19th Army (Japanese Empire)

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19th Army

active December 19, 1942 to March 1, 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. 50,000
Insinuation 2nd regional army
Location Ambon
Nickname Ken ( 堅 , "tough")
Butcher Pacific War
Supreme command
list of Commander in chief

The 19th Army ( Japanese 第 19 軍 , Dai-jūku-gun ) was a major unit of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1942 to 1945 . Her Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Tough ( 堅 , Ken ) or Ken 9450 . Like all comparable formations of the Japanese army, despite its name it corresponded more to a today's corps than an army .

history

The 19th Army was formed on January 19, 1942, shortly after the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies , and was under the Southern Army . The main task of the  army stationed in Ambon was that of a garrison unit to control the occupied territories.

In the course of an invasion of Australia planned by the Daihon'ei , the 19th Army was subordinated to the 2nd Regional Army on October 30, 1943 . After the Japanese attack to the south stalled, plans to invade were abandoned.

In mid-April 1944, the 19th Army consisted of the 5th , 46th and 48th Divisions and comprised around 50,000 men.

Because of the Allied strategy of island hopping or Operation Cartwheel (isolation of the Japanese fortress of Rabaul ), the 19th Army on Ambon was cut off from supplies. The 19th Army was disbanded on March 1, 1945 without being involved in combat operations.

Commander in chief

Commanders

Surname From To
1. Lieutenant General Tominaga Nobumasa December 22, 1942 October 15, 1943
2. Lieutenant General Kitano Kenzō October 15, 1943 March 1, 1945

Chiefs of Staff

Surname From To
1. Lieutenant General Sasa Shinnosuke December 22, 1942 January 7, 1944
2. Lieutenant General Mori Takeshi January 7, 1944 March 1, 1945

Subordinate units

literature

  • Victor Madej: Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. Game Publishing, 1981, OCLC 833591372 , OCLC 833591376 .
  • Philip Jowett: The Japanese Army 1931-45 (1) Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 978-1-8417-6353-8
  • Gordon Rottman: Japanese Army in World War II (The South Pacific and New Guinea, 1942-43) , Osprey Publishing, ISBN 978-1-8417-6870-0
  • Robert Ross Smith: The Approach to the Philippines , Center of Military History United States Army Washington, DC, 1996

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Smith, p. 93
  2. ↑ Madej, p. 4
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Tominaga is the family name, Nobumasa the first name.