fujisan-ni-noboru-hinode: Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces with gas masks and rubber gloves dur
fujisan-ni-noboru-hinode: Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces with gas masks and rubber gloves during a chemical attack, Battle of Shanghai, 1937 Japanese marines landed north and south of Shanghai. This picture may have been taken on the Jiangsu coast, which is north of the city. Despite the fact that the chemical weapons were prohibited by international laws, the Imperial Japanese Army frequently used chemical weapons during the war against China. In terms of the imagery, this photo is a perfect blend of WWI and WWII. The use of poison gas in warfare is far more common and extensive in WWI and the mobile warfare was the new method during the Second World War. The other nations, including Germany, America and Britain, maintained their own chemical and bio-weapons programs during the war. Mussolini’s Italy even employed mustard gas in Ethiopia in 1935. Yet fear of retaliation deterred the major powers from using chemical or biological weapons against each other. But Imperial Japan had no such fear because China had no WMDs and no other means of massive retaliation. Moreover, Tokyo viewed the Chinese as a racially inferior enemy—one that foolishly resisted a massive Japanese army that tried for nearly a decade to subdue China. -- source link
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