17th Army (Japanese Empire)

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17th Army

KandaSurrender.jpg

Lieutenant General Kanda, Commander of the 17th Army, signs the document of surrender, September 8, 1945
active May 18, 1942 to September 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 corps
Strength approx. 70,000
Insinuation 8th Regional Army
Location Rabaul
Erventa Island ( Bougainville )
Nickname Oki ( 沖 , " high seas ")
Butcher Pacific War
Supreme command
list of Commander in chief

The 17th Army ( Jap. 第17軍 , Dai-jūhnana-gun ) was from 1942 to 1945, a major unit in corps size of the Imperial Japanese Army . Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Hochsee ( 沖 , Oki ) or Oki 9811 .

history

After the Imperial Japanese Forces had conquered large parts of Southeast Asia ( Philippines , Burma , Dutch East Indies and Malaysia ) since the beginning of the Pacific War in December 1941 , the next step was to advance along the Solomon Islands . To this end, the South Army , which is responsible for the entire Southeast Asian region and based in Saigon , set up the 17th Army in Davao , Mindanao on May 18, 1942 . Lieutenant General Hyakutake Seikichi was entrusted with the task of carrying out the invasion of New Caledonia , Fidjis and Samoas with the 17th Army in July / August 1942 . After these plans were canceled by the Daihon'ei , the 17th Army was relocated to Rabaul on July 24th to move its assigned area of ​​operations to New Guinea , Bougainville  and the Solomon Islands. The 2nd and 38th Infantry Divisions , the Kawaguchi and Ichiki units as well as tank , anti-tank , anti-aircraft and logistics units were available to her, which increased their strength to around 70,000 men.

17th Army operational area. From November 1942 she was exclusively responsible for the Solomon Islands (right half of the map)

In April 1942 the Japanese failed with Operation MO in the capture of Port Moresby when they were stopped by an Allied naval force in the battle in the Coral Sea . Although the battle ended in a draw, it was an Allied strategic success and the Japanese plans for conquest came to an end.

For support at sea, the Daihon'ei provides the 17th Army with the 8th Fleet , which was set up on July 14th with its headquarters in Rabaul.

On August 7, 1942, the American 1st Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal to take the newly created Japanese airfield. On August 13th, the Daihon'ei issued direct orders to General Hyakutake to cooperate with the Imperial Japanese Navy to bring Guadalcanal back fully under Japanese control. Such directives were necessary because there had always been rivalries between the army and the navy. The 17th Army's reaction to the American landing was quick, but troops could only be sent in small contingents. In addition, the sea route was patrolled by American submarines that were able to sink some of the troop carriers. The landed Ichiki unit (named after its commander Colonel Ichiki ) immediately attempted to drive the Americans from the island, but underestimated the number of US Marines landed. Colonel Ichiki was killed on August 21 in the Battle of Tenaru with 774 of his men while attempting to take the Henderson airfield .

Japanese soldiers killed after losing the Battle of Henderson Field , October 26, 1942

In the following weeks, the 17th Army freshened up its troops on Guadalcanal with the Kawaguchi Association ( General Kawaguchi ) in order to start another attempt to conquer Henderson Field . This attempt was also bloodily repulsed between September 13 and 15 in the Battle of Bloody Ridge . The remaining Japanese withdrew to the north of Guadalcanal. On October 9th, the staff of the 17th Army crossed over to Kokumbona to take over the management of the operations directly on Guadalcanal. In addition to the 2nd, parts of the 38th Division were also brought to Guadalcanal so that in mid-October 20,000 men were ready to attack. In addition, the 4th Maizuru unit of the Navy's special landing forces arrived with 600 men. In the following battle for Henderson Field around 3,000 Japanese were killed.

