military units at the next level of the division, mainly infantry brigades. Unlike divisions, brigades do not have the post of chief of staff, and the adjutant is in charge of the brigade headquarters and auxiliary brigade commanders. An infantry division usually has two brigades, and an infantry brigade has two wings.
Separate mixed brigades are also known as small divisions. The first was the 1st Independent Mixed Brigade formed by the Kwantung Army in 1934, which was a mechanized unit composed of various arms. After 1938, an independent mixed brigade was formed, mainly infantry, which was mainly used to maintain law and order in the occupied areas. At this stage, the independent mixed brigade has 3 to 8 independent brigades. On the Chinese battlefield, there were 24 independent mixed brigades, which were later expanded into divisions.
Osa: Dazuo mainly serves as a wing commander, chief of staff of the division and regiment, and chief of staff headquarters.
A wing is equivalent to a regimental establishment. There were wings when the Meiji military unit was still a town, and the first to be formed was the Guards Infantry Wing in January 1874. After that, the towns began to form infantry wings. A wing is made up of soldiers from the area under its jurisdiction (wing district), so it is called a local wing. The Guards Division was stationed in Tokyo and was responsible for guarding the Emperor of Japan, so the subordinate wings came from all over the country. The Japanese Army's wings are usually composed of 3 or 4 brigades, and some other branches of the armed forces, such as the cavalry wing, are directly subordinate squadrons.
Infantry and cavalry wings were awarded the wing flag by the emperor when they were founded, while other arms did not have a wing flag and used the Rising Sun flag.
The Army Quota Order, enacted on November 1, 1890 (Meiji 23), stipulates that an infantry wing shall consist of 3 brigades and 12 squadrons in peacetime. Among them were 70 officers, 145 warrant officers and sergeants, 1,440 soldiers, 66 in various departments, a total of 1,721 men and 14 military horses.
A standard infantry wing in wartime had about 3,843 men.
Nakasa: The army lieutenant mainly serves as a team leader, a squad leader of the staff headquarters and other positions.
The brigade is equivalent to a battalion formation. An infantry brigade consists of 1 group leader, about 120 people in the brigade headquarters, 776 people in 4 squadrons, 140 people in the machine gun squadron, and 56 people in the infantry artillery squad, totaling about 1,093 people.
Shaozo: Shao Zuo mainly serves as the captain of the brigade and the deputy captain of the wing.
Captain: The lieutenant mainly holds the position of squadron leader.
A squadron is equivalent to a company formation. A standard infantry squadron consists of the squadron headquarters and 3 squads, with a total of 181 people.
Lieutenant:Lieutenants mainly hold the positions of squadron leader and squad leader.
A squad is the equivalent of a platoon. An infantry squad consisted of 3 rifle light machine gun detachments and 1 grenadier detachment, totaling about 54 people.
Second Lieutenant:The second lieutenant mainly holds the position of squad leader.
Warrant Officer:The warrant officer mainly serves as the chief of the division and the sergeant major of the company, and is in charge of the personnel work of the squadron.
Cao Chang:Commander Cao can serve as the secretary of the department, the team attached to the management position, and can also serve as the deputy commander of the team.
Jun Cao:Juncao served as a detachment leader during the war.
The detachment is equivalent to a squad formation. A detachment consisted of 13 people, including 1 squad leader, 4 machine gunners, 4 riflemen, 1 light machine gun, 4 pistols, and 8 rifles.
Wu Chang:The captain mainly serves as the commander of the detachment. It is also possible to serve as a brigade secretary, division commander, team attaché, artillery sighter and ammunition commander.
Troop Commander
Private General
Private of the first class
Private of the second class
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