38th Army (Japanese Empire)

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38th Army

active November 9, 1942 to September 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 corps
Strength approx. 150,000
Insinuation South army
Location Saigon
Nickname Shin ( 信 , "reliable")
Butcher Pacific War
Supreme command
list of Commander in chief

The 38th Army ( Japanese 第 38 軍 , Dai-san-jūhachi-gun ) was a major unit of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1942 to 1945 and was the successor to the Indochina Garrison Army ( Japanese 印度支那 駐屯軍 , Indoshina chuton-gun ). The Tsūshōgō code (military code name) of the 38th Army was Reliable ( 信 , Shin ) or Shin 7950 .

history

Indochina Garrison Army

After the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in September 1940 by the Indochina Expeditionary Army , the Southern Army founded the Indochina Garrison Army on November 9, led by Lieutenant General Viscount Machijiri Kazumoto .

38th Army

On November 12, 1944, the Southern Army was regrouped to form the 38th Army from the Indochina Garrison Army. In December 1944, Lieutenant General Tsuchihashi Jūitsu arrived in Saigon to take over the newly formed army. In January 1945, the 38th Army was exposed to a large-scale air offensive by the 3rd US Fleet , which wanted to divert attention from the impending invasions on Iwojima and Okinawa .

At the beginning of 1945, the high command of the Southern Army feared that French Indochina, administered by the government loyal to Vichy , could switch fronts and support an Allied invasion. For this reason, it ordered the 38th Army to carry out a coup on March 3, 1945 ( Operation Mei-go ) and to take the Free French armed forces and officials into custody. French who defended themselves were slain. 2129 French were killed, including the commander of the French troops of Lạng Sơn , Émile Lemonnier and the civil governor, Camille Auphalle , both of whom were beheaded . After the successful operation, Emperor Bảo Đại was installed by the Japanese as ruler of the Empire of Vietnam .

In September 1945 the 38th Army in Hanoi was disbanded.

Commander in chief

Commanders

Surname From To unit
1. Lieutenant General Viscount Machijiri Kazumoto November 10, 1942 November 22, 1944 Indochina Garrison Army
2. Lieutenant General Tsuchihashi Jūitsu November 22, 1944 December 22, 1944 Indochina Garrison Army
3. Lieutenant General Tsuchihashi Jūitsu December 22, 1944 September 1945 38th Army

Chiefs of Staff

Surname From To unit
1. Lieutenant General Kawamura Saburō December 5, 1942 November 22, 1944 Indochina Garrison Army
2. Lieutenant General Kawamura Saburō December 20, 1944 June 2, 1945 38th Army
3. Major General Kōdo Teiji June 2, 1945 September 1945 38th Army

Subordinate units

literature

  • Victor Madej: Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. Game Publishing, 1981, OCLC 833591372 , OCLC 833591376 .
  • Bill Yenne: The Imperial Japanese Army: The Invincible Years 1941–42. Osprey Publishing, 2014, ISBN 978-1-7820-0932-0
  • Philip Jowett: The Japanese Army 1931-45 (1). Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 978-1-8417-6353-8
  • Gordon Rottman: Japanese Army in World War II (The South Pacific and New Guinea, 1942–43). Osprey Publishing, ISBN 978-1-8417-6870-0
  • Mercado Stephen: The Shadow Warriors of Nakano: A History of the Imperial Japanese Army's Elite Intelligence School. Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 2003
  • Logevall Fredrik: Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2014, ISBN 978-0-3757-5647-4
  • Gunn Geoffrey: Rice Wars in Colonial Vietnam: The Great Famine and the Viet Minh Road to Power. Amazon Digital Services, Inc, 2014

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Madej, p. 5
  2. ^ Mercado, p. 111
  3. ↑ Logevall, p 68
  4. ↑ a b Gunn, p. 160
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Machijiri is the family name, Kazumoto the first name.