116th Division (Japanese Empire)

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116th Division

active May 15, 1938 to 1945
Country JapanJapan Japanese Empire
Armed forces JapanJapan (war flag) Japanese armed forces
Armed forces JapanJapan (war flag) Japanese army
Branch of service infantry
Type division
Strength approx. 18,000
Insinuation 11th Army
13th Army
20th Army
Location Kyoto
Nickname Arashi-heidan ( 嵐 兵 団 , "Storm Division")
Butcher Second Sino-Japanese War

The 116th Division ( Japanese 第 116 師 団 , Dai-116 Shidan ) was a division of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was established in 1938 and disbanded in 1945. Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Sturm-Division ( 嵐 兵 団 , Arashi-heidan ) or Arashi 6200 .

History of unity

The 116th Division was set up on May 15, 1938 under the command of Lieutenant General Shimizu Yoshishige as the Karree Division and consisted of the 119th  Brigade (109th and 120th Infantry Regiments) and the 130th Brigade (133rd and 138th Infantry Regiment). Infantry regiment) and the 120th  cavalry - regiment , the 122nd  field artillery regiment and the 116th  pioneer - and transport regiment. The headquarters of the 20,000 strong division was in Kyoto .

From the beginning of July 1938, the division was used in the Hangzhou area as part of the 11th Army for occupation purposes. In September she was relieved of the 22nd Division and, divided into several departments, transferred to the Wuhu area. Until October, she slowly worked her way up the Yangtze River, waging a guerrilla war against Chinese partisans while the main forces of the 11th Army were fighting the Battle of Wuhan . In early 1939 she was stationed on the east coast of Lake Poyang .

In October 1939 she was at Jiujiang and was assigned to the 13th Army . She spent the following months in the provinces of Hupeh , Anhwei and Kiangsi as a garrison unit and fighting partisans. In the Chinese winter offensive of 1939-1940 , it was attacked by troops of the 3rd Military Region, where it was able to hold its own with the help of parts of the 106th Division sent to support . In April 1940, she in turn attacked Qingyang , Anhui Province. Together with other divisions, it crushed the main power of the Chinese 25th Army.

In March 1943, the 116th Division was converted into a Triangular Division of the type B "Standard", giving its 138th Regiment to the 31st Division .

In January 1944, the headquarters of the division's infantry group was removed to form the basis for the 7th Independent Infantry Brigade.

The movements of Japanese troops during Operation Ichi-gō

From April 17 to December 11, 1944, the 116th Division was involved in Operation Ichi-gō , in which a total of 23 divisions with over 400,000 soldiers were involved. In May there was the fourth battle for Changsha , which this time, after the three previous battles for the city had been fought off with losses, ended victorious for the Japanese. After taking Changsha, the 116th, together with the 68th Division , attacked Hengyang on June 22nd, which had been heavily fortified by the National Revolutionary Army . The Battle of Hengyang from June 22 to August 8, 1944 was the longest battle for a city during the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the army air forces the city with firebombs  had occupied, the attack was carried out infantry . The Chinese had built their defenses with overlapping fire zones, so the Japanese casualties rose rapidly. Reinforced by three more divisions, the Japanese put pressure on the Chinese defenders and Hengyang fell on August 8th. Of the 110,000 Japanese attacking, around 30,000 were killed or wounded.

After the fighting in Hengyang ended, the remnants of the 116th Division remained in the area, and in 1945 the division was disbanded.

structure

1938

Formation on May 15, 1938 as a square division as follows:

  • 116th Infantry Division Headquarters
    • 116th Headquarters of the Infantry Group
    • 119th Brigade
      • 109th Infantry Regiment
      • 120th Infantry Regiment
    • 130th Brigade
      • 133rd Infantry Regiment
      • 138th Infantry Regiment
    • 120th Cavalry Regiment
    • 122nd Field Artillery Regiment
    • 116th Engineer Regiment
    • 116th Transport Regiment
    • 116. Signal unit
    • 116. Medical unit

1943

In March 1943 the reclassification to a type B "Standard" division as Triangular Division took place as follows:

  • 116th Division Staff (350 men)
    • 116th Staff of the Infantry Brigade (50 men)
      • 109th Infantry Regiment (3275 men)
      • 120th Infantry Regiment (3275 men)
      • 133rd Infantry Regiment (3275 men)
    • 120th Cavalry Battalion (600 men)
    • 122nd Field Artillery Regiment (2100 men; 36 75 mm mountain guns)
    • 116th Engineer Regiment (900 men)
    • 116.Signal unit (240)
    • 116th Transport Regiment (1810 men)
    • 116th Supply Company (80 men)
    • 116th Field Hospital (A field hospital with 250 men)
    • 116th water supply and treatment unit (235 men)
    • 116th Veterinary Hospital (120 men)
    • 116th Medical Unit (1110 men)

Total strength: 17,771 men

guide

Division commanders

  • Shimizu Yoshishige, Lieutenant General: May 15, 1938 - May 19, 1939
  • Shinohara Seiichiro, Lieutenant General: May 19, 1939 - October 15, 1941
  • Takeuchi Shuniiro, Lieutenant General: October 15, 1941 - June 10, 1943
  • Iwanaga Wang, Lieutenant General: June 10, 1943 - March 9, 1945
  • Hishida Motoshiro, Lieutenant General: March 9, 1945 - August 1945

See also

Web links

literature

  • John Underwood: The Japanese Order of Battle in World War II, Vol I , The Nafziger Collection, Inc., 1999, ISBN 978-1-58545-044-2
  • Victor Madej: Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle 1937–1945, Volume I + II , Game Marketing Company, 1981

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Underwood, p. 43
  2. ↑ Madej, p. 114
  3. ^ The Defense of Heng-yang. HyperWar, accessed January 29, 2015 . , English