16th Army (Japanese Empire)

16th Army
Soldiers of the 16th Army in Java, 1942
active	November 5, 1941 to September 1945
Country	Japanese Empire
Armed forces	Japanese armed forces
Armed forces	Japanese army
Branch of service	infantry
Type	corps
Strength	1941: 50,000 1942: 70,000 1944: 10,000
Insinuation	1941–44 South Army 1944–45: 7th Regional Army
Location	Batavia
Nickname	Osamu ( 治 , "rule")
Butcher	Pacific War Japanese invasion of Java Battle for Timor
Supreme command
list of	Commander in chief

The 16th Army ( Jap. 第16軍 , Dai-Juroku-gun ) was 1941-1945, a major unit in corps size of the Imperial Japanese Army . Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Rule ( 治 , Osamu ).

history

When planning the conquest of Southeast Asia, Java , which was part of the Dutch East Indies , should also be conquered . For this purpose, provided the southern army , which was familiar with the operation, on November 5, 1941 alongside the 14th Army and the 15th Army , the 16th Army under General Hitoshi Imamura , which for their task and the Dutch East Indies battle group called has been. In November 1941 the 2nd Division and the 35th  Independent Mixed Brigade were subordinate to you . The 56th Division put its entire 56th Infantry Brigade (also called the Sakaguchi Detachement after its commander, Major General Sakaguchi Shizuo ) at the disposal of the 16th Army, which after a successful operation returned to its original unit, which had since taken part in the invasion of Burma. Furthermore, the army had reinforced artillery, engineer and transport units. The 38th Division joined in December and the 48th Division in March 1942 , bringing the total strength of the army to around 70,000 men.

After Hong Kong , Sumatra, Borneo and Malaysia were conquered in late 1941 and early 1942, the 16th Army received its operational targets. In the second phase of the conquest of Southeast Asia, the 229th regiment landed in Portuguese Timor near Dili on February 20, 1942 and held it occupied. During the invasion of Java , the 230th regiment went ashore on March 1, 1942 at Kragan on Java, supported by the 48th Division. The 2nd Division went ashore on March 1st at Serang and fought the Allied resistance until March 8th . The Daihon'ei provides the 16th Army with the 2nd Fleet for support at sea .

After the conquest of the Dutch East Indies was completed, the 2nd and 38th Divisions were transferred to the 17th Army , which was newly established on May 18, 1942 . In mid-1942, the 48th Division of the 19th Army was transferred to Timor , which had been conquered from February 1942 during the invasion of Timor .

The remnants of the army were then assigned to garrison service in the occupied territories. In March 1944, the 16th Army was subordinated to the 7th Regional Army.

After the capitulation of Japan , it was dissolved in September 1945.

Army command

Commander in chief

	Surname	From	To
1.	General Imamura Hitoshi	November 6, 1941	November 9, 1942
2.	Lieutenant General Harada Kumakichi	November 9, 1942	April 7, 1945
3.	Lieutenant General Nagano Yūichirō	April 7, 1945	September 1945

Chiefs of Staff

	Surname	From	To
1.	Lieutenant General Okazaki Seizaburō	November 6, 1941	June 10, 1943
2.	Lieutenant General Kokubu Shinshichirō	June 10, 1943	November 14, 1944
3.	Major General Yamamoto Moichirō	November 14, 1944	September 1945

Subordinate units

The 16th Army is structured as follows:

1941

November 1941:

• 16th Army Staff
• 2nd division
• 38th Division (from December 14, 1941)
• 35th Independent Mixed Brigade
• 56th Infantry Group (Infantry Brigade of the 56th Division , also called Sakaguchi Detachement )
• 17th Independent Field Artillery Regiment
• 1. Independent Pioneer Regiment
• 39th and 109th Motorized Transport Regiment

1942

From March 1, 1942:

• 16th Army Staff
• 2nd division
• 38th Division
• 48th division
• 35th Independent Mixed Brigade
• 56th Infantry Group
• 17th Independent Field Artillery Regiment
• 1. Independent Pioneer Regiment
• 39th and 109th Motorized Transport Regiment

1944

• 27. Independent Mixed Brigade
• 28. Independent Mixed Brigade

literature

• Victor Madej: Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. (English) Game Publishing, 1981, OCLC 833591372 , OCLC 833591376 .
• Philip Jowett: The Japanese Army 1931-45 (Part 1). (English) Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2002, ISBN 978-1-8417-6353-8 .
• Gordon Rottman: Japanese Army in World War II, Conquest of the Pacific 1941–42. Osprey Publishing, 2005, ISBN 1-84176-789-1 .

Web links

• 第 １6 軍. Organization of IJA, accessed December 30, 2014 (Japanese). 
• History of Imperial General Headquarters Army Section. Japanese Monograph No 45, accessed October 30, 2016 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Madej, p. 8
2. ^ Rottman, p. 14
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Rottman, p. 73
4. ^ Rottman, p. 80
5. ^ Rottman, p. 74

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Imamura is the family name, Hitoshi the first name.