japanese commando captain Mitio Okuyama, he commanded the Giretsu Kuteitai an airborne special forces unit of the Imperial Japanese Army formed from Army paratroopers, in late 1944 as a last-ditch attempt to reduce and delay Allied bombing raids on the Japanese home islands. On the night of 24 May 1945, sixteen Ki-21 planes were dispatched for a strike, each with 14 commandos. Eight were assigned to Yontan and four to Kadena, with four more aircraft in reserve. Four aircraft aborted the mission with engine problems, and four more were shot down, however five managed to crash-land at Yontan airfield during the confusion caused by a diversionary attack by some 50 IJAAF and IJN bombers and fighters.
The 69 surviving raiders, armed with type 100 submachine guns and phosphorus grenades then wreaked havoc on the supplies and nearby aircraft, destroyed 70,000 gallons of fuel killed 5 american soldiers and ten aircraft, and damaging 29 more before being annihilated by the defenders
Hi
Thank you for your replies. Unfortunately I had to buy the antlers from ebay, (I would have liked bigger with more branches) and the base is hardwood (mahogany) I wanted a heavy wood to counter the weight of the sword.
Thanks again
Frank
PS I'd very much like to see your sword stands
Hello Frank,I don't have any photos of my nicer sword stand but here are a couple of older pictures of a cheapo stand that doesn't take up much room you can find them online I just use it to store my swords until I can do my "War Room" In the first photo 1 up from the bottom you can see another example of the "Navy/Army single Ashi, laquer Saya,Stainless blade with snapped off tang and painted bench numbers
which has since moved on.
Wow Geoff
I said the F word out loud when I opened this thread and saw your pics
Wonderful array of swords.I like the last ditch NCO sword
Thanks for posting
Frank
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