12th Regional Army
12th Regional Army |
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The green area largely marks the operational area of the 12th Regional Army. The circle in the middle is Tokyo . The black markings are planned Allied attacks within Operation Downfall . |
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active | February 1, 1945 to September 1945 |
Country | Japanese Empire |
Armed forces | Japanese armed forces |
Armed forces | Japanese army |
Branch of service | infantry |
Type | army |
Strength | approx. 400,000 |
Insinuation | 1st main army |
Location | Tokyo |
Nickname | Hata ( 幡 , "banner") |
Butcher | Pacific War |
Supreme command | |
list of | Commander in chief |
The 12th Regional Army ( Japanese 第 12 方面軍 , Dai-jūni hōmengun ) was one of the regional armies of the Imperial Japanese Army in 1945 . Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Banner ( 幡 , Hata ).
history
In the second half of 1944, the Japanese high command (upgraded Imperial General Headquarters ) for the anticipated landing of the Allies by these Operation Downfall was called. To this end they pulled troops mainly from Manchuria and the Chinese mainland to the mainland Japan and Formosa back.
As part of Operation Ketsu-gō , the 12th Regional Army was founded on February 1, 1945. Its first commander was General Fujie Keisuke , to whom the 36th , 51st , 52nd and 53rd Armies and other smaller units, totaling around 400,000 men, were subordinate. Fujie was tasked with protecting the capital of the Japanese Empire and the nearby stretches of beach that could be considered for an Allied landing . To this end, Fujie positioned newly excavated divisions on or near the coast, while veteran and tank divisions were positioned in the hinterland as mobile intervention troops.
Many of the subordinate divisions had not been set up until 1945 and had fewer men (sometimes only 50%) than the divisions set up before the Pacific War. Most of these new divisions had 100 and 300 numbers. Since they had practically no means of transport, they were intended solely for static defense and were called coastal divisions . The level of training and armament of the coastal divisions was low and was compensated for by increased artillery within the division.
Furthermore, the 12th Regional Army was subordinated to the 1st Flak Division , which had an above-average proportion of anti-aircraft guns in relation to other Flak divisions. Its eight anti-aircraft regiments counted 780 guns. For comparison: The 2nd Flak Division, on the other hand, only had 195 guns.
On March 9, 1945, General Tanaka Shizuichi took command of the 12th Regional Army. From April 8, 1945 she was subordinate to the 1st Main Army. Since Operation Downfall did not take place because of the surrender of Japan , the 12th Regional Army was not involved in any combat operations. A few days after the surrender committed Tanaka on August 24, 1945 suicide and was General Kenji Doihara replaced, who was responsible for the dissolution of the 12th Regional army.
Commander in chief
Commanders
Surname | From | To | |
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1. | General Fujie Keisuke | February 1, 1945 | March 9, 1945 |
2. | General Tanaka Shizuichi | March 9, 1945 | August 24, 1945 |
3. | General Doihara Kenji | August 24, 1945 | September 14, 1945 |
Chiefs of Staff
Surname | From | To | |
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1. | Lieutenant General Tatsumi Eiichi | February 1, 1945 | March 1, 1945 |
2. | Major General Takashima Tatsuhiko | March 1, 1945 | August 25, 1945 |
Subordinate units
The 12th Regional Army was composed as follows in early 1945:
- 36th Army (approx. 100,000 men)
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51st Army (approx. 60,000 men)
- 44th division
- 151st Division
- 221st Division
- 115th Independent Mixed Brigade
- 116th Independent Mixed Brigade
- 7th Independent Panzer Brigade
- 7th Artillery Brigade
- more small units
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52nd Army (approx. 80,000 men)
- 3rd Guard Division
- 147th Division
- 152nd Division
- 234th Division
- 3rd Independent Panzer Brigade
- 8th Artillery Brigade
- more small units
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53rd Army (approx. 60,000 men)
- 84th division
- 140th Division
- 316th Division
- 117th Independent Mixed Brigade
- 2. Independent Panzer Brigade
- 11th Artillery Brigade
- more small units
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Tokyo Bay Corps (approx. 30,000 men)
- 354th Division
- 96th Independent Mixed Brigade
- 114th Independent Mixed Brigade
- Tokyo Bay Fortress Troop
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Tokyo Defense Force (approx.15,000 men)
- 1st Guard Brigade
- 2nd Guard Brigade
- 3rd Guard Brigade
- Subordinated directly to the 12th Regional Army:
- 321st Division
- 1st Flak Division
- 66th Independent Mixed Brigade
- 67th Independent Mixed Brigade
- 2nd Artillery Brigade
- 6th Engineer Regiment
- 7th Engineer Regiment
- 8th Transport Regiment
- other smaller units
literature
- Victor Madej: Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. Game Publishing, 1981, OCLC 833591372 , OCLC 833591376 .
- Philip Jowett: The Japanese Army 1931-1945 (2) Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 978-1-84176-354-5
- Leland Ness: Rikugun: Guide to Japanese Ground Forces 1937-1945. Helion & Company, 2014, ISBN 978-1-909982-00-0 .
- Charles Pettibone: The organization and order or battle of militaries in World War II: Volume VII: Germany's and Imperial Japan's allies & puppet states Trafford, 2012
- Steven Zaloga: Defense of Japan 1945 (Fortress) Osprey Publishing, ISBN 978-1-8460-3687-3
- DM Giangreco: Hell to Pay: Operation DOWNFALL and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 , Naval Institute Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-5911-4316-1
Web links
- 総 軍 ・ 方面軍 . Organization of IJA,accessed January 2, 2015(Japanese).
- List of Higher Echeron Army Headquarters. Organizations of IJA & N, accessed January 1, 2015 .
- Japanese Forces Formosa, January 1, 1945. United States Army Combined Arms Center, accessed June 8, 2015 .
- Japanese Forces Formosa, July 1945. United States Army Combined Arms Center, accessed June 8, 2015 .