Hello again to one of my topics , this one is gonna be long.
So what I mean by overhaul ? well a correction to both names, insignia , and uniforms used by “Navy” paratroopers in game since there are small things wrong with them , but the amount of these small things actually bothers me .
Also I will give some ideas for future paratroopers , my last Japanese paratrooper topic is obsolete and also there are some mistakes in it which I will this topic will fix them and give even more Japanese paratrooper suggestion.(Hope Devs see this topic)
Below you can see the topics I will discuss
-SNLF(Special naval landing force) Paratroopers
- A brief history
- problems with these units in game and fix for them
- Ideas for new SNFL paratroopers
-Army paratroopers
- A brief history
- Ideas for new Army paratroopers
The History will be very brief but informative , I don’t want to bore you.
SNLF Paratroopers
Currently Japanese in game paratroopers, are only represent SNLF paratroopers , sometimes called Yokosuka units because of the Naval base that they were raised . These represent Navy paratrooper.
Unit Formation
Well Japanese , like many countries started organizing airborne units after the success of German paratroopers in Netherland, Belgium and especially Crete.
War minister Hideki Tojo insistence caused Japan to start organizing these units.
Always rival for everything , IJA & IJN made plans for raising paratroopers .
On November ,1940 at Yokosuka Naval base on Tokyo bay a small “study and trial” unit was raised under the command of Maso Yamabe , Officially named 1001st experimental research unit(1001 Go Jikken Kenkyu).
The group researched and on January 15th they’ve felt that they have enough information in hand to do a live jump , these live jumps were done by using pilot parachutes.
in June of 1941 the unit was moved to Teteyama ordennece school and began accepting volunteers.
In September , Navy minister, Oikawa Koshiro, ordered the formation of 2 parachute unit which they had to be ready by November for active duty.
2 units which were raised were 1st Yokosuka SNLF(Under command of Toyoaki Horiuchi) image below
And Yokosuka 2nd SNLF under command of Kiyoshi Tomonari.
On November 20th , 1941 a portion of 1st Yokosuka SNLF , would be separated to make a 3rd Airborne unit , 3rd Yokosuka SNLF(Under the command of Koichi Fukumi)
Organization
Each unit was to have 850 men with 750 being parachute ready and was to be organized as shown below.
SNLF HQ
- HQ company( aprox. 187 men)
- Signal unit
- transport unit
- Medical unit and other units such as command , anti-tank and etc.
- 3 rifle(Infantry) company (each having aprox. 198 men)
- 3 rifle platoon for each company
- HMG platoon for each company
- Company HQ(Command platoon) for each company
Welcome to Manado
On January 11, 1942, the skies above Langoan Airfield were filled with aircraft. Though Dutch forces were accustomed to Japanese air raids, this was something different.
Twenty-eight Mitsubishi G3M-L3Y1 Type 96 “Tina” transports, each carrying three crewmen and twelve paratroopers, descended upon the airfield. The force included the 1st Company, 2nd Company, Headquarters Unit, and a signal unit.
By 10:20 AM, just 28 minutes after the initial drop, all paratroopers had landed. Despite determined Dutch resistance, the airfield was overrun by 11:25 AM.
At 6:30 the next morning, a second wave of paratroopers was dropped to reinforce the captured position.
This was first combat parachute drop of the pacific.
Strategic failure
After capturing Balikpapan, the Japanese navy focused on Timor, particularly the Dutch-controlled western half. They aimed to seize the Penfui airfield near Koepang, a key Allied air stop between Australia and Java. Capturing it was crucial for the Japanese before launching their main attack on Java. The invasion of Dutch Timor was set for February 20.
In December 1941, Australia sent 1,400 soldiers, called Sparrow Force, to Dutch Timor to defend against Japanese attacks. This force included the 2/40th Infantry Battalion from Tasmania and the 2/2nd Independent Company from Western Australia, along with around 650 Dutch troops. To better defend the island, part of the Australian commandos moved into Portuguese East Timor, despite Portugal’s neutrality.
