Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in the context of "Blockade of Germany (1939–1945)"

The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN); Kyūjitai: 大日本帝國海軍 Shinjitai: 大日本帝国海軍 Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kaigun 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or 日本海軍 Nippon Kaigun, 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender in World War II. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) was formed between 1952 and 1954 after the dissolution of the IJN.

The IJN was the third largest navy in the world by 1920, behind the Royal Navy and the United States Navy (USN). It was supported by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service for reconnaissance and airstrike operations from the fleet. It was the primary opponent of the Western Allies in the Pacific War. The IJN additionally fielded limited land-based forces, including professional marines, marine paratrooper units, anti-aircraft defense units, installation and port security units, naval police units, and ad-hoc formations of sailors pressed into service as naval infantry.

The Imperial Japanese Armed Forces (IJAF, full Japanese: 帝国陸海軍, romanized: Teikoku riku-kaigun or Nippon-gun (日本軍) for short, meaning "Japanese Forces") were the unified forces of the Empire of Japan. Formed during the Meiji Restoration in 1868, they were disbanded in 1945, shortly after Japan's defeat to the Allies of World War II; the revised Constitution of Japan, drafted during the Allied occupation of Japan, replaced the IJAF with the present-day Japan Self-Defense Forces.

The Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy functioned as the IJAF's primary service branches, with the country's aerial power being split between the Army Air Service under the former and the Navy Air Service under the latter.

The Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF; Japanese: 海軍特別陸戦隊, romanized: Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai) were standalone naval infantry units in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and were a part of the IJN land forces. They saw extensive service in the Second Sino-Japanese War and in the Pacific theatre of World War II. While not existing as a dedicated naval infantry branch nor classified as "marines" by the IJN, they functioned as the infantry of the Navy, and engaged in many coastal or amphibious operations, leading to them being referred to as "Imperial marines"or simply "Japanese marines" by a number of Western sources.

The IJN's marine paratroopers were designated as SNLF units, though they were operationally subordinated to the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. IJN armored units were generally subordinated to SNLF units and fielded a variety of light tanks, medium tanks and armored cars.

Japanese marine paratroopers were the airborne forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. The paratroopers served under the Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai or Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF), the professional marines of the IJN; The SNLF itself was one of several land-based units fielded by the IJN during the interwar period and World War II. Upon the Empire of Japan's defeat in World War II, all IJN land forces were disbanded alongside the IJN proper in 1945. SNLF paratroopers should not be confused with the Imperial Japanese Army's paratroopers, known as Teishin Shudan.

SNLF paratroopers formed two battalions and were operationally subordinated to the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. SNLF airborne units were only organized on the very eve of the war, beginning in September 1941. The lightly armed parachute units were intended to be employed in ‘lightning’ strikes and raids in support of short-term strategic objectives. They were not meant to become entangled in heavy pitched battles; they were, however, utilized in such roles as the Japanese military became increasingly desperate for quality troops in the later stages of World War II.

The bombing of Chongqing (simplified Chinese: 重庆大轰炸; traditional Chinese: 重慶大轟炸, Japanese: 重慶爆撃), from 18 February 1938 to 19 December 1944, was a series of massive terror bombing operations authorized by the Empire of Japan's Imperial General Headquarters and conducted by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAF) and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAF). Resistance was put up by the Chinese Air Force and the National Revolutionary Army's anti-aircraft artillery units in defense of the provisional wartime capital of Chongqing and other targets in Sichuan.

According to incomplete statistics, a total of 268 air raids were conducted against Chongqing, involving anywhere from a few dozen to over 150 bombers per raid. These bombings were probably aimed at cowing the Chinese government, or as part of the proposed Japanese invasion of Sichuan which ultimately never occurred.

The bombing of Singapore was an attack on 8 December 1941 by seventeen G3M Nell bombers of Mihoro Air Group (Mihoro Kaigun Kōkūtai), Imperial Japanese Navy, flying from Thu Dau Mot in southern Indochina. The attack began at around 0430, shortly after Japanese forces landed on Kota Bharu, Kelantan in northern Malaya. It was the first knowledge the Singapore population had that war had broken out in the Far East.