15th Division (Japanese Empire)

15th division
Former headquarters of the 15th Division.
active	April 1, 1905 - 1925 April 4, 1938 to 1945
Country	Japanese Empire
Armed forces	Japanese armed forces
Armed forces	Japanese army
Branch of service	infantry
Type	division
Strength	15,000-20,000
Location	Toyohashi
Nickname	Sai-heidan ( 祭 兵 団 , "festival division")
Butcher	Russo-Japanese War Second Sino-Japanese War Second World War

The 15th Division ( Japanese 第 15 師 団 , Dai-jūgo Shidan ) was a division of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was set up and disbanded twice between 1905 and 1945. Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Fest-Division ( 祭 兵 団 , Sai-heidan ).

General data

The 15th Division, along with the 13th , 14th and 16th , was a division that was set up towards the end of the Russo-Japanese War . Responsible for Niigata Prefecture that was the headquarters of the 15,000-strong division in Toyohashi .

History of unity

The division was set up on April 1, 1905 under the command of General Okihara Kofu as a square division and consisted of the 17th  Brigade (18th and 60th Infantry Regiment) and the 29th Brigade (34th and 67th Infantry Regiment) regiment) and the 4th  cavalry - regiment Originally designed for the reinforcement of the Japanese troops in Manchuria provided it does not come more to lay the Division since the Treaty of Portsmouth was officially ended the war on 5 September 1905th Instead, the division was ordered to Korea as a garrison unit.

In 1925 the division was dissolved due to cost savings.

After the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War , the division was re-established on April 4, 1938. It was set up as a Triangular Division under the command of Lieutenant General Yoshio Iwamatsu . From 1938 to June 1943 in Nanjing and from July 1943 to August 1943 in Shanghai used China as an occupying unit Division from January took until July 1944, Lieutenant General Masafumi Yamauchi on the Operation U-gō ( ウ号作戦 ) in Burma in part, in which came to the battle of Imphal . The division lost more than half of its soldiers. The weakened 15th Division took part in the defense of Mandalay from January 1945 together with the 53rd Division . On March 18, the order to withdraw was given and the remainder of the division withdrew to Kanchanaburi , Thailand , where they capitulated towards the end of the war.

structure

1905

Formation on April 1, 1905 as a square division as follows:

• 17th brigade
  • 18th Infantry Regiment
  • 60th Infantry Regiment
• 29th Brigade
  • 34th Infantry Regiment
  • 67th Infantry Regiment
• 4th Cavalry Regiment

1938

After the division was dissolved in 1925, it was reorganized as Triangular Division on April 4, 1938 as follows:

• 15th Infantry Division Headquarters (350 men)
  • 15th Infantry Brigade
    • 51st Infantry Regiment (3845 men)
    • 60th Infantry Regiment (3845 men)
    • 67th Infantry Regiment (3845 men)
  • 19th Cavalry Regiment (disbanded in 1940)
  • 19th Panzer Unit (established in 1940, disbanded in early 1944)
  • 21st Field Artillery Regiment (2100 men; 36 75 mm guns)
  • 15th Engineer Regiment (956 men)
  • 15. Signal unit (240)
  • 15th Supply Company (110 men)
  • 15. Field hospital (three field hospitals with 250 men each)
  • 15th water supply and treatment unit (235 men)
  • 15. Veterinary hospital (114 men)
  • 15. Medical unit (1110 men)

Total strength: 17,500 men (excluding cavalry regiment and tank unit)

guide

Division commanders

• Okihara Kofu, Lieutenant General: April 1 (July 17?) 1905 - July 6, 1906
• Hirasa Ryozo, Lieutenant General: July 6, 1906 - January 28, 1907
• Nakamura Satoru, Lieutenant General: January 28, 1907 - December 29, 1908
• Uchiyama Shojiro, Lieutenant General: January 14, 1909 to November 27, 1912
• Iguchi Shogo, Lieutenant General: November 27, 1912 - January 25, 1915
• Yui Mitsue, Lieutenant General: January 25, 1915 - August 6, 1917
• Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi, Lieutenant General: August 6, 1917 - August 9, 1918
• Sanenobu Ono, Lieutenant General: August 9, 1918 - November 25, 1919
• Ichikawa Kentaro, Lieutenant General: November 25, 1919 - August 15, 1922
• Kunishige Tanaka, Lieutenant General: August 15, 1922 - May 1, 1925

• Iwamatsu Yoshio, Lieutenant General: July 15, 1938 - March 9, 1940
• Watanabe Yubun, Lieutenant General: March 9, 1940 - May 28, 1940
• Kumagai Keiichi, Lieutenant General: May 28, 1940 - August 20, 1941
• Sakai Naoji, Lieutenant General: August 20, 1941 - May 28, 1942
• Yamauchi Masafumi, Lieutenant General: June 2, 1942 - June 10, 1944
• Shibata Ryuichi, Lieutenant General: June 10, 1944 - February 28, 1945
• Yamamoto Kiyoe, Major General: February 28, 1945 - July 25, 1945
• Watari Sakon, Lieutenant General: July 25, 1945 - September 1945

See also

• Divisions of the Imperial Japanese Army

Web links

• 15th Division, Regular Infantry Division (Triangular). niehorster.org, accessed October 22, 2015 . 
• 師 団 Ⅰ. (No longer available online.) Organization of IJA, archived from the original on November 14, 2015 ; accessed on January 2, 2015 . 

literature

• Rotem Kowner : The A to Z of the Russo-Japanese War. Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2009, ISBN 978-0-8108-6841-0 .
• John Underwood: The Japanese Order of Battle in World War II, Vol I The Nafziger Collection, Inc., 1999, ISBN 978-1-58545-044-2

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 師 団 Ⅰ. (No longer available online.) Organization of IJA, archived from the original on November 14, 2015 ; accessed on January 2, 2015 . 
2. ↑ Rotem Kowner, p. 107
3. ^ Website about the 15th IJA division
4. ↑ Underwood, p. 12
5. ↑ Underwood, p. 12