Japanese Sniper Photographs

[Type 99 Sniper]

Hello All,

Nice board and very knowledgeable people! I have an interest in photographs of Japanese snipers. In combat or just in and about. I am new and would like to say thank you in advance and greetings from Missouri.

Best,

C

[Tanaka]

Hello,

I have a couple of photos of snipers on my website which may be interesting to you, including a couple of the turtle shell armour. Have a look in Pictures on the site.
Not much but it may be of some help to you.

[MikeB]

Hi C-
There is a fellow on e-Bay, KY Gold who sells different images from his photo collection. His posts are in the Japanese WW2 section. He has one that he puts up from time to time showing a soldier in sniper gear. I see that he has a number of photos listed now, so you could check his listings. You might watch for, or write him for a copy. I'll keep my eyes open too. Welcome to the Forum! Mike

[Jareth]

I have been looking for many years for a period photo of a "real" Japanese sniper. To clarify, I mean an image of a trained sniper using a sniper (scoped) rifle. Too many times I've heard "yeah I got a sniper rifle. Took it off a sniper" Problem is any soldier using camoflage firing a standard rifle was a sniper. There are a few staged photos from both the Japanese & the U.S. signal corp but none showing a scoped rifle. I'm still waiting. Body armor wasn't always (if ever!) used by snipers.

[Type 99 Sniper]

Jareth,

I would agree with that... to much to carry around and all. Tanka I do not see a link to your web site. I might be missing something....

[cbuehler]

Actually, many times when a vet would say he got a rifle from a sniper, he was right.
In most cases, Japanese snipers (or what were thought to be snipers) were just ordinary infantryman equipped with a standard rifle who were detailed or volunteered for the job at hand. I would presume they were better shots than some of the others. The type 38 was pretty good for this as its report and muzzle flash were not great.
The actual sniper rifles were and are pretty scarce items and the attrition rate in the field for both rifle and user was probably pretty high to say the least.
As always, special equipment and skilled men were more available in the early days of the war. Ever notice that most sniper rifles existing today have ground mums and are in nice condition? Thats because most of them were obtained in Japan after the war and not on the battlefield.

CB