59th Army (Japanese Empire)
59th Army |
|
---|---|
active | June 15, 1945 to August 15, 1945 |
Country | Japanese Empire |
Armed forces | Japanese armed forces |
Armed forces | Japanese army |
Branch of service | infantry |
Type | corps |
Strength | approx. 60,000 |
Insinuation | 16th regional army |
Location | Hiroshima |
Nickname | San'yō ( 山陽 , "mountain sunny side") |
Butcher | Second World War |
Supreme command | |
list of | Commander in chief |
The 59th Army ( Japanese 第 59 軍 , Dai-gojū-kyū-gun ) was a major unit of the Imperial Japanese Army in 1945 . Your Tsūshōgō code (military code name) was mountain sunny side ( 山陽 , San'yō ). Along with the 54th Army, it was the last Japanese army formed during the Pacific War .
history
On June 15, 1945 the Daihon'ei (Japanese Headquarters) set up the 59th Army under Lieutenant General Fujii Yōji in anticipation of an Allied invasion of the main Japanese islands and the offshore islands . It was stationed with four divisions , two independent mixed brigades and some artillery in Hiroshima in southern Honshu .
Like most units set up in the Japanese Empire in 1945 , it consisted of previously drafted recruits who had neither the necessary military training nor sufficient weapons. Sometimes weapons from the 19th century and bamboo spears had to be used. While divisions with two-digit numbering had a nominal strength of 20,000 men, the divisions with 100 and 200 numbers had almost 10,000 men. The latter divisions had practically no means of transport and were intended for coastal defense. Their immobility was offset by an above-average allocation of artillery and mortars .
The operational area of the 59th Army comprised the south coast of the provinces Kinki and Chūgoku (historically: San'yōdō ) with a total length of 800 km. All units were stationed near the coast.
When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima , the army headquarters was destroyed and Commander Fujii was killed. The 59th Army was disbanded on August 15, 1945, without having been involved in any fighting.
Commander in chief
commander
Surname | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Lieutenant General Fujii Yōji | June 15, 1945 | August 6, 1945 |
2. | Lieutenant General Nakanishi Sadayoshi | August 6, 1945 | August 12, 1945 |
3. | Lieutenant General Tani Hisao | June 12, 1945 | August 15, 1945 |
Chiefs of Staff
Surname | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Major General Kaji Takeo | June 15, 1945 | July 5, 1945 |
2. | Major General Matsumara Shūitsu | July 5, 1945 | September 18, 1945 |
3. | Lieutenant General Kawamura Saburō | September 18, 1945 | November 30, 1945 |
Subordinate units
- 58th Army Staff
- 144th Division
- 225th Division
- 230th division
- 231st Division
- 123rd Independent Mixed Brigade
- 124th Independent Mixed Brigade
- other smaller units
literature
- Victor Madej: Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. Game Publishing, 1981, OCLC 833591372 , OCLC 833591376 .
- Leland Ness: Rikugun: Guide to Japanese Ground Forces 1937-1945. Helion & Company, 2014, ISBN 978-1-909982-00-0 .
- Philip Jowett: The