1st Panzer Division (Japanese Empire)

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1st Panzer Division

1st-IJA-Tank-Division, -night-practice-shooting.jpg

Type 97 Chi-Ha tank of the 1st Panzer Division during a night combat target practice, Manchuria 1943
active August 1942 to 1945
Country Japanese EmpireJapanese Empire Japan
Armed forces JapanJapan (war flag) Japanese armed forces
Armed forces JapanJapan (war flag) Japanese army
Branch of service tank
Type Armored Division
Insinuation 31st Army
36th Army
Location Ning'an , Manchukuo
Nickname Taku ( 拓 , "Reclamation Division")
Butcher Second Sino-Japanese War
Pacific War
commander
commander GenLt Hoshino Toshimoto
commander GenLt Hosomi Nobuo

The 1st Panzer Division ( Japanese 戦 車 第 1 師 団 , Sensha Dai-1 Shidan ) was a tank division of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was established in 1942 and dissolved in 1945. Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Taku ( Japanese 拓 , "reclamation").

General data

The 1st Panzer Division was, along with the 2nd , 3rd and 4th , one of the Panzer divisions that were set up between 1942 and 1944. The headquarters of the Panzer Division was initially in Ning'an , Manchukuo and was relocated to Tokyo in 1945 .

History of unity

The Panzer Division was set up in August 1942 under the command of Lieutenant General Hoshino Toshimoto and initially consisted of the 1st Panzer Brigade (1st and 5th Panzer Regiments) and the 2nd Panzer Brigade (3rd and 9th tanks -Regiment), as well as the 1st Motorized Infantry Regiment, the 1st Motorized Artillery Regiment and other smaller units. The division was deployed in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo to counter potential attacks by the Soviet Union .

In July 1944, the 3rd Panzer Regiment was subordinated to the 6th Regional Army and took part in Operation Ichi-gō .

A Ha-Go tank abandoned in Guam is inspected by US soldiers.

In March 1944, the 9th Panzer Regiment of the 31st Army on Saipan and Guam was subordinated. From 15 July 1944, the Battle of Saipan , where 8,000 Marines of the American 2nd and 4th Marine Division and about 200 M4 Sherman - amphibious tanks at the two landing sections of the west coast of Saipan (codenamed Red Beach 1 and Red Beach 2 on) Country went. Colonel Goshima offered on D-Day and the following day 12 light tanks Type 95 Ha-Go , 31 medium tanks Type 97 Chi-Ha and 4 medium tanks Type 97 Shinhōtō Chi-Ha to fight the landing forces directly on the beach. With the help of tanks and bazookas , the marines were able to destroy the Japanese tanks with a few exceptions. These were destroyed towards the end of the Battle of Saipan on July 9, 1944. The 9th Panzer Regiment had been destroyed by the fighting.

In March 1945, the remnants of the 3rd Panzer Regiment were relocated to Japan in anticipation of the imminent invasion of the Allies ( Operation Downfall ), where they were subordinated to the 36th Army . It remained there until the end of the war and was dissolved in September 1945.

structure

Listed in August 1942 as follows:

  • Rod
    • 1st Panzer Brigade
      • 1st Panzer Regiment
      • 5th Panzer Regiment
    • 2nd Panzer Brigade
      • 3rd Panzer Regiment
      • 9th Panzer Regiment
    • 1st Motorized Infantry Regiment
    • 1st Motorized Artillery Regiment
    • 1st anti-aircraft unit
    • 1st tank reconnaissance unit
    • 1. Motorized anti-tank unit
    • 1st tank pioneer unit
    • 1st tank transport unit
    • 1st tank maintenance unit
    • Tank telecommunications training unit

Web links

See also

literature

  • John Underwood: The Japanese Order of Battle in World War II, Vol I The Nafziger Collection, Inc., 1999, ISBN 978-1-5854-5044-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Underwood, p. 88.
  2. ↑ THE HISTORY OF BATTLES OF IMPERIAL JAPANESE TANKS. August 6, 2014, accessed August 20, 2014 .