40th Division (Japanese Empire)

40th 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. 17,000
Insinuation	11th Army 6th Regional Army
Location	Zentsuji
Nickname	Kujira-heidan ( 鯨 兵 団 , "whale division")
Butcher	Second Sino-Japanese War Battle of Zaoyang – Yichang Central Hubei operation Battle of South Henan Battle for Changsha (1941) Battle for Changsha (1942) Zhejiang Jiangxi Campaign Operation Ichi-gō

The 40th Division ( Japanese 第 40 師 団 , Dai-jonjū Shidan ) was a division of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was established in 1939 and disbanded in 1945. Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Whale Division ( 鯨 兵 団 , Kujira-heidan ) or Kujira 6880 .

History of unity

The 40th Division was on 30 June 1939 the command of Lieutenant General Amaya Naojiro as Type B "Standard" Division as Triangular Division set up and consisted of the 40th  Infantry - Brigade (234th, 235th and 236th Regiment), the 40th mountain artillery regiment and the 40th  pioneer - and transport regiment. The headquarters of the 17,000 strong division was in Zentsuji , Japanese Empire .

Second Sino-Japanese War

The division was shipped to the theater of the Second Sino-Japanese War in May 1939 after its formation and was subordinate to the 11th Army there . During the war she took part in the battles of Zaoyang-Yichang , Central Hubei , South Henan , Changsha 1941 , Changsha 1942 and the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign . During Operation Ichi-gō she was directly subordinate to the 6th Regional Army.

The 40th Division was disbanded when Japan surrendered in September 1945.

structure

In June 1939 it was set up as a Triangular Type B "Standard" Division as follows:

• Staff (250 men)
  • Headquarters 40th Infantry Brigade (100 men)
    • 234th Infantry Regiment (3250 men)
    • 235th Infantry Regiment (3250 men)
    • 236th Infantry Regiment (3250 men)
  • 40th Cavalry Unit (250 men) ¹
  • 40th Mountain Artillery Regiment (2100 men; 36 Type 41 75 mm mountain guns )
  • 40th Engineer Regiment (950 men) ²
  • 40.Signal unit (240)
  • 40th Transport Regiment (1810 men) ³
  • 40th Supply Company (110 men)
  • 40th Field Hospital (1) (310 men)
  • 40th water supply and treatment unit (235 men)
  • 40th Veterinary Hospital (40 men)

Total strength: 16,495 men

¹ Disbanded June 1943

guide

Division commanders

• Amaya Naojirō, Lieutenant General: October 2, 1939 - August 25, 1941
• Aoki Seiichi, Lieutenant General: August 25, 1941 - August 3, 1944
• Miyagawa Seizō, Lieutenant General: August 3, 1944 - September 1945

See also

• Divisions of the Imperial Japanese Army

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. ↑ Madej, p. 65.
2. ↑ Japanese Officer. United States Army Combined Arms Center, accessed August 3, 2015 (Japanese). 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Underwood, p. 24.
4. ↑ Japanese 6th Area Army August 26, 1944, Japanese Army Studies, Monograph No. 130, China Area Operations Record, 6th Area Army Operations, Prepared for Military History Section, HQ, Army Forces Far East. (No longer available online.) United States Army Combined Arms Center, formerly the original ; accessed on June 1, 2015 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.