WWII Japanese Sniper

Description

Certainly during wartime snipers have been always valued very highly by the lower echelon commanders, perhaps because the results are there to be seen immediately and personally. From Tarawa to the Philippines, the Rikusentai or Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces fielded the infantry that took part in the fierce defense of the Japanese Pacific Empire.* Japanese snipers exhibited the same "do or die" behavior as their Imperial forces brethren as they were motivated to die honorably in action precluding surrender as an option. This motivation certainly increased the effectiveness of the otherwise non-highly trained snipers allowing them to drift into harms way to wait for a target and gain close enough proximity for an almost guaranteed kill. The iconic imagery of the invisible Japanese sniper of the tree tops or within his spider hole should not overshadow the fact that sniping, by necessity cannot be confined to a particular venue or set of circumstances. Our sniper is depicted working alone, as usual, and is reconstructed from eyewitness descriptions (i.e., neck curtain cap, local foliage strewn camouflage cloak).