Here's an old kitbash I'd like to share from years ago that never saw the light of day. I thought I'd post it while waiting for my Tarawa USMC Machinegunner.
The black land combat boots and leather leggings are scratch-built. His submachine-gun is MP28, widely used by SNLF troops since the China campaigns.
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This sailor is a member of the 7TH Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF). He represents one of the crack force 1,500 SNLF defenders of Tarawa Atoll, the first major objective of the U.S. island-hopping campaign in November 1943. Along with 1,000 sailors of the 3rd Special Base Force, the Rikusentai, known in the West as "Japanese Marines", inflicted the U.S. 2nd Marine Div. 1,000 killed and missing, 2,300 wounded during the 3-day assault- one of the bloodiest in the battle history of the U.S. Marine Corps. With their backs to the sea, and re-embarkation out of the question, only the raw courage and resiliency of individual Marines saved the operation from near-disaster. When the chips are down, the Marines won the battle old fashioned style- squad level, officers in front. At the end of the battle, only 17 men of the garrison surrendered- mostly Korean laborers caught in the fighting- grim preview of things to come. Tarawa was a major lesson in amphibious warfare, learned the hard way.
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The black land combat boots and leather leggings are scratch-built. His submachine-gun is MP28, widely used by SNLF troops since the China campaigns.
This sailor is a member of the 7TH Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF). He represents one of the crack force 1,500 SNLF defenders of Tarawa Atoll, the first major objective of the U.S. island-hopping campaign in November 1943. Along with 1,000 sailors of the 3rd Special Base Force, the Rikusentai, known in the West as "Japanese Marines", inflicted the U.S. 2nd Marine Div. 1,000 killed and missing, 2,300 wounded during the 3-day assault- one of the bloodiest in the battle history of the U.S. Marine Corps. With their backs to the sea, and re-embarkation out of the question, only the raw courage and resiliency of individual Marines saved the operation from near-disaster. When the chips are down, the Marines won the battle old fashioned style- squad level, officers in front. At the end of the battle, only 17 men of the garrison surrendered- mostly Korean laborers caught in the fighting- grim preview of things to come. Tarawa was a major lesson in amphibious warfare, learned the hard way.
