24th Division (Japanese Empire)

24th division
active	October 6, 1939 to 1945
Country	Japanese Empire
Armed forces	Japanese armed forces
Armed forces	Japanese army
Branch of service	infantry
Type	division
Strength	approx. 15,000
Insinuation	5th Army 32nd Army
Location	Kumamoto
Nickname	Yama-heidan ( 山 兵 団 , "mountain division")
Butcher	Pacific War Battle for Saipan Battle for Okinawa

The 24th Division ( Japanese 第 24 師 団 , Dai-nijūyon Shidan ) was a division of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was set up in 1939 and disbanded in 1945. Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Berg-Division ( 山 兵 団 , Yama-heidan ) or Yama 3472 .

History of unity

The 24th Division was under the command of the October 6, 1939 Lieutenant General Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu as Type A "reinforced" Division as Triangular Division set up and consisted of the 24th  Infantry - Brigade (22, 32 and 89. Regiment) and the 24  reconnaissance - regiment , 24th division artillery group and 24  pioneer - and transport regiment. The headquarters of the approx. 15,000 strong division was in Harbin , Manchuria , while the depot was in Kumamoto , Japanese Empire  .

Manchuria

The 24th Division was stationed in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (Manchuria) as a garrison unit and was subordinate to the 5th Army ( Kwantung Army ).

Operation jaw transport

At the beginning of March the Daihon'ei decided to reinforce its advanced bases in the central Pacific with troops. The company was called Operation Kiefer-Transport and provided that units in battalion size (approx. 600 men) were removed from the divisions, combined into brigades and brought to the Pacific by ship convoys. The 1st expedition unit was u. a. assigned to the 3rd Battalion of the 89th Regiment. The 1st expeditionary unit (approx. 5,500 men) left Yokohama on March 12, 1944 on board the Higashi Matsu convoy . The very next day, the heavily protected convoy was attacked by the American submarine USS Sand Lance , which was able to sink two troop transports. Over 1000 soldiers died. The rest of the convoy reached Saipan on March 19 , where the 1st expeditionary unit was destroyed during the battle for Saipan  .

The 1st Battalion of the 22nd Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the 32nd Regiment as well as the 3rd Battalion of the 42nd Field Artillery Regiment of the 24th Division were assigned to the 7th Expeditionary Unit (approx. 2500 men). and were intended for Mereyon , Woleai and the Carolines .

Okinawa

The remnants of the 24th Division (approx. 10,000 men) were shipped to Okinawa in July 1944 and were there under the 32nd Army . It was there from March 1945 to June 1945 during the Battle of Okinawa .

structure

The 24th Division was set up as a Type A "Reinforced" Division as a Triangular Division as follows:

• Division staff (approx. 90 men)
  • Staff 24th Infantry Brigade (approx. 100 men)
    • 22nd Infantry Regiment (approx. 3,147 men)
    • 32nd Infantry Regiment (approx. 3,147 men)
    • 89th Infantry Regiment (approx. 3,147 men)
  • Division artillery staff (approx. 178 men)
    • 42nd Mountain Artillery Regiment Staff (approx. 265 men)
    • 1st Battalion (4 × Type 38 75 mm guns, 4 × 105 mm howitzers, 4 × 150 mm howitzers (685 men))
    • 2nd Battalion (4 × Type 38 75 mm guns, 4 × 105 mm howitzers, 4 × 150 mm howitzers (685 men))
    • 3rd Battalion (4 × Type 38 75 mm guns, 4 × 105 mm howitzers, 4 × 150 mm howitzers (685 men))
  • 24th Reconnaissance Battalion (approx. 300 men)
  • 24th Signal and Telecommunication Company (approx. 178)
  • 24th Engineer Battalion (approx. 401 men)
  • 24th Transport Battalion (approx. 507 men)
  • 24th Medical Unit (approx. 1101 men)
  • 24th field hospital (three field hospitals with approx. 236 men each)
  • 24. Veterinary hospital (approx. 47 men)
  • 24th supply company (approx. 185 men)
  • 24.Water supply and treatment unit (approx. 160 men)

Total strength: approx.15,720 men

guide

Division commanders

• Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu, Lieutenant General: October 6, 1939 - March 1, 1941
• Nemoto Hiroshi, Lieutenant General: March 1, 1941 - February 7, 1944
• Amamiya Tatsumi, Lieutenant General: February 7, 1944 - June 30, 1945

See also

• Divisions of the Imperial Japanese Army

Web links

• Japanese Forces detached from the Kwantung Army to the Pacific, March 3–7, 1944. United States Army Combined Arms Center, accessed July 30, 2015 . 

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. ↑ Madej, p. 53
2. ↑ ^{a b} Underwood, p. 64
3. ↑ ^{a b} Japanese Forces detached from the Kwantung Army to the Pacific, March 3–7, 1944. (No longer available online.) United States Army Combined Arms Center, archived from the original on December 26, 2015 ; accessed on July 30, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ HIBI MARU Tabular Record of Movement. combinedfleet.com, accessed July 30, 2015 .