23rd Division (Japanese Empire)

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23rd division

Battle of Khalkhin Gol-Japanese soldiers.jpg

Japanese soldiers  with captured Soviet weapons after the Battle of Chalchin Gol
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 approx. 15,000
Insinuation 6th Army 14th Regional Army
Location Kumamoto
Nickname Asahi-heidan ( 旭 兵 団 , "Sunrise Division")
Butcher Japanese-Soviet border conflict

Pacific War

The 23rd Division ( Japanese 第 23 師 団 , Dai-nijūsan 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 Sunrise Division ( 旭 兵 団 , Asahi-heidan ).

History of unity

The 23rd Division was under the command of the April 4, 1938 Lieutenant General Komatsubara Michitarō as Type A "reinforced" Division as Triangular Division set up and consisted of the 23rd  Infantry - Brigade (64th, 71st and 72nd Regiment) and the 23  reconnaissance - regiment , the 23 division artillery group and 23  pioneer - and transport regiment. The headquarters of the approx. 15,000 strong division was in Kumamoto , Empire of Japan and was subordinate to the Kwantung Army . It was the first real division that had been established since 1925, while the divisions established in 1937/38 had emerged from the regrouping from square to triangular divisions. Although the division had been prepared in accordance with the current Army order they possessed only about 32 trucks that a single transport - Company were summarized. In addition, one of the two reconnaissance companies had twelve Type 92 tankettes . The artillery consisted of outdated 75 mm field guns Type 38 , which, like the howitzers , had only a short range, which was a major disadvantage in the vast swathes of Manchuria.

Shortly after the formation, the 23rd Division was transferred to West Manchuria and was subordinate to the 6th Army ( Kwantung Army ).

Battle of Chalchin Gol

Soldiers of the 23rd Division on the march

From May 11 to September 16, 1939, the 23rd Division was significantly involved in battles with Soviet troops during the Battle of Chalchin Gol , in which they suffered heavy losses of up to 80% dead and wounded. The qualitative inferiority of the Japanese tanks, artillery and supplies compared to the Russians was clearly evident.

The remnants of the division returned to Japan to be refreshed after the fighting ended. Then she did garrison service ( Taiwan Army ) in Taiwan .

Battle for Luzon

In November 1944, the 23rd Division was sent to the Philippines to reinforce the 14th Regional Army . On the way from Taiwan to Luzon, the convoy Hi-81 transporting the division was attacked by several American submarines . Approx. 3800 soldiers of the division were killed and valuable equipment and material was lost.

Arrived on Luzon, the division got into defensive battles against US and Filipino troops from January 1945, in which the 23rd division was almost completely destroyed by March 1945.

structure

The 23rd division was set up as a type A "reinforced" division as a triangular division as follows:

  • 23rd Infantry Division Staff (90 men)
    • 23rd Infantry Brigade Staff (100 men)
      • 64th Infantry Regiment (3,147 men)
      • 71st Infantry Regiment (3,147 men)
      • 72nd Infantry Regiment (3,147 men)
    • 23rd Division Artillery Group Staff (178 men)
      • 23rd Mountain Artillery Regiment Staff (265 men)
      • 1st Battalion (6 x 75 mm type 38 guns, 6 x 105 mm howitzers (685 men))
      • 2nd Battalion (6 x 75 mm Type 38 guns, 6 x 105 mm howitzers (685 men))
      • 3rd Battalion (6 x 75 mm Type 38 guns, 6 x 105 mm howitzers (685 men))
    • 23 reconnaissance regiment
      • Reconnaissance Regiment staff (29 men)
      • Mounted (175 men)
      • Type 92 tankettes (100 men)
    • 23.Signal unit (178)
    • 23rd Engineer Regiment (401 men)
    • 23rd Transport Regiment (507 men)
    • 23. Medical unit (1101 men)
    • 23. Field Hospital (two field hospitals with 236 men each)
    • 23. Veterinary hospital (47 men)
    • 23rd Supply Company (185 men)
    • 23rd water supply and treatment unit (160 men)

Total strength: 15,484 men

guide

Division commanders

  • Michitarō Komatsubara, Lieutenant General: July 7, 1938 - November 6, 1939
  • Inoue Masakichi, Lieutenant General: November 6, 1939 - March 1, 1941
  • Nishihara Nukichi (Kanji?), Lieutenant General: March 1, 1941 - November 10, 1942
  • Oikawa Minamoto (Gensichi?), Lieutenant General: November 10, 1942 - January 7, 1944
  • Nishiyama Fukutaro, Lieutenant General: January 7, 1944 - September 1945

See also

Web links

literature

  • Victor Madej: Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. Game Publishing, 1981, OCLC 833591372 , OCLC 833591376 .
  • John Underwood: The Japanese Order of Battle in World War II, Vol I . The Nafziger Collection, Inc., 1999, ISBN 978-1-58545-044-2 .
  • Leland Ness: Rikugun: Guide to Japanese Ground Forces 1937-1945 . Helion & Company, 2014, ISBN 978-1-909982-00-0 .
  • Bill Yenne: The Imperial Japanese Army: The Invincible Years 1941–42 . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-1-7820-0932-0 .
  • Samuel E. Morison: History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Vol. 12: Leyte, June 1944 – January 1945 . University of Illinois Press, 2002 ISBN 0-252-07063-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Underwood, p. 64
  2. ↑ a b c Ness, p. 68
  3. ^ Morison, p. 409
  4. ^ IJN Escort Daito: Tabular Record of Movement. combinedfleet.com, accessed July 27, 2015 .