22nd Division (Japanese Empire)

22nd division
active	April 4, 1938 to 1945
Country	Japanese Empire
Armed forces	Japanese armed forces
Armed forces	Japanese army
Branch of service	infantry
Type	division
Strength	approx. 20,000
Insinuation	11th Army 23rd Army 18th Regional Army
Location	Utsunomiya
Nickname	Hara-heidan ( 原 兵 団 , "level division")
Butcher	Second Sino-Japanese War Battle for Wuhan Pacific War Burma campaign 1944/45

The 22nd Division ( Japanese 第 22 師 団 , Dai-nijū-ni Shidan ) was a division of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was set up in 1938 and disbanded in 1945. Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was level division ( 原 兵 団 , Hara-heidan ) or Hara 7930 or Hara 7949 .

History of unity

The division was on April 4, 1938, the command of Lieutenant General Dobashi Ichiji as Triangular Division in the Japanese-occupied part of China set up and consisted mainly of the 22nd  Infantry - Brigade (84th, 85th and 86th  Regiment ) and the 22nd  Tanketten Company, the 52nd  Mountain Artillery Regiment and the 22nd  Engineer and Transport Regiment.

Second Sino-Japanese War

In the Second Sino-Japanese War , the 22nd Division took part as part of the 11th Army in the Battle of Wuhan (June 11, 1938 to October 27, 1938), in which approximately 350,000 Japanese members of the National Revolutionary Army of over 1 million Man faced. The fighting ended with a Japanese Pyrrhic victory with just over 100,000 casualties. The division was then transferred to Canton , where it remained until 1944 and was mainly assigned to security tasks.

Pacific War

In June 1944, the 22nd Division was moved to Hong Kong by ship . The convoy TA-406 carrying the division left Shanghai on June 24th and made a stopover in Takao on Formosa . On the continuation of the journey, the convoy was attacked on July 3, 1944 by the American submarine USS Seahorse . The USS Seahorse was able to sink the Nitto Maru , which sank with 541 men of the 22nd Division.

The rest of the division joined the 18th Regional Army in Thailand , which resisted the British Army  advancing into Burma .

The 22nd Division was disbanded in Thailand in September 1945.

structure

In August 1938 it was set up as a Triangular Type B "Standard" Division as follows:

• 22nd Infantry Division Staff (350 men)
  • 22nd Infantry Brigade Staff (100 men)
    • 84th Infantry Regiment (3275 men)
    • 85th Infantry Regiment (3275 men)
    • 86th Infantry Regiment (3275 men)
  • 22nd tankette company (approx. 100 men)
  • 52nd Mountain Artillery Regiment (2100 men; 36 Type 41 75 mm mountain guns )
  • 22 pioneer regiment (about 1,400 men)
  • 22. Telecommunication unit (approx. 240)
  • 22nd Transport Regiment (approx. 2000 men)
  • 22nd supply company (approx. 200 men)
  • 22nd Medical Association (approx. 1500 men)
  • 22. Field Hospital (A field hospital with 850 men)
  • 22. Water supply and treatment unit (approx. 235 men)
  • 22. Veterinary hospital (approx. 200 men)

Total strength: approx. 19,910 men

guide

Division commanders

• Dobashi Ichiji, Lieutenant General: (April 4?) July 15, 1938 - March 1, 1941
• Ota Katsumi, Lieutenant General: March 1, 1941 - March 2, 1942
• Okido Sanji, Lieutenant General: March 2, 1942 - November 9, 1942
• Isoda Saburo, Lieutenant General: November 10, 1942 - January 7, 1944
• Hirata Masachika, Lieutenant General: January 7, 1944 - September 1945

See also

• Divisions of the Imperial Japanese Army

Web links

• 師 団 Ⅰ. Organization of IJA, accessed January 2, 2015 (Japanese). 
• Organization of Japanese Infantry Divisions 1939-1945. United States Army Combined Arms Center, accessed July 27, 2015 . 

literature

• John Underwood: The Japanese Order of Battle in World War II. Vol I, The Nafziger Collection, 1999, ISBN 1-58545-044-8 .
• Victor Madej: Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle 1937–1945 , Volume I + II, Game Marketing Company, 1981
• Gordon Rottman: Japanese Army in World War II, Conquest of the Pacific 1941–42. Osprey Publishing, 2005, ISBN 1-84176-789-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Madej, p. 51
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Underwood, p. 16.
3. ↑ Battle of Wuhan. World War II Database, accessed January 2, 2015 . 
4. ↑ IJN Second Class Destroyer SCDD, tabular record of movement. combinedfleet.com, accessed January 2, 2015 . 

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Dobashi is the family name, Ichiji is the first name.