Original Items: Only One Lot of 21 Available. Now this a fantastic and extensive collection of WWII Japanese Army Insignia. The lot includes collar rank tabs, badges, shoulder boards and much more.

The items include:

-Pair of Army Captain’s Shoulder boards. Both in great shape with some light oxidtion to the brass stars. Leather-backed with metal clips.
-Two Acting NCO Chevrons in different styles.
-Two Cadet & Warrant Officer Chevrons in different styles.
-One Major Collar Tab.
-Two 2nd Class Private rank tabs, different styles.
-Two 1st Class Private rank tabs, different styles.
-Two no insignia Private rank tabs.
-Two Sergeant tabs sewn into one piece, very thin.
-One Leading Private rank tab.
-Four double chevron unit identification tabs, red for Infantry & Tanks, dark blue for Army Air, maroon/burgundy for Veterinary Department, and light purple for Intendence Department.
-Two small TG Battalion badges. These may be for the Experimental TG Crawler truck or Trench Grenades. "TG BN'S" is how they were listed in the U.S. Army Map Service literature.

A great lot of insignia ready for further research and display.

The Imperial Japanese Army was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor of Japan as supreme commander of the army and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Later an Inspectorate General of Aviation became the third agency with oversight of the army. During wartime or national emergencies, the nominal command functions
of the emperor would be centralized in an Imperial General Headquarters (IGHQ), an ad hoc body consisting of the chief and vice chief of the Army General Staff, the Minister of the Army, the chief and vice chief of the Naval General Staff, the Inspector General of Aviation, and the Inspector General of Military Training.

In 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army had 51 divisions and various special-purpose artillery, cavalry, anti-aircraft, and armored units with a total of 1,700,000 people. At the beginning of the Second World War, most of the Japanese Army (27 divisions) was stationed in China. A further 13 divisions defended the Mongolian border, due to concerns about a possible attack by the Soviet Union. From 1942, soldiers were sent to Hong Kong (23rd Army), the Philippines (14th Army), Thailand (15th Army), Burma (15th Army), Dutch East Indies (16th Army), and Malaya (25th Army). By 1945, there were 6 million soldiers in the Imperial Japanese Army.

From 1943, Japanese troops suffered from a shortage of supplies, especially food, medicine, munitions, and armaments, largely due to submarine interdiction of supplies, and losses to Japanese shipping, which was worsened by a longstanding rivalry with the Imperial Japanese Navy. The lack of supplies caused large numbers of fighter aircraft to become unserviceable for lack of spare parts, and "as many as two-thirds of Japan's total military deaths [to result] from illness or starvation".