WORLD WAR II: JAPANESE ARMY.

Imperial Japanese army tankers's helmet and goggles. Japan: c.1941.

Imperial Japanese army tankers's helmet and goggles. Japan: c.1941. A Japanese Tanker's summer helmet, of brown waterproof hemp cloth over cork, front of helmet with small pentagonal brown cloth badge with applied five-pointed leather star. The interior is lined with black stitched leather at the rim and tan leather strips bound with cord over canvass webbing, two cloth-lined leather chinstraps on each side of the helmet. length 250mm, 160mm width.
Together with a pair of Japanese Army tank goggles, made of leather, metal and laminated glass, with elastic cloth strap fitted with brass fasteners at back. The lenses are formed of two panes for each eye, joined at 90-degree angles, to give adequate side vision. Minor wear and soiling, leather slightly dry, the elastic of goggle straps stretched.
Provenance: Recovered by a Canadian soldier at the Japanese surrender of Singapore in September 1945.

A fine example of a Japanese tanker soldier's equipment. Japan had begun to produce its own tanks from the 1920s, but from 1940-45 they produced only c. 4,400 as part of the war effort, a relatively small number compared with the US and other European powers.
This particular example has an interesting story attached to it, in that the Japanese tanker soldier who had owned it, had been part of the Japanese invasion of Singapore in February 1942, but over time graduated to being a driver of Ford cars for the Officer class. Ford had built a brand new factory in Singapore in late 1941, which the Japanese took over.