52nd Army (Japanese Empire)
52nd Army |
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![]() Japanese students drafted into the 52nd Army during training, mid-1945 |
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active | April 7, 1945 to August 1945 |
Country |
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Armed forces |
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Armed forces |
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Branch of service | infantry |
Type | corps |
Strength | approx. 80,000 |
Insinuation | 12th Regional Army |
Location | Sakura |
Nickname | Shō ( 捷 , "victory") |
Butcher | Operation Downfall |
Supreme command | |
list of | Commander in chief |
The 52nd Army ( Japanese 第 52 軍 , Dai-gojūni-gun ) was a large unit of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was set up and disbanded in the last year of the war in 1945. Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was victory ( 捷 , Shō ).
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 7, 1945, the 52nd Army was set up under the command of Lieutenant General Shigeta Tokumatsu and placed under the 12th Regional Army. The 52nd Army's headquarters were in Sakura near Tokyo . It consisted of the 3rd Guard Division and the Infantry Divisions 147 , 152 and 234 . While the Guard Division was fully equipped and consisted of well-trained soldiers, most of the divisions formed in 1945 were hastily recruits, many of them students. For lack of rifles, many of the recruits were armed with bamboo spears . Without being involved in combat operations, the 52nd Army was disbanded at the end of the war in August 1945 .
Army command
Surname | From | To | |
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Commander in chief | Lieutenant General Shigeta Tokumatsu | April 7, 1945 | August 15, 1945 |
chief of staff | Major General Tamaoki Harukazu | April 6, 1945 | October 10, 1945 |
Subordinate units
Structure of the 52nd Army as follows (as of April 1945):
- 52nd Army Staff
- 3rd Guard Division
- 147th Division
- 152nd Division
- 234th Division
- 3rd Independent Panzer Brigade
- 8th Artillery Brigade
- 2nd Artillery Regiment
- 14th Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment
- 14th Heavy Artillery Regiment
- 27th Heavy Field Artillery Regiment
- 7th Heavy Field Artillery Battalion
- 18th Heavy Field Artillery Battalion
- 11th Independent Heavy Artillery Battalion
- 42nd Independent Heavy Artillery Battalion
- 40th Mortar Battalion
- 24th anti-tank battalion
- 69th, 94th, 95th, 96th and 97th Independent Engineer Battalion
- 39th Telecommunications Regiment
- 150. Supply unit
- 19. Road construction unit
literature
- John Underwood: The Japanese Order of Battle in World War II. Vol I, The Nafziger Collection, 1999, ISBN 1-58545-044-8 .
Web links
- 第 52 軍. Organization of IJA, accessed December 30, 2014 . , Japanese