Comes with a hand-signed C.O.A.

Size: 8 x 10 inches

This extremely rare and museum-grade World War II “TYPE ONE” U.S. Marine Corps combat photograph shows a detailed Japanese Type 97 Te-Ke tankette tank destroyed by the 4th Marine Division during the Battle of Kwajalein in 1944.

What makes this even more rare is that this TYPE ONE still has the original press hand-stamped USMC H.Q. stamp on the backside. Type One photographs are very rare as they are the first high-gloss prints from original combat negative camera images and contain the original marker stamps on the backside noting the photography information. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own an original TYPE ONE 4th Marine Division Kwajalein photograph. 

The Battle of Kwajalein was fought as part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It took place 31 January – 3 February 1944, on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Employing the hard-learned lessons of the Battle of Tarawa, the United States launched a successful twin assault on the main islands of Kwajalein in the south and Roi-Namur in the north. The Japanese defenders put up stiff resistance, although outnumbered and under-prepared. The determined defense of Roi-Namur left only 51 survivors of an original garrison of 3,500.

For the US, the battle represented both the next step in its island-hopping march to Japan and a significant morale victory because it was the first time the Americans had penetrated the "outer ring" of the Japanese Pacific sphere. For the Japanese, the battle represented the failure of the beach-line defense. Japanese defenses became prepared in depth, and the Battles of Peleliu, Guam, and the Marianas proved far more costly to the US.