When the Battle of Guadalcanal neared its climax in October 1942 and a Japanese defeat loomed, Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura , commander of the 8th Regional Army, decided to found the 18th Army on November 9, 1942 . This allowed the 17th Army, which had previously been responsible for the Solomon Islands and New Guinea , to concentrate fully on the former. This relief came too late, however, as more than 50,000 US soldiers had now gone on the offensive against the numerically inferior and poorly supplied Japanese. In mid-January the staff of the 17th Army moved to the northwest of Guadalcanal to Cape Esperance and decided to evacuate the island. At this point in time the 17th Army had lost 25,600 men, while the Americans had lost 1,800 men since the start of the landing.

In February 1942, they withdrew to the island of Bougainville, where the 17th Army moved into their quarters on the offshore island of Erventa . In the meantime, the 6th Division of the 17th Army, which brought the total strength to around 38,000 men.

Soldiers of the 17th Army en route to captivity, Bougainville, 1945

On November 1, 1943, 96,000 Americans and 30,000 Australian soldiers landed on Bougainville. A year later, 8,200 Japanese fell while 16,600 died from malnutrition and disease . Cut off from all supply routes, the remnants of the 17th Army withdrew to the mountains of the island and remained there until the end of the war. In February 1945 General Hyakutake suffered a stroke and was replaced on April 1 by Lieutenant General Kanda Masatane . On September 8, 1945, Kanda signed the document of surrender.

In September 1945 the 17th Army was disbanded.

Army command

Commander in chief

Surname From To
1. Lieutenant General Hyakutake Seikichi May 18, 1942 April 1, 1945
2. Lieutenant General Kanda Masatane April 1, 1945 August 15, 1945

Chiefs of Staff

Surname From To
1. Major General Futami Akisaburo May 25, 1942 October 1, 1942
2. Lieutenant General Miyazaki Chuichi October 1, 1942 May 11, 1943
3. Lieutenant General Akinaga Tsutomu May 11, 1943 September 11, 1943
4th Major General Akinaga Chikara September 11, 1943 April 1, 1945
5. Major General Makata Isaoshi April 1, 1945 September 1, 1945

Subordinate units

Structure of the 17th Army as follows (as of October 1942):

  • 17th Army Staff
  • 2nd division
  • 38th Division
  • Kawaguchi Association
  • Ichiki Association
  • 21. Independent Mixed Brigade
  • 9th Artillery Group
    • 4th Independent Medium Artillery Regiment
    • 10th Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment
    • 21st Independent Heavy Artillery Regiment
    • 20th Independent Mountain Artillery Battalion
  • 8th Panzer Regiment
  • 1. Independent tank company
  • 2nd and 6th Independent Anti-Tank Battalion
  • 5th and 9th independent anti-tank companies
  • 3rd trench mortar battalion (8 cm)
  • Three self-contained anti-aircraft artillery battalions
  • 38th, 39th, 41st, 45th, and 47th Field Anti-Aircraft Battalions
  • 37th Independent Air Defense Company
  • 19. Independent pioneer unit (type A)
  • 4. Independent pioneer company (bridge building)
  • 34. Field transport command
  • 2. Independent Transport Regiment
  • 2. Ship Transport Group
  • 1. Ship transport unit
  • 1st, 2nd and 3rd Ship Pioneer Regiment
  • 39. Road construction unit
  • 18th Army Signaling and Telecommunication Unit
  • 18th Army Supply Unit
  • 3rd Pursuit Battalion
  • 76. Self-contained aerial reconnaissance unit
  • Further signal, transport, medical, depot and stage units

literature

Web links

  • 第 １7 軍. Organization of IJA, accessed December 30, 2014 . , Japanese

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rottman, p. 13
  2. ↑ a b Rottman, p. 42
  3. ↑ a b Rottman, p. 52
  4. ↑ a b Rottman, p. 61
  5. ^ Rottman, p. 43
  6. ^ Rottman, p. 64
  7. ^ Rottman, p. 65
  8. ↑ a b Rottman, p. 70
  9. ^ Long, p. 102
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Adachi is the family name, Hatazō the first name.