3rd regional army

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3rd regional army

active October 29, 1943 to August 15, 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 army
Strength approx. 250,000
Insinuation Kwantung Army
Location Mukden
Nickname Kyō ( 強 , "The Mighty")
Butcher Pacific War

The 3rd Regional Army ( Japanese 第 3 方面軍 , Dai-san hōmengun ) was from 1943 to 1945 one of the regional armies of the Imperial Japanese Army . Her Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was The Mighty ( 強 , Kyō ).

history

The Daihon'ei (High Command of the Japanese Armed Forces) set up the 3rd Regional Army in Mukden on May 29, 1943 under the command of Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburō . Your were the 30th and 44th Army with a total of nine infantry - divisions , two armored - brigades and other smaller units, together about 250,000 men, assumed.

The task of the third regional army was possible Soviet attack movements in space between the western boundary of Manchukuo and the Dairen - Xinjing -Eisenbahnlinie by raiding party-like slow counterattacks and then delaying on Dunhua avoid to destroy the enemy east of the railway line from prepared positions out. The Japanese plan provided for a concentric grouping of troops in order to use their own reserves efficiently (shorter approaches).

In the neutrality pact between Japan and the Soviet Union of April 13, 1941, both contracting parties entered into a commitment to respect the mutual territorial integrity and inviolability. On April 5, 1945, the Soviet Union announced that it would no longer extend the contract, so that it would become invalid on April 25, 1946. On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and began a large-scale offensive ( Operation Auguststurm ), initially on the Asian continent and later on the Kuril Islands .

On August 9, 1945 at 2:00 a.m., the 3rd Regional Army informed the units under its command of the Soviet attack. At 5:00 am, the 107th Division (44th Army) reported that hundreds of enemy tanks with infantry support were advancing against them. On the Soviet side, the 39th Army attacked with over 1000 tanks and vehicles and nine divisions in the 44th Army sector. The Soviet units succeeded in bypassing and locking in Japanese positions. On August 10, General Okabe issued the order to the 107th and 117th Divisions and the 9th Panzer Brigade to withdraw on Xinjing, while the 63rd Division should withdraw with bulk into the prepared positions of the 30th Army. As a result, the 107th Division was cut off from the Russian forces and withdrew to the mountains. By the evening of August 10th, Soviet troops had cut numerous telephone cables, so that communication between the Japanese troops increasingly collapsed due to a lack of radios. On August 15, most of the Japanese units were encircled, worn out or on the run. The captured Japanese, including General Ushiroku Jun , who was in command from August 25 , were taken prisoner by the Soviets .

Even before Japan's formal surrender on September 2, the 3rd Regional Army was disbanded in August 1945.

Commander in chief

commander

Surname From To
1. Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburō October 29, 1943 August 25, 1944
2. General Ushiroku Jun August 25, 1944 August 15, 1945

Chiefs of Staff

Surname From To
1. Major General Watanabe Yō October 29, 1943 October 26, 1944
2. Major General Yano Masao October 26, 1944 March 23, 1945
3. Major General Ōtsubo Kazuma March 23, 1945 August 15, 1945

Subordinate units

The 3rd Regional Army was composed as follows in August 1945:

literature

  • Victor Madej: Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. Game Publishing, 1981, OCLC 833591372 , OCLC 833591376 .
  • Philip Jowett: The Japanese Army 1931-45 (1) Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 978-1-8417-6353-8
  • David Glantz: Soviet Operational and Tactical Combat in Manchuria, 1945: 'August Storm' , Routledge, 2004

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rottman, p. 13
  2. ↑ a b Glantz, p. 153
  3. ↑ Glantz, p. 154
  4. ↑ a b Glantz, p. 171
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Okabe is the family name, Naosaburo the first name.