37th Division (Japanese Empire)

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37th division

active February 7, 1939 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 1st Army
12th Army
11th Army
38th Army
Location Kumamoto
Nickname Fuyu-heidan ( 冬 兵 団 , "Winter Division")
Butcher Second Sino-Japanese War

Pacific War

The 37th Division ( Japanese 第 37 師 団 , Dai-sanjūnana Shidan ) was a division of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was established in 1939 and dissolved in 1945. Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Winter Division ( 冬 兵 団 , Fuyu-heidan ) or Fuyu 3340 or Fuyu 3341 .

History of unity

The 37th Division, like the 32nd , 33rd , 34th , 35th and 36th Divisions , was set up on February 7, 1939 as a Type B "Standard" Division as a Triangular Division . Under the command of Lieutenant General Hirata Kenkichi was the division of the 37th  Infantry - Brigade (225th, 226th and 227th Regiment) and the 37th  Mountain Artillery - Regiment and the 37th  pioneer and - transport formed regiment. The headquarters of the roughly 20,000 strong division was in Kumamoto , Japanese Empire .

Second Sino-Japanese War

The division was shipped to the theater of the Second Sino-Japanese War in May 1939 after being deployed and was subordinate to the 1st Army there . Its main area of ​​operation was in Shanxi Province , where it was used as a garrison unit in the hinterland to fight partisans and remained until October 1943.

In March 1944, the division of the 12th Army was assigned and took part with this in Operation Ichi-gō , the largest operation of the Imperial Army during the war.

On July 17, 1944, he was transferred to the 11th Army , which was stationed in Hunan Province .

Pacific War

In December 1944, the 37th Division was relocated to French Indochina , again as a garrison unit, to reinforce the 38th Army deployed there .

Without being involved in any further fighting, the soldiers laid down their arms after Japan's surrender in September 1945. The soldiers were shipped to Japan from May to June 1946.

structure

In February 1939 it was set up as the Triangular Type B "Standard" Division as follows:

Total strength: 19,690 men

guide

Division commanders

  • Hirata Kenkichi ( 平 田健吉 ), Lieutenant General: March 9, 1939 - August 1, 1940
  • Adachi Hatazō ( 安達 二十 三 ), Lieutenant General: August 1, 1940 - October 15, 1941
  • Nagano Yūichirō ( 長野 祐 一郎 ), Lieutenant General: October 15, 1941 - April 7, 1945
  • Satō Kenryō ( 佐藤 賢 了 ), Lieutenant General: April 7, 1945 - 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 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Madej, p. 64.
  2. ↑ The page 31. （ヒ ト - 陸 士 １９ 期） . 参 拾 壱 頁 , accessed August 3, 2015 (Japanese).
  3. ↑ a b c Underwood, p. 23.
  4. ^ A b Post-World War Two Demobilization and Repatriation, 37th Division.
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Adachi is the family name, Hatazō the first name.