48th Division (Japanese Empire)

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48th division

Bicycle-mounted Japanese Troops in the Philippines.jpg

Soldiers of the 48th Division on the advance during the invasion of the Philippines , December 1941
active November 30, 1940 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. 21,000
Insinuation 14th Army
16th Army
19th Army
Location Formosa
Nickname Kai-heidan ( 海 兵 団 , "Sea Division")
Butcher Pacific War

The 48th Division ( Japanese 第 48 師 団 , Dai-48 Shidan ) was a division of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was established in 1940 and disbanded in 1945. Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Sea Division ( 海 兵 団 , Kai-heidan ) or Kai 8940 .

History of unity

Directions of attack by the 48th Division during the invasion of the Philippines , December 1941 / January 1942

The division was on 30 November 1940, the command of Lieutenant General Nakagawa Hiroshi as Triangular Division in Formosa set up and consisted mainly of the 27th  Infantry - Brigade . The 1st and 2nd Formosa Infantry Regiments were part of the Mixed Formosa Brigade of the Japanese Taiwan Army . The 47th Infantry Regiment, which was battle-tested by the Second Sino-Japanese War, was originally assigned to the 6th Division , but the conversion from a Square Division to a Triangular Division allowed the regrouping.

On September 15, 1941, Lieutenant General Tsuchihashi Yūichi took over the division.

In November 1941, shortly before the outbreak of the Pacific War , the 48th Division, along with the 16th Division and the 65th  Independent Mixed Brigade , was assigned to the 14th Army under Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu . Homma had been commissioned to conquer the Philippines in 1941 and entrusted the 48th Division with the main attack in the north thanks to their combat experience and their good reputation as well as their larger than average equipment with trucks.

On December 17, 1941, a fleet of 84 transport ships with the 48th Division on board left Formosa for the Philippines. On December 22nd, the first units landed in the Gulf of Lingayen during heavy rain . Thanks to the above-average equipment with trucks and additional assigned bicycles, the three Japanese attack leaders , divided into the Tanaka , Kanno and Kamijima divisions (named after the respective commanders), moved forward quickly. The division wanted to reach Manila before the 16th division, which had landed in Lamon Bay in the southeast of the Philippines . After heavy retreats by the American-Filipino troops, the division reached the capital Manila at the same time as the 16th.

After Lt. Col. Kamijima fell on December 30th, his division was turned over to Lt. Col. Takahashi and renamed the Takahashi Division. Takahashi and his troops pursued the enemy troops retreating on the Bataan Peninsula . Shortly before the start of the attack on January 7, 1942, the order was given to take the 48th Division out of the fighting and replace it with the 65th Independent Mixed Brigade, which landed in the Gulf of Lingayen on January 1. The 48th Division was then subordinated to the 16th Army and moved to Java .

During the invasion of Java , the 48th Division landed at Kragan and secured the important oil fields at Tjepoe.

By the end of January 1942, the entire division had been relocated to the Philippine island of Jolo to be ready for operations on Java. On February 19, the convoy with the division on board left Jolo and on February 22, parts of the 56th division took up at Balikpapan , Borneo . On the way to Java, Allied warplanes attacked the convoy and the planned landing on Java had to be postponed by 24 hours to March 1st. The division landed at Kragan west of Surabaja . The Imai detachment under Colonel Imai Hifumi went ashore west of Kragan to secure the right flank and, if necessary, to provide artillery support with the 3rd  Battalion of the 48th  Mountain Artillery Regiment . The Abe division (Colonel Abe Koichi) landed east of Kragan and took over the left flank protection while the Tananka division (Colonel Tanaka Tōru) advanced inland to secure the Tjepoe oil fields. The Dutch troops offered slow resistance and were able to delay the advance of the Japanese until March 8, but had to surrender on March 9 .

In mid-1942 the division was placed under the 19th Army and moved to Timor , which had been conquered from February 1942 during the invasion of Timor . There, Australian soldiers had withdrawn into the mountains and, supported by the Timorese population, tied up Japanese troops. In losing battles, the Japanese pushed the Australians back further and further into the mountains and held almost all potential landing sites occupied, so that the Allied supplies were cut off. On February 10, 1943, the last Australian soldiers withdrew from Timor.

Lt. General Yamada crashed plane, who had come to sign the surrender. As requested by the Allies , the aircraft has been painted white and marked with green crosses on the wings.

The 48th Division remained on Timor until the end of the war. The plane of its last commander, Lieutenant General Yamada Kunitarō , who was arriving to sign the surrender, crashed in October 1945, in which no one was killed. Shortly afterwards the division was disbanded and the survivors returned to Japan.

structure

In November 1940 it was set up as a Triangular Type B "Standard" Division as follows:

  • 48th Infantry Division Staff (350 men)
    • 48th Infantry Brigade Staff (100 men)
      • 1st Formosa Infantry Regiment (3845 men)
      • 2nd Formosa Infantry Regiment (3845 men)
      • 47th Infantry Regiment (3845 men)
    • 48th Reconnaissance Association (600 men)
    • 48th Mountain Artillery Regiment (2100 men; 36 Type 41 75 mm mountain guns )
    • 48. Pioneer regiment (about 1,400 men)
    • 48th telecommunication unit (approx. 240)
    • 48th Transport Regiment (approx. 2500 men)
    • 48th Supply Company (approx. 200 men)
    • 48th Medical Association (approx. 1500 men)
    • 48th field hospital (two field hospitals with approx. 500 men each)
    • 48th water supply and treatment unit (approx. 235 men)
    • 48th Veterinary Hospital (approx. 200 men)

Total strength: approx. 21,060 men

See also

Web links

  • 師 団 Ⅰ. Organization of IJA, accessed January 2, 2015 . , Japanese

literature

  • John Underwood: The Japanese Order of Battle in World War II. Vol I, The Nafziger Collection, 1999, ISBN 1-58545-044-8 .
  • 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, Conquest of the Pacific 1941–42. Osprey Publishing, 2005, ISBN 1-84176-789-1 .
  • Clayton Chun: The Fall of the Philippines 1941–42. Osprey Publishing, 2012, ISBN 1-84908-609-5

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Underwood, p. 29.
  2. ↑ a b Rottman, p. 16
  3. ↑ Chun, p. 21
  4. ^ Rottman, p. 26
  5. ^ Rottman, p. 64
  6. ↑ a b Rottman, p. 65
  7. ^ Rottman, p. 67
  8. ^ Rottman, p. 53
  9. ↑ a b c Rotteman, p. 82.