Type 99 Paratrooper

[cary m2a]

Thank You Stryker
I was just going by what I was told by someone that had been there thats all.

Cary

[Jim K]

Thanks, Stryker.

Come to think about it, I did know about the Leyte operation but thanks for the info on the Celebes and Timor attacks. I guess the Leyte attack proved, as did Market Garden, that dropping lightly armed paratroops into the middle of an alert enemy army is not the wisest thing to do.

Along those lines, I was in the First Armored Division on an exercise called Sagebrush, in Louisiana in 1955. A regiment of the 82nd Airborne dropped right into the middle of our division and was "wiped out" almost to a man. I still remember the umpires running around yelling "You're dead!" at the airborne troopers as the tankers and armored infantry battalions "hit" them with everything in the book before they could even get rid of the chutes. I never did find out if the drop was a mistake or some gung-ho officer's idea of a "surprise" attack.

Jim

[stryker]

Three sucessful airborne operations were carried out by the Japanese at the beginning of the war, two by Japanese Navy Airborne units (Japanese "Marines"):
1.) Celebes Islands, IJN 1st Tokosuka SNLF (air) dropped 334 men on 11 Jan. '42 and 185 troops the next day to seize Langoan airfield. SNLF (air)= Japanese "Marine" paratroopers.
2.) Sumatra (target Palembang airfield) IJA 2nd Parachute Regiment of 1st Parachute brigade (army) 460 troops dropped in two days.
3.) Timor Island IJN 3 Yokosuka SNLF (air) dropped 308 troopers on 20 Feb. '42 and 323 more the next day. (interesting because this was the FIRST combined paratroop/amohibious operation in tyhe history of warfare.)
A fourth and final airborne operation was tried in the Phillipines on Leyte by the Japanese Army on 6 Dec. 1944. 409 army paratroopers dropped on a network of U.S. airfields. Operation was a disaster, with the japanese forces wioped out by defending U.S. troops. A suicide mission involving crashing a stripped down bomber onto Yontan airfield on Okinawa (12 surving japanese commandos) destroyed 7 aircraft and damaged 26 plus lots of fuel and ammo. (japanese force wiped out) But this was not an "airborne" operation. Technically speaking if the weapon in question came from the Phillipines (Leyte) it could have come from a Japanese "Marine" parachutist, but it would be a rare bird! (In thqt raid IIRC they used a number of those also rare submachine guns of theirs. Hope this helps.

[WilliamT]

Makes me want to dig out mine. I think the numbers matched and it has a mum. I have not looked at it closely for some years. I will try to post some pics.

[jeep]

Wow I just seen one of these at Gunrunner,Burton Ohio . Along with several other Japanese weapons. I did not know there so rare.

[A. F Medic]

A suicide mission involving crashing a stripped down bomber onto Yontan airfield on Okinawa (12 surving japanese commandos) destroyed 7 aircraft and damaged 26 plus lots of fuel and ammo. (japanese force wiped out) But this was not an "airborne" operation. Technically speaking if the weapon in question came from the Phillipines (Leyte) it could have come from a Japanese "Marine" parachutist, but it would be a rare bird! (In thqt raid IIRC they used a number of those also rare submachine guns of theirs. Hope this helps.

When I was there, I learned to fly for a private pilot's license. We called it Yomitan. Bullet marks are still there and all over one Japanese monument. Some of the Japanese hangars are there as they were made out of cement that was poured over large dirt pile and then dug out. Clever?

When the Americans attacked Okinawa, we moved so fast that Yontan Airfield was quickly taken over. So fast, that a Jap Zero landed with it's pilot not knowing we owned it now! He went down in a blaze of gun fire.

I verified that story since it seemed unusual.