30th Division (Japanese Empire)

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30th division

active May 14, 1943 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 35th Army
Location Pyongyang
Nickname Hyō-heidan ( 豹 兵 団 , "Panther Division")
Butcher Pacific War

The 30th Division ( Japanese 第 30 師 団 , Dai-sanjū Shidan ) was a division of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was set up in 1943 and disbanded in 1945. Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Panther Division ( 豹 兵 団 , Hyō-heidan ).

History of unity

The 30th Division was set up on May 14, 1943 under the command of Lieutenant General Kobayashi Asasaburō as a Type B "standard" division as a Triangular Division . It consisted of the 30th  Infantry - Brigade (41st, 71st and 77th Infantry Regiment ) and the 30th  reconnaissance regiment, the 30th  field artillery regiment and 30  pioneer - and transport regiment. The 30th Division did not consist of new recruits , but was made up of existing regiments that had become free through the conversion from the Karree to Triangular Division. So the 41st Infantry Regiment came from the 5th , the 74th Infantry Regiment from the 19th and the 77th Infantry Regiment from the 20th Division . The headquarters of the approximately 15,000-strong division was in Pyongyang .

After the Allies had advanced through the Solomon Islands and New Guinea in 1943 and early 1944 , they threatened to land in the Philippines next and thus cut off the Japanese supply routes to Indonesia , southern China and Burma . In anticipation , the Daihon'ei reinforced the troops in the Philippines and converted the 14th Army into the 14th Regional Army . The army, which had originally had two divisions, grew to 15 divisions. The reinforcements also included the 30th Division, which was withdrawn from Korea in August 1944 and was subordinated to the 35th Army (Lieutenant General Suzuki Sōsaku ) on Mindanao .

On October 20, 1944, troops of the 6th US Army landed on Leyte, initiating the Battle of Leyte . By the end of December 1944, the over 200,000 Americans had succeeded in defeating the 55,000 Japanese and securing Leyte. While General MacArthur and the 6th Army turned north towards Luzon , the 8th US Army landed on December 12, 1944 under Lieutenant General Eichelberger on Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines and south of Leyte. There, in addition to the 30th Division, the 100th Division was also used to defend the island. After the American troops landed in the undefended west of Mindanao, they quickly advanced into the interior of the island and separated the two Japanese divisions. Lieutenant General Morozumi Gyōsaku , the commander of the 30th Division, was with his troops in the northeast of the island near Surigao . On April 19, 1945, Morozumi's superior, Lieutenant General Suzuki, fell, so Morozumi was appointed commander of the 35th Army. However, Morozumi ignored this appointment, as he could not establish contact with other troops in his situation.

Soldiers of the 124th US Regiment of the 31st Infantry Division fighting the Japanese 30th Division. The scene shows Father Colgan Woods standing by the wounded. Father Woods was killed in the course of the fight and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross .

In May 1945 the 30th Division in the northeast of the island was completely enclosed and put up bitter resistance to the American 31st Infantry Division . In mid-May 1945, the division was broken up as a large unit and small groups of soldiers withdrew to the rugged interior, where they resisted until August 1945 and surrendered after the surrender of Japan .

structure

In May 1942, the establishment of a type B "Standard" division took place as follows:

  • 30th Infantry Division Staff (90 men)
    • 30th Infantry Brigade Staff (100 men)
      • 41st Independent Infantry Regiment (2850 men)
      • 74th Independent Infantry Regiment (2850 men)
      • 77th Independent Infantry Regiment (2850 men)
    • 30th Field Artillery Regiment (approx. 2150 men)
    • 30th Reconnaissance Regiment (approx. 440 men)
    • 30. Signal unit (approx. 150)
    • 30th Engineer Regiment (900 men)
    • 30th Transport Regiment (750 men)
    • 30. Field hospital (1 ×) (850 men)
    • 30. Medical unit (approx. 1000 men)
    • 30.Water supply and treatment unit (200 men)
    • 30. Veterinary hospital (60 men)
    • 30. Supply Company (80 men)

Total strength: approx.15,220 men

guide

Division commanders

  • Kobayashi Asasaburō, Lieutenant General: (May 14?) June 10, 1943 - March 28, 1944
  • Morozumi Gyōsaku, Lieutenant General: March 28, 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 .
  • 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
  • Robert Ross Smith: Triumph in the Philippines, The War in the Pacific University Press of the Pacific, 2005 ISBN 978-1-4102-2495-8

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Madej, p. 57
  2. ↑ a b c d Underwood, p. 19
  3. ^ Smith, p. 194
  4. ^ Ness, p. 43