51st Army (Japanese Empire)

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51st Army

Map-IJA Army, 51st.jpg
active April 18, 1945 to August 15, 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. 60,000
Insinuation 12th Regional Army
Location Tsuchiura
Nickname Ken ( 建 , "devotion")
Butcher Operation Downfall
Supreme command
list of Commander in chief

The 51st Army ( Japanese 第 51 軍 , Dai-gojūichi-gun ) was a major unit of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was set up and disbanded in the last year of the war in 1945. Her Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Dedication ( 建 , Ken ).

history

After the Allies landed on the island of Iwojima, about 1000 km from mainland Japan, on February 19, 1945 , the Daihon'ei (Japanese Headquarters ) made hasty preparations for the imminent landing of the US Army , which they called Operation Downfall . To this end, several armies were alone with over 80 in 1945. Divisions newly dug . On April 8, 1945, the 51st Army was set up under the command of Lieutenant General Noda Kengo and placed under the 12th Regional Army. The 51st Army's headquarters were in Tsuchiura near Ibaraki Prefecture . It consisted of the 84th , 151st and 221st divisions . The 115th and 116th Independent Mixed Brigade , the 7th Independent Panzer Brigade and the 9th Artillery Regiment were also subordinate to the army  . The infantry units were recently formed divisions made up of hastily recruited recruits, many of them students. For lack of rifles, many of the recruits were armed with bamboo spears .

The 51st Army's area of ​​operations was the coast of Ibaraki Prefecture .

Without being involved in combat operations, the 51st Army was disbanded at the end of the war in August 1945 .

Army command

Surname From To
Commander in chief Lieutenant General Noda Kengo April 8, 1945 August 15, 1945
chief of staff Major General Sakai Yoshio April 6, 1945 September 1, 1945

Subordinate units

Structure of the 51st Army as follows (as of April 1945):

literature

  • John Underwood: The Japanese Order of Battle in World War II. Vol I, The Nafziger Collection, 1999, ISBN 1-58545-044-8 .
  • Steven J Zaloga: Defense of Japan Osprey Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-1-84603-687-3

Web links

  • 第 51 軍. Organization of IJA, accessed December 30, 2014 . , Japanese

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Zaloga, p. 30
  2. ↑ a b Underwood, p. 51
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Noda is the family name, Kengoro the first name.