Moros fighting against japanese soldiers...

[paopadd]

Here a card in color, dated 1942 it represents a very rare scene of fight among moros and japanese soldiers.. .

[paopadd]

The great presence of Barungs suggest that we are in Sulu Archipelago.

[paopadd]

he japanese uniforms must be khaki, the colonial color, not light blue, isn't it ?

[VeeVee]

Hi Paolo,
Yes the uniform should be some shade of khaki, but this looks like a "comic book" illustration. I remember my old war comic books with Germans drawn wearing blue uniforms. I think even some stories with Japanese soldiers in them they were drawn wearing blue. It must be their way of clearly showing who were the adversaries of the green or khaki soldiers.

[frank]

What are the measurements of the card?

If it was made in 42' I bet the graphics were inspired from an earlier work where the characters in blue were supposed to represent blue flannel shirts, like those worn at the little big horn. Or maybe Rayadillo of the colonial army....

There is a recorded encounter in Sulu where the Japanese were taken care of.
You may see a diorama in the video at this link:
www9.gmanews.tv/video/20931/War-veterans%27-museum-features-life-size-dioramas

[insurrectomad]

The blue colour of the jap uniforms could just be an artists or printers error. Perhaps the intention was to make them a light olive green but ran short of yellow ink, or something. the picture shows too few a number of Moros to defeat the japs. For an armed patrol like that would require odds of 50 to 1, to be successful with just hand weapons I think.

[nyghtflyer]

Nice but is there any historicity attached to the drawing. Did the Moro's charged at the Japanese like this?

[79thfoot]

I'm with David on that... probably going for a more greenish hue or a more comic book style. Not at all uncommon for the period (heck, some superhero comics had the Germans in very blue 1870 style uniforms complete with pickelhaube - in the 1940s!)

[leoniii]

The Japanese marines did wear a navy blue sailor's outfit in China. But they wore sailor's caps or "cherry blossom" steel helmets with those uniforms. The main reason for the blue Japanese uniforms in this illustration was probably just to have graphic contrast from the beige color of the beach and the colors of the Moros' attire. The presence of barungs indicate these Moros were probably Tausugs. This image seems to be inspired by stories of Lapulapu's defeat of Magellan's forces on the beach at Mactan. The practical way to realistically defeat riflemen while armed with only spears and swords would be to stage a trailside ambush in the jungle or in crowded alleyways. How these Moros pulled it off on a wide open beach is a mystery. At the very least, they should have staged a grand deception such as the Samarenos did at Balangiga where many of the Filipino combatants dressed in drag to get close enough to the Americans in order to hack them to pieces as they ate breakfast. What really amuses me is the Moro warrior with the kris is actually wearing flipflops!......But the real story behind this beachside free for all was the Japanese officer's insistence that he get a 75% volume discount on the pukka shell necklaces he was buying from the Moros for his troop. His naivite' at haggling understandably infuriated the Moros who were only willing to grant a buy one get one deal. Had he kept his bargaining at the 50% off level, the Moros would have thrown in some free DVDs in the transaction.