Item:
ON4592

Original WWII Japanese New Guinea Campaign Trench Art Tetsubo Helmet

Item Description

Original Item: Only One Available. This is just wonderful! A genuine WW2 Japanese helmet that was period painted by a USGI to commemorate the New Guinea Campaign and brough back the the USA as a trophy of war.

The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded the Australian-administered territories of the New Guinea Mandate (23 January) and Papua (8 March) and overran western New Guinea (beginning 29/30 March), which was a part of the Netherlands East Indies. During the second phase, lasting from late 1942 until the Japanese surrender, the Allies—consisting primarily of Australian and US forces—cleared the Japanese first from Papua, then the Mandate and finally from the Dutch colony.

The helmet is painted with a rising sun Japanese Naval flag and New Guinea underneath along the rim. The paint is period authentic and almost certain the work of a USGI who brought the helmet back as a trophy of war.

The helmet itself is a wonderful example of the classic of the Tetsubo, also colloquially called the tetsukabuto ("steel helmet") by troops. Features include:
 - original metal star applied to front.
 - Original base paint the helmet is in used condition
 - Approximate size 7 US

The Imperial Japanese Army was the official ground based armed force of Imperial Japan from 1871 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of War, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor of Japan as supreme commander of the army and the navy. Later an Inspectorate General of Military (Army) Aviation, became the third agency with oversight over 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 war, the chief and vice chief of the Naval General Staff, the inspector general of military aviation, and the inspector general of military training. The Japanese Tetsubo, also colloquially called the tetsukabuto ("steel helmet") by troops, was a mainstay of the Imperial Japanese Army from its creation in 1932. Its construction from inferior chrome-molybdenum steel limited its ability to protect the wearer from gunfire or shrapnel.

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