Japanese armored helmet, ca. 1930s

This helmet is the unlined summer version of the Japanese Type 92 armored helmet. It is made of brown textile and is fully padded. The wearers could adjust the width of the helmet to fit their head at the sides, the chin strap frames the ear and the inner lining is made of leather. The star for the Imperial Japanese Army can be seen on the front.

The Japanese military closely followed tank developments in Europe during the First World War. Immediately after the war, it ordered British Whippet tanks and French Renault FTs and began developing its own models in the mid-1920s. Japan put its first mass-produced tank into service in 1934, the Type 89B. Japan was also constantly observing and developing the operational doctrine of its armored units. Due to the imperialist orientation of the Japanese army, it was never designed purely for national defense. Japan’s expansionist policy led to conflicts with the Soviet Union and wars with China. Initially as a support weapon for the infantry, Japan also set up armored divisions in 1942 based on the German model. However, the operations of the Japanese army in the Second World War were hardly comparable with the European battlefields. Operational principles could not be implemented on the Pacific islands, some of which were very small, hilly, densely overgrown and had poor infrastructure, which is why Japan had to develop its own operational principles for this difficult terrain.

To crew its tanks, the Japanese army looked for recruits who ideally already had a driver’s license, technical knowledge and at least an intermediate school-leaving certificate. They were expected not only to be able to operate the complex machines, but also to maintain them. The training included an introduction to all of the vehicle’s operating stations, after which they were assigned one of the tasks in their unit: Driver, gunner, radio operator or mechanic.

In 1940, the Japanese tank fleet was the fifth largest in the world. However, in the 1930s and 1940s, the country did not yet have the economic and industrial power to produce enough tanks to fully equip its armored divisions. While around 1,500 tanks were still being produced in 1943, this figure fell to around 900 a year later. For strategic reasons, the focus for the use of raw materials, which were also limited, was on expanding the navy.