China Incident Commemorative Belt Buckles/支那事变記念バックル

Medals of Asia

拜授記念 - Respectfully presented on Commemoration.jpeg

Reverse

昭和十二年 - 1937

支那事変記念 - China Incident Dispatch Commemorative

Engraved

拜授記念 - Respectfully Presented in Commemoration

Medals of Asia

Size 59.3 x 41.2mm.
Weight 51.6 g.

Dispatch to Northern China Belt Buckle.jpg

Note service mark of Japan Post 〒.

Obverse

從軍紀念 - Enlistment Commemorative

reverse

北支那派遣 - Dispatch to North China

甲第一八〇〇部隊 - A1800 Unit

野戦郵便隊 - Field Post/Military Post Corps

皇紀二六〇三年 - 1943

Medals of Asia

支那事變北支宣撫班 - China Incident North China Senbu-han Team.jpg

Obverse

Inside the star

宣 for 宣撫 - Senbu /this term was used by the Imperial Japanese Army to refer to psychological warfare operations intended to pacify local populations and accelerate the process of Japanization/

The term Senbu was used by the Imperial Japanese Army to refer to psychological warfare operations intended to pacify local populations and accelerate the process of Japanization. The first senbu team was organized in 1932 by Yaginuma Takeshi (1895–1944), a civilian employed by the Kwantung Army, as part of the preparations for the Battle of Rehe. The term comes from the Xuanfushi /宣撫使/ envoys dispatched in ancient times by Chinese states to maintain control over regions destabilized by war.

支那事變北支宣撫班 - China Incident North China Senbu-han Team

Senbu-han (Pacification Unit) was a Japanese military employee whose duty was to "stabilize/pacify people's minds" by informing them of the objectives and policies of the Japanese occupying forces. They following the main Japanese force would, through the distribution of humanitarian aid and the implementation of Japanese-funded social development projects, attempt to win the hearts and minds of the populace while also restoring the economic strength and social cohesion of society. By building a relationship of trust with the local people, the senbu projects also had the effect of gaining their voluntary cooperation, including the provision of labor and human intelligence. Continuing to fight a different kind of battle after the shooting had stopped, senbu operatives were praised as "soldiers without weapons" /武器なき戦士/. Senbu operatives operated as forestry and logging supervisors to ensure Chinese guerillas could not hide in densely forested areas. Teams were also deployed to uncover and wipe out cells of Communists, arrest Soviet military spies, and infiltrate the Chinese Communist Party in order to make arrests and assassinations.

reverse

皇紀二六ОО年 - 1940