, its recruits were primarily individuals who had previously served in the (by then defunct) United States Military. In 1943, the unit became part of the 'Imperial Japanese Expeditionary Force - Europe' due to its language commonality with Japan's allies in the British Empire. The regiment was, at first, shown contempt by the many of the Japanese officers with command over the Regiment, until its success in battle in the Italian campaign began to outshine the Japanese troops themselves. What followed was a grueling testament to American grit, as the Gaijin Regiment was sent again and again on missions considered far too difficult for a single regiment alone to complete, but nonetheless, the Regiment continued to succeed where others would fail. Before long, the Gaijin Regiment had gained a reputation for being an undefeatable unit among the Japanese, their presence alone was enough to seriously increase the morale of nearby units. By the time the battle of Genoa had begun, the Gaijin Regiment had been officially rechristened as the 666th Infantry Regiment, and was being deployed as one would deploy an elite shocktrooper unit. The unit continued fighting in Europe until the end of the war, fighting with distinction at Marseilles.Shown above is the distinctly American-style regimental insignia. The current patch was designed after the regiment was redesignated as the 666th, supposedly by a signals platoon lieutenant. The usage of 666 was deliberate, the IJA having never reached such a high number of regiments, and is believed to have been influenced by the 'White Devil' moniker. Despite the usage of such insignia being uncommon practice within the Imperial Japanese Army, it was not only retained, but officially acknowledged by the army, due to the combination of the regiment's exemplary service record and strong cultural differences. However, this practice soon influenced other units within the IJA to adopt similar unit insignia. While officially such practice is rejected by the IJA, the topic of adopting divisional insignia is currently a common topic among high-level IJA officers.Churchill, W. (1955). "". 1st ed. London, United Kingdom: Imperial Publishing, p.224.---A unit insignia from my own headcanon following the Kaiserreich mod for Hearts of Iron 2 and 4. The numbers were placed bydue to my non-existent Photoshop skills, so big thanks to them.