27th Division (Japanese Empire)

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27th Division

active August 31, 1937 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. 20,000
Insinuation 11th Army
20th Army
23rd Army Regional Army
North China
Location Beijing
Nickname Kyoku-heidan ( 極 兵 団 , "Pol-Division")
Butcher Second Sino-Japanese War

Second World War

The 27th Division ( Japanese 第 27 師 団 , Dai-27 Shidan ) was a division of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was established in 1937 and disbanded in 1945. Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Pol-Division ( 極 兵 団 , Kyoku-heidan ) or 2900 .

History of unity

The division was on August 1, 1937 under the command of Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita as one of the first triangular division of the army in Beijing set up and consisted mainly of the 27th  Infantry - Brigade (1st, 2nd and 3rd China-garrison infantry regiment) of 27  reconnaissance unit, the 27th  mountain artillery regiment and the 27th  pioneer and transport - regiment . The Tokyo depot served as the equipment depot. In July 1938, Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu took over the division, which was placed under the 11th Army .

In October 1938, the 27th Division was deployed to assist Japanese divisions trapped during the Battle of Wuhan . Before that was the 106th Division in Lushan of 16 Chinese divisions encircled Service. To avoid the threat of annihilation in the so-called Battle of Wanjialing , the 11th Army sent the 101st Division , which was now enclosed with the 106th in the Lushan pocket. In order to master the situation, two further divisions, the 27th and 9th divisions , were brought in, which were able to save 1000 survivors of the enclosed divisions. Although the Japanese army won the operation as a whole, they suffered a Pyrrhic victory in which they suffered almost 30% casualties (over 100,000 men).

From 1941 the 27th Division of the Northern China Regional Army was assigned as a reserve.

In January 1944, the 27th Infantry Brigade Staff was detached from the division and served as the main unit of the newly established 4th Independent Infantry Brigade.

From April to December 1944, the 27th Division took part in Operation Ichi-gō , the largest Japanese operation during the war.

In 1945 the division was dissolved.

structure

In August 1937 it was set up as a Triangular Type B "Standard" Division as follows:

  • 27th Infantry Division Staff (350 men)
    • 27th Infantry Brigade Staff (100 men)
      • 1st China Garrison Infantry Regiment (3845 men)
      • 2nd China Garrison Infantry Regiment (3845 men)
      • 3rd China Garrison Infantry Regiment (3845 men)
    • 27. Reconnaissance unit (100 men)
    • 27th Mountain Artillery Regiment (2100 men; 36 Type 41 75 mm mountain guns )
    • 27th Engineer Regiment (956 men)
    • 27. Signal unit (240)
    • 27th Transport Regiment (1810 men)
    • 27th Supply Company (110 men)
    • 27. Field hospital (three field hospitals with 150 men each)
    • 27.Water supply and treatment unit (235 men)
    • 27. Veterinary hospital (114 men)
    • 27. Medical unit (1110 men)

Total strength: 19,210 men

guide

Division commanders

  • Yamashita Tomoyuki, Lieutenant General: August 31, 1937 - July 15, 1938
  • Masaharu Homma, Lieutenant General: July 15, 1938 - December 2, 1940
  • Tominaga Nobumasa, Lieutenant General: December 2, 1940 - March 2, 1942
  • Harada Kumakichi, Lieutenant General: March 2, 1942 - November 9, 1942
  • Takeshita Yoshiharu, Lieutenant General: November 9, 1942 - May 30, 1944
  • Ochiai Kuro, Major General: May 30, 1944 - 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, 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, Oxford 2005, ISBN 1-84176-789-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Underwood, p. 17.
  2. ↑ a b Madej, p. 107
  3. ^ Rottman, p. 9