ARMOUR FOR SOLDIERS

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6841, 23 April 1932, Page 9

ARMOUR FOR SOLDIERS

REVIVAL IN JAPAN

A squad of Japanese soldiers marched through the streets of Shanghai recently clad in jackets of light armour that covered their bodies from the waist up. The spectacle suggested a revival of mediaeval warfare. Personal armour has been used since very early in man’s history, but it reached its greatest development during the Middle Ages. Yet armour still finds many uses, though fashions have changed so much as to make comparisons almost fantastic. The padded headguards of the Greeks and Romans gave way to the mediaeval plumed helmets and finally to the “tin hats” of the World War. The full suit of iron armour of the Middle Ages survives as the bullet-proof vest of the racketeer.