By February 1942, Brigadier General Veale took command but realized the forces were too small. Reinforcements, like the British 79th Light Antiaircraft Battery, arrived, but a key convoy was turned back by Japanese air attacks. The Australians prepared to destroy Penfui Airfield if threatened, which became critical as Japanese invasion forces approached.
The Japanese plan involved two landings: one in Portuguese East Timor and another in Dutch West Timor, plus an airborne assault on Penfui Airfield. On February 20, Japanese forces landed behind Allied defenses, forcing the Australians and Dutch to retreat east toward Champalong. Meanwhile, 308 Japanese paratroopers from the Yokosuka 3rd SNLF dropped near Usua to seize Penfui Airfield. The Allies, thinly spread and mostly made up of support personnel in the area, rushed to block the advancing paratroopers while trying to escape inland.
Ultimately, while the Yokosuka paratroopers reached the airfield, their operation was seen as a strategic failure. Poor planning — especially the drop point being too far from the airfield — and the decision to march through jungle terrain rendered the paratroopers ineffective. Casualties were heavy, with Japanese themselves believing only 78 survived the drop out of 600.
Because of these failures in Timor (and earlier in Celebes), the Japanese Navy gave up on using paratroopers in future operations. Although Japan continued expanding its conquests, naval paratroopers were no longer deployed in combat jumps. The remnants of the SNLF units were later absorbed into other forces and most were wiped out during the Battle of Saipan in 1944.
Army paratroopers
Note army paratrooper will be expanded to include a second Brigade and 3 more airborne regiment which I might talk about in squad suggestion part,
Unit Formation
Only a month after navy army started training “shock units”, these shock units were being trained at Hamamatsu airbase.
On December 1940 , first raiding training unit was created under command of Keigo Kawashima.
After research they carried their live jumps on 20th of February, 1941.
In mid-February unit moved to Ichigaya base and started training new volunteers.
Im may 1941 they were moved to Manchuria, this was done for many reasons such as Hamamatsu airbase was too small to accommodate the increased number of soldiers , and most importantly to preserve the units secrecy but Manchuria’s remoteness caused some problem and unit was moved again to Nyutabaru on the island of Kyushu.
On December first , there were enough trained soldiers ready to form 1st Raiding regiment(Dai 1 Teishin Rentai).(Under command Takeo Tekeda)
Out of five classes , first three will form the first regiment and out of the other 2 an other regiment will be formed (2nd raiding regiment which will be formed on January 1942 under command of Takeo Komura) and these two regiments will be under the 1st raiding brigade(Dai 1 Teishin Dan) under command of Col. Seiichi Kume.
Unit organization
Japanese regiment had approximately 3800 men but regiments in IJA paratroopers only had 700 men.
1st raiding brigade
- Brigade HQ
- 1st raiding regiment
- 2nd raiding regiment
- 1st raiding flying regiment
Each regiment
- Regimental HQ
- 3 rifle (Infantry) company
- Engineer company
Background
In June 1940 , after surrender of France, Japanese forces expanded into Indochina.
As retaliation to this act U.S , passed the export control act.
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Now, therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the said act of Congress, do hereby proclaim that upon the recommendation of the aforesaid Administrator of Export Control I have determined that it is necessary in the interest of the national defense that on and after August 1, 1940, the additional materials hereinafter listed shall not be exported from the United States except when authorized in each case by a license as provided for in the aforesaid proclamation:
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Petroleum products
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Tetraethyl lead
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Iron and steel scrap
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Though surprisingly the export control act didn’t include crude oil, the hope was that by not denying Japanese oil they wouldn’t wage war to meet their hunger for oil.
By spring 1941, Japan had signed 5 year peace with soviet union, this ensured Japanese backdoor was safe.
Next step for Japan was to move more soldier to Idochina, as a result of these troop movement, which indicated Japanese desire for Dutch east indies, Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in U.S and after much consideration finally put an Embargo on Crude oil.
Following in U.S footsteps Dutch east Indies also stopped selling oil to Japan.
This made the Dutch East Indies a much more significant target than it initially was.
Welcome to Palembang
By December 19, preparations were complete for Japanese army paratroopers to seize two refineries and an island. The 1st Raiding Regiment of the 1st Brigade departed Nyutabaru aboard the merchant ship Meiku Maru, but the ship caught fire during transit. Although there were no casualties, the unit lost all their equipment and became exhausted. As a result, the Army General Staff reassigned the mission to the 2nd Raiding Regiment.
The 2nd Raiding Regiment arrived in Phnom Penh on February 2. The first attack group would be airlifted using Tachikawa LO (“Thelma”) and Mitsubishi Ki-57 (“Topsy”) transport planes, while their weapon cargo would be dropped by the 98th Sentai flying Mitsubishi Ki-21 (“Sally”) bombers. images are in order “Thelma”, “Topsy” and “Sally”
A second attack group was scheduled to drop one day later using twelve Thelma planes.
At 11:20 AM, about three hours after takeoff, Japanese aircraft reached the Moesi River. The first planes to arrive over Palembang I (P1 Airfield), one of the main targets, were nine Kawasaki Ki-48 (“Lily”) bombers from the 90th Sentai.
At 11:26 AM, the first paratroopers were dropped, followed by more drops at the two refineries within a few minutes. The Japanese captured the larger Shell BMP refinery intact, but the smaller refinery was destroyed (about 80% damage) due to explosives set by the defenders. P1 Airfield was successfully captured.
And now we reach to main point of this topic a overhaul to Japanese paratroopers(This part is important )
Lets start with event paratrooper shall we
Event paratroopers
1.lets start with the image above as our reference
First order of deal is name of the paratrooper .
Like what do you mean its SNLF paratrooper , and it includes all of them , isn’t that weird since no , unit in game is named like that , I suggest to change it to an individual unit not a whole unit .(I will suggest units for SNLF paratroopers ,Darkjin can use one of them to rename this unit)
A small note thechnically paratroopers didn’t fight the battle of Kupang(Koepang) , but they were involved in Timor operation as explained above in “Welcome to TImor” part.
2.with that lets move to clothing mistakes I will include images for every mistake
Next mistake , I ask you to look at hat , in middle of it is a star right? well there shouldn’t be any star if there had to be anything there it should have been a yellow anchor.(Stars were used by army)
And for source since Darkjin will ask for it.(Read the red lines)
As you can see the navy never used the star but rather yellow anchor so I ask this to be changed into either nothing on the cap or a yellow anchor.
Also caps should have side and neck pieces(Check the illustration below)
3. Now lets move on to back, as you can see from in game image there is no back protector?/ shield which was part of the harness
Please check illustrations below
4. now with that parachute colors also are wrong(For navy paratroopers which we have in game if this was army paratrooper colors would have been right)
Again check the illustrations above and below
First illustration is of IJA type1 parachute and second one is of IJN type 1 special (Type 1 parachute was universal parachute used by both navy and army , why it is called IJA type 1 is because it was developed by army , in game navy paratroopers also use the IJA type 1 it seems) in game as you can see beside harness color, the colors are inversed , while image illustration shown here shows the parachute with yellow and dark green colors the illustration below will show it in darker color
Now you might ask what is the problem well the colors should be inversed , other wise as it stands it is Army parachute, also check source below
I ask you to refer to image 3 and you can see that yellows color with lines being dark-green which as source above and illustration showed was used by Army not navy , again in image on section 3 , a navy paratrooper should have dark green with yellow lines(When we talk about premium paratroopers , we can see the same mistake)
Oh and same should happen to reserve parachute which is worn in front (See image section 2).
5.Last point is a bit nitpicky but again I will point it out
The soldier shouldn’t carry holster , the navy paratroopers were provided with special clothes which on the right chest had specialized pocket for pistols(For historical nerds, Army provided both type 14 and type 94 pistols while navy provided paratroopers with only type 94)
The uniform seems to use that uniform.
check source and illustration
Now lets talk about “Navy” premium paratroopers(I put navy in quotation because only in name they are Navy paratroopers , you will see)
Premium "Navy" paratroopers
1. Here we go , this one is going to be long. Anyway lets start with insignia and description shall we.
First thing why you use that insignia? Is this and army paratrooper ? (Use of army star) and even if it was army paratroopers have 2 very cool insignias.
