39th Division (Japanese Empire)

39th division
active	June 30, 1939 to 1945
Country	Japanese Empire
Armed forces	Japanese armed forces
Armed forces	Japanese army
Branch of service	infantry
Type	division
Strength	approx. 20,000
Insinuation	11th Army 34th Army 30th Army
Location	Hiroshima
Nickname	Fuji-heidan ( 藤 兵 団 , "Wisterie Division")
Butcher	Second Sino-Japanese War Battle of Zaoyang – Yichang Battle of South Henan 3. Battle of Changsha Battle of West Henan-North Hubei Soviet-Japanese War Operation August Storm

The 39th Division ( Japanese 第 39 師 団 , Dai-sanjūku 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 Wisterie Division ( 藤 兵 団 , Fuji-heidan ) or Fuji 6860 or Fuji 6861 .

History of unity

The 39th Division, like the 40th and 41st Divisions, was set up on June 30, 1939 under the command of Lieutenant General Murakami Keisaku as the Triangular Division in. In the first half of 1939 the 32nd , 33rd , 34th , 35th , 36th , 37th and 38th Divisions were also set up as so-called security divisions and deployed in the Chinese theater of war. The division consisted mainly of the 39th  Infantry - Brigade (231st, 232nd and 233rd Infantry Regiment ), the 39th  reconnaissance regiment, the 39th  field artillery regiment and the 39th Engineer and Transport Regiment. The headquarters of the roughly 20,000-strong division was in Hiroshima , Japan.

Second Sino-Japanese War

On October 2, 1939, the 39th Division was subordinated to the 11th Army and moved to central China . In May 1940, she fought five Chinese divisions of the National Revolutionary Army during the Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang .

From January 1942 the division was involved in the Battle of South Henan . This was followed by the third battle of Changsha , which was lost with heavy Japanese losses. Then the 39th Division went on the defensive and acted mainly as an occupation and garrison force.

In July 1944, the division was placed under the 34th Army and took part in the Battle of West Henan – North Hubei from March to May 1945 .

Soviet-Japanese War

On July 30, 1945 the Daihon'ei (Japanese Headquarters) set up the 30th Army under Lieutenant General Iida Shōjirō and placed the 39th Division and four other divisions under her. The operational area was south of the 44th Army in central Manchuria . Your reconnaissance unit, other units of the division and remnants of the 68th division formed the core of the newly formed 132nd division

When the Soviet Union attacked Manchuria in Operation August Storm on August 9, 1945, a few days before the end of the Pacific War , the resistance of the 30th Army quickly collapsed. The 39th Division could no longer intervene in the fighting and surrendered in the same month and was disbanded shortly afterwards.

structure

In June 1939 it was set up as a Type B "Standard" division as a triangular division as follows:

• 39th Infantry Division staff (approx. 410 men)
  • 39th Infantry Brigade Staff (approx. 150 men)
    • 231st Infantry Regiment (approx. 3845 men)
    • 232 Infantry Regiment (approx. 3845 men)
    • 233rd Infantry Regiment (approx. 3845 men)
  • 39th Cavalry Regiment (approx. 600 men)
  • 39th Mountain Artillery Regiment (2,100 men; 36 75 mm field guns Type 90 )
  • 39th Engineer Regiment (approx. 900 men)
  • 39.Signal and telecommunication unit (approx. 220)
  • 39th Transport Regiment (approx. 2820 men)
  • 39th Supply Company (approx. 185 men)
  • 39th Medical Unit (approx. 1000 men)
  • 39th Field Hospital (three field hospitals with approx. 250 men each)
  • 39th water supply and treatment unit (approx. 160 men)
  • 39th Veterinary Hospital (approx. 100 men)

Total strength: approx. 20,686 men

guide

Division commanders

• Murakami Keisaku ( 村上 啓 作 ), Lieutenant General: October 2, 1939 - September 1, 1941
• Sumita Raishirō ( 澄 田 ? 四郎 ), Lieutenant General: September 3, 1941 - November 22, 1944
• Shinnosuke Sasa ( 佐 々 真 之 助 ), Lieutenant General: November 22, 1944 - September 1945

See also

• Divisions of the Imperial Japanese Army

Web links

• The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia: Initial Japanese Army Order of Battle. Retrieved April 2, 2015 .  , English
• Imperial General Headquarters: Japanese Monograph No. 45th Headquarters United States Army Japan, May 11, 1959, accessed December 22, 2017 . 

literature

• John Underwood: The Japanese Order of Battle in World War II. Vol I, The Nafziger Collection, Inc., 1999, ISBN 978-1-58545-044-2 .
• 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 (The South Pacific and New Guinea, 1942–43). Osprey Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84176-870-0 .
• Kengoro Tanaka: Operations of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in the Papua New Guinea Theater During World War II. Tokyo: Japan Papua New Guinea Goodwill Society, 1980.
• Louis G. Perez: Japan at War: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2013, ISBN 978-1-5988-4741-3 .
• Leland Ness: Rikugun: Guide to Japanese Ground Forces 1937-1945. Helion & Company, 2014, ISBN 978-1-909982-00-0 .
• David Glantz: "Soviet Operational and Tactical Combat in Manchuria, 1945: 'August Storm'", Routledge, 2004.
• Japanese Monograph No. 179.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Madej, p. 67
2. ↑ Ness p. 70
3. ↑ ^{a b} Underwood, p. 24
4. ↑ Mao Min: Revival of China. Accessed December 23, 2017 .  P. 229
5. ↑ Japanese Monograph No 179, pp. 191 ff
6. ↑ Glantz, p. 172

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Murakami is the family name, Keisaku the first name.