JohnB007

Thanks. I've not read or seen that, but I've read and seen lots of documentaries from the Japanese side. Once they lost air cover and naval support, the 100k troops in Rabaul were on their own. Lots of disease and malnutrition. They tried to lure the Allies into a land battle but that was futile, and of absolutely no value to the Allies. So it was a waiting game. My dad said the terrain was very difficult. Even a patrol of 6 men was very hard going. Very steep with heavy jungle. The only way to attack was either along the coast or from the sea.

Thanks Sam I've watched a lot of documentaries on WW2, particularly in the Pacific, and especially around New Britain. The Rabaul garrison was a core of their Australian invasion army. Dad said they had huge amounts of tanks, trucks, and artillery stored in caves to preserve them from Allied air strikes. However, the Allies did extensively bomb the Rabaul airfield, warehourses, barracks, port, and ships. After the Japanese navy became ineffective, it was too late for the garrison to be evacuated or even resupplied. So a scenario might have been an officer's barracks gets bombed whist he was hiding in a nearby cave or bomb shelter. Afterwards he finds his sword destroyed. There is no chance to get another "proper" suitable sword as a replacement, so he grabs the best he can find, puts on the correct tassles, and continues like everything is OK, even though the men are starving. It takes a lot to feed 100,000 men. He needed to keep up appearances for morale. Then 6 to 12 months later the war was over. Dad didn't take the sword. He said the Colonel happily gave it to him, happy that he'd survived the war. And that sword meant nothing to the Colonel as it was a "nothing" sword and he'd only had it for 6 to 12 months. It wasn't a family heirloom or valuable. That is a possible scenario but we will never know. But thanks again for giving me the information about the sword. It's a link to my long dead, very much loved father. John

Thanks Sam. This is all about personal value, and has nothing to do with monetary value. The tassles were not round like a bag tassle. Nothing like them. They were flat, tightly woven with that silver fleck, brown and bright yellow. The only thing is I can't recall the red backing. But hey, it's 60 years ago when I was a 10 year old that I'm trying to remember. I'm very pleased that I now know what the sword is, and, where and approximately when it was made. That's a huge pleasure for me. It is a shame that a little kid in rural NSW, and really also my dad, didn't know the significance of those tassles. My dad had no interest In the war. He did his bit. It happened. Two of my uncles didn't come back. One on the Burma railway and the other died in a plane crash in the North Pacific and is buried on Vancouver Island, Canada. My dad was not interested in glorifying the war. That sword, the invasion money, and a Japanese pilot's watch (long lost) were just souvenirs that were in a box in the garage. They were never displayed. I just found them and played with them. Dad had zero interest. So thanks for the information. It is great. John

Does anyone have photos of tassles used on the sword bags? What does a sword bag look like? Thanks

Thank you very much for your detailed responses. The tassle was definitely woven silk exactly the same as the photo above, except I don't remember the red backing. I remember it being very nice with the same tight weave pattern. Brown and Yellow, but I can't remember a red backing. Absolutely not leather. The scabard has the same serial number, so that matches. I've read that New Britain had 100,000+ Japanese soldiers at the war's end. They were the invasion force destined for Australia but after Midway they had no way to be transported for the invasion. As an aside we had a shoe box full of invasion money which we used when playing Monopoly and card games. I raise you 10,000 invasion dollars!! I might have a few $100,000 left but 90+% is gone. No idea where.

Oh and I just remembered that dad said he got it off a Colonel in Rabaul. My dad was a sort of commando with a Bren gun. In the later years of the war he was on jungle patrols along with an ammo carrier who carried about 20 spare bren magazines, a radio guy, and 4 or 5 guys with Owens and lots of grenades. He was probably on security detail in Rabaul during the surrender, as he was not an officer.

Another

More photos.

So here are the photos. From what I can see on the internet it's an early mass produced sword, maybe 1935. It has an aluminium handle with a copper or maybe bronze hilt. It is very solid. Until a few days ago I thought the ribbons represented the regiment, but now I realize it's the rank. The ribbons were Chocolate Brown and Bright Yellow. It was really tightly woven material just like in the photo above, but I don't remember any red. Anyway here are the photos of the sword. But the main question is, why would a General Officer have a mass produced sword? Maybe he was just from a very poor family? Maybe he was promoted very late in the war and couldn't get a fancy sword? My father was in the Solomon Islands and got the sword in 1945 after the surrender. I'll post other photos as I exceeded the upload limit.

The Yellow is correct but I can't remember it having a red backing. I just remember Chocolate Brown and Bright Yellow. Plus it was woven like that. Such a shame I threw it away. I'll post photos tomorrow of the sword, but it is an early mass produced sword from what I have seen on YouTube. Thanks John

My father brought home a sword from the Pacific Islands in 1945. I played with it in the 1960's. It was a mass produced sword and I painted it silver to look like a King Arthur type sword. (I was 10 years old, and dad didn't care.) It had chocolate brown and bright yellow tassles on it which I threw away. Now I'm looking up the story of these swords and see Brown and Yellow designate the rank of the officer. It has markings and numbers stamped on it. Is there any way to find out the history?