Anyway these insignia should be changed with the one used in event or if Darkjin feels fancy with different color of same insignia(White was used in summer and black in winter)
Anyhow about description the 1st Yokosuka didn’t participate in Timor operation , maybe the confused it with 1st Kure SNLF which did participate in Timor
2. like event paratroopers , these paratroopers also use army star on their helmet but also their helmet in not steel helmet used by navy but is steel helmet with fabric cover used by army.
3. Like event paratroopers , these paratroopers also should have there parachute colors inversed
4. These “Navy” paratroopers are wearing army paratroopers uniform these should be changed immediately,
As you can see there is secondary uniform above the main uniform ,smock, which was used by Army paratroopers not navy and as consequence of that uniform under this smock would be that of Army since there isn’t enough space under smock to wear a Navy paratrooper uniform.
Please check source below .
And if Darkjin isn’t lazy there is an other Navy jump suits that can replace this or they can use the same uniform as event paratrooper with angled chest pocket.
please check illustration below.
Without an with angled chest pocket.
5. last point is like event paratrooper they are missing part of the harness(back protector?/shield) and that’s funny cause even if these were based on Army paratroopers they also used that part in their harness.
please check illustration below for the use of back part of harness in army paratroopers.
and please check illustration below for navy paratroopers.
Honestly I’m tired of writing this whole topic so I’m gonna keep this section small(and only will give ideas about paratrooper mentioned in this topic). lets start with New navy paratrooper ideas.
Navy Paratrooper ideas
1-Yokosuka 1st SNLF, 1st drop group
This group was the first to drop in Manado with 338 man , this group can be further divided to make more navy paratrooper squads(check below)
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1.1- HQ unit
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1.2- Signal unit
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1.3- 1st Co.
1st company of 1st air drop group was tasked with capture of Lagoon airfield -
1.4- 2nd company
2nd company was tasked with capture of seaplane base at Kakas
2-Yokosuka 1st SNLF, 2st drop group
This group was to be dropped one day after 1st air drop group to reinforce them these group was mostly compromised of 3rd Co. so it cannot be further divided.
3-Yokosuka 1st SNLF, Lake Tondano landing group
This unit was to land on lake Tondano using flying boats the same day as 1st air drop group to provide medical and AT support. this unit can be further divided into:
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3.1- Medical section
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3.2- AT unit
abroad the plane carried a 3.7cm AT gun
4-Yokosuka 3st SNLF, 1st air drop group
These were the first group to drop in Timor can be further divided into
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4.1- HQ unit
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4.2- 1st Co.
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4.3- 3rd Co.
5-Yokosuka 3st SNLF, 2nd air drop group
These were to be dropped one day after 1st air drop group to reinforce them it was mostly composed of 2nd Co.
Let’s do the army paratroopers and be done (I’m not going to include 1st raiding regiment , or later regiment which were created in 1944)
Army paratrooper ideas
1-2nd Raiding regiment , 1st air drop group
The first air drop groups objective was to capture P1 airfield and refineries it can be further divided into:
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1.1- Regimental HQ
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1.2- Signal unit
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1.3- 4th Co.
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1.4- 3rd platoon of second Co.
All the above units were to land 1200 m South east of P1 airfield -
1.5- 2nd Co.
was to land 200m west of P1 -
1.6- 1st Co.
was to land 500m west of refineries -
1.7- 3rd platoon of 1st company
was to land 700 south of refineries
2-2nd Raiding regiment , 2st air drop group
This group was to land on airfield and aid the 1st air drop group mostly compromised of 3rd Co. of 2nd raiding regiment
Before I finish I should mention that these were not all the paratrooper units that Japan had , the units I suggested were the only ones to have real airborne missions , there were other units who had airborne missions but those were crash landings and engaging enemy type of airborne missions anyhow I maybe will make another topic covering them .
Sources for this topic:
- “Japanese paratroop forces of world war 2” book
- “Blossoming silk against rising sun” Book
- “Japanese military uniforms of 1930-1945” book
Thank you for reading this topic hope you enjoyed it.