21st Division (Japanese Empire)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

21st Division

active April 4, 1938 to 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 division
Strength 19,000
Insinuation 14th Army
38th Army
Location Kanazawa
Nickname Tō-heidan ( 討 兵 団 , "attack division")
Butcher Second Sino-Japanese War

Second World War / Pacific War

The 21st Division ( Japanese 第 21 師 団 , Dai-nijū-ichi Shidan ) was a division of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was established between 1938 and 1945. Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Assault Division ( 討 兵 団 , Tō-heidan ) or Tō 4230 .

History of unity

The 21st Division was on April 4, 1938, the command of Lieutenant General Washizu Shohei as Triangular Division set up and consisted of 21  Infantry - Brigade (62., 82. and 83. Infantry Regiment ) and other units (see below) . The headquarters of the 19,000-strong division was in Kanazawa .

After the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in July 1937 , the division was ordered to China at the end of 1938. From May 7 to May 27, 1941, she took part with five other divisions in the Battle of South Shanxi , in which 100,000 Japanese soldiers fought against 180,000 national Chinese. The battle ended with over 100,000 casualties on the Chinese side, whereas the Japanese suffered 20,000 dead and wounded.

In November 1941, shortly before the start of the Pacific War , she moved under her commander Lieutenant General Tanaka Hisakazu to French Indochina , where the 21st Infantry Brigade Staff with the 62nd Regiment was preparing for the invasion of the Philippines . The 4,000-strong unit was, as is customary with Japanese outsourced troops, called Nagano-Verband after its commander Major General Nagano Kameichirō . After the successful landing on Luzon and the completed operation, the units returned to Indochina and were there under the 38th Army .

At the end of 1944, the division under Commander Lieutenant General Mikuni Naotomi took part in Operation Ichi-gō , in which they, coming from Indochina, attacked enemy airfields in southern China that were used by Chinese and American troops. In January 1945 she was completely withdrawn to Indochina.

In March 1945, the 21st Division was involved in the Japanese coup in French Indochina , the aim of which was to overwhelm the Vichy-loyal leadership in French Indochina and to avoid a possible Allied offensive in this area. After the successful operation, Emperor Bảo Đại was installed as ruler of the Empire of Vietnam .

The 21st Division remained as a garrison in Hanoi until the end of World War II and was disbanded in August / September 1945.

structure

In April 1938 the formation of a type B "Standard" division took place as follows:

  • 21st Infantry Division Staff (350 men)
    • 21st Infantry Brigade Staff (100 men)
      • 62nd Infantry Regiment (3845 men)
      • 82nd Infantry Regiment (3845 men)
      • 83rd Infantry Regiment (3845 men)
    • 21st Division Tanketten Company (100 men)
    • 51st Mountain Artillery Regiment (2100 men; 36 75 mm guns)
    • 21st Pioneer Regiment (900 men)
    • 21. Signal unit (240)
    • 21st Transport Regiment (1,800 men)
    • 21st Supply Company (80 men)
    • 21. Field Hospital (two field hospitals with 250 men each)
    • 21. Water supply and treatment unit (150 men)
    • 21st Veterinary Hospital (60 men)
    • 21st Medical Unit (1000 men)

Total strength: 18,915 men

guide

Division commanders

  • Washizu Shōhei, Lieutenant General: July 15, 1938 - September 28, 1940
  • Hisakazu Tanaka, Lieutenant General: September 28, 1940 - March 1, 1943
  • Mikuni Naotomi, Lieutenant General March 1, 1943 - September 1945

See also

Web links

  • 師 団 Ⅰ. Organization of IJA, accessed January 2, 2015 (Japanese).

literature

  • John Underwood: The Japanese Order of Battle in World War II, Vol I . The Nafziger Collection, Inc., 1999, ISBN 978-1-58545-044-2 .
  • Victor Madej: Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945 . Game Publishing, 1981, OCLC 833591372 , OCLC 833591376 .
  • Bill Yenne: The Imperial Japanese Army: The Invincible Years 1941–42 . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-1-7820-0932-0 .
  • Philip Jowett: The Japanese Army 1931-45 (1) Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2002, ISBN 978-1-8417-6353-8 .
  • Dommen, Arthur J .: The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans: Nationalism and Communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam . Indiana University Press, 2002.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Madej, p. 50
  2. ↑ a b Underwood, p. 16
  3. ↑ a b Rottman, p. 16
  4. ↑ Yenne, p. 288
  5. ↑ Dommen, p. 77