Japanese Naval Landing Force Group Photo

[Ryukyutunnelrat]

Aloha,

I recently aquired this photo and was wondering if anyone can identify what NLF unit this is? I also attached a closeup of who I think the units commander is. Photo is much better in person. Mahalo.

[Ryukyutunnelrat]

closeup

[Dan T.]

Wow! What a great photo!

[peleliuexplorer]

Hard to tell because of the glare/camouflage on their helmets. They sure are a tough looking lot and have an interesting machine gun in the foreground. Where did you find the pic?

-Eric

[Ryukyutunnelrat]

Hi Eric, I just recently aquired the photo, its just under 5x7 size and original. I thought it was an army unit photo as described by the individual I got it from and after getting it in the mail, realized it was a NLF unit . The photo is better in person. David.

[cbuehler]

Super photo! Of course it is impossible to tell just what unit they may be, as is virtually all Japanese military during the war, unless one could read their patches sewn to the breast. Even then, these were just names and or codes.
They actually may not be "NLF" and just another Navy ground unit cobbled together from various sources within the Navy. Note that many of the men seem rather "over the hill" which was rather common for these units. I cant make out the machine gun, but it is obviously somewhat obsolete and possibly foreign.
Contrary to popular belief, these units were not very well equiped nor trained.
The Army got the lions share of this and most of these "NLF" type units were not held in high regard by them.

CB

[Jareth]

David, great photo! My guess is NLF troops.That's a Japanese copy of the English Lewis M.G. designated type 92 used mostly by the navy. These were used on planes, ships & on a special ground mount as in your photo.

[Bob Coleman]

I concur that these are likely NLF. Note the officer in the center and the one on his left(our right). Both are wearing naval style swords with the double hanger. They are clearly not the shin gunto model with a double hanger. The grip on the sword to our right is clearly the dark painted same found on naval swords. The other officer appears to be carrying the standard shin gunto, which I know was carried by some NLF officers as its mounting was more suited to combat wear. Nice photo.

[Paul G]

I agree with what Bob said, The officer to the left appears to be carrying the "Late pattern 1944" Shin Gunto. The model which is often mislabled as the Marine landing forces sword.

PG-

[GoForBroke]

Tunnelrat: You've probably done this analysis already. Photo might be early war (late 30s to early 40s) based on the style uniforms being worn. Of course its not an absolute guarantee because many late war pictures show nearly all subjects in early uniforms. Interesting - there's an absense of sleeve insignia including no evidence of late war shield ratings. I can't make out enough detail to see that pattern 1944 sword and these guys don't look like second tier old guys to me - My guess is this is an early NLF shot. No way to tell the unit unless someone else has other shots taken at the same time and location showing only the officers with the same background and some provenance or veteran documentation. Nice photo. Reese

[Ryukyutunnelrat]

Thank you all for the observations...after looking at the photo under a magnifying glass, here is what I can make out: All the enlisted are wearing the M1937 Model NLF uniform, the Officers are wearing the M1940 Uniform, all the enlisted in the front are wearing tabi shoes, the Machine guns are Type 96's and all are wearing Navy Cloth helmet Covers with netting and heavy foliage. I also noted that none of the enlisted that I can tell are wearing any type of insignia on the right arms, but the officers have their rank insignia on the lapels. Could the enlisted have removed their insignia due to a mission they were going to perform? Only wish I could figure out where this taken and when. Its a great photo either way. Mahalo.

[Banzi64]

David, isn't that their name and rank above the pocket?