Original Items: Only One Lot of 2 Available. This is a fantastic pair of iconic WWII Japanese pieces of crucial equipment; a gas mask and canteen. 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".

The Items In This Lot:

- Japanese Officer’s Canteen with Cover, Cup, and Strap: These private purchase canteens were used by officer’s of all branches of the Japanese Armed Forces during WWII. It features an aluminum body with a removable small drinking cup which secures to the top. Under the cup, an aluminum topped cork stopper is still in place. The gabardine wool cover still retains all of its original functional snaps, and exhibits numerous field repairs from years of hard use. The original shoulder strap was replaced with that from a standard issue canteen, which makes sense since most of the leather shoulder straps on these tended to be shoddily made and did not hold up during a lengthy period of service.

- Original Japanese WWII Type 99 Gas Mask With Filter: The Japanese Army Model 99 gas mask was definitely the most commonly used Japanese gas mask during the war. It features a soft tan rubber face piece and an elastic/fabric head harness. A variation of the Model 99 was also issued with the filter attached directly to the face piece. The Model 99 is most likely a civilian mask but it may have been used by the military as well. Thousands of these masks were issued to civilians in case of chemical attack or for firefighting.

The Type 99 Gas Mask was a gas mask used by Japan during World War II. The ‘99’ in its name comes from the 2599th anniversary from when the first Japanese emperor took the throne.

The mask was issued in two main versions, the mask which had a hose going to a filter, and the other which didn’t and had the filter fastened directly onto the mask. The mask was also issued in different colors, brown, beige and the rare black. The most common of these masks is the hoseless beige mask. It was issued to both civilians and the military.

All variations of the Type 99 gas mask were issued in a small bag much like this example here. The masks with a hose were also given a filter carrier, which could be hung around the neck. Some of the masks had aluminum removable lens covers, so that the glass lenses could be replaced if damaged, these are fixed. Some filters were able to input a 'prefilter' which further filtered airborne chemicals and other gasses. The Type 99 is made out of rubber and covered in some form of mesh fabric (having the same texture of a sack), of which is unknown.

The condition of the mask is just a few steps below relic condition. The material is extremely stiff and dry rotted in isolated spots. The hose is in multiple pieces and very delicate. The filter is still very attractive and solid, retaining much of the original paint and markings.

Comes ready for display!