53rd Army (Japanese Empire)

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53rd Army

Map-IJA Army, 53rd.jpg
active April 8, 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. 50,000
Insinuation 12th Regional Army
Location Isehara
Nickname Dan ( 断 , "firm will")
Butcher Operation Downfall
Supreme command
list of Commander in chief

The 53rd Army ( Japanese 第 53 軍 , Dai-gojūsan-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. Her Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was Firm Will ( 断 , Dan ).

history

After the Allies km on 19 February 1945 of about 1000 from the Japanese mainland located island of Iwo Jima had landed, hit the Imperial General Headquarters (Japanese headquarters ) hurried preparations for the upcoming landing of the US Army by these Operation Downfall was called . To this end, several armies were alone with over 80 in 1945. Divisions newly dug . On April 8, 1945, the 53rd Army was set up under the command of Lieutenant General Akashiba Yaezō and placed under the 12th Regional Army. The headquarters of the 53rd Army was Isehara near Tokyo . It consisted of the 84th , 140th and 316th divisions . The 117th Independent Mixed Brigade , the 2nd Independent Tank Brigade and the 11th 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 area of ​​operations of the 53rd Army was the coast of Kanagawa Prefecture .

Without being involved in combat operations, the 53rd Army was disbanded at the end of the war in August 1945 .

Army command

Surname From To
Commander in chief Lieutenant General Akashiba Yaezō April 7, 1945 August 15, 1945
chief of staff Major General Onouchi Hiroshi April 6, 1945 October 10, 1945

Subordinate units

Structure of the 53rd 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 53 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 Akashiba is the family name, Yaezo the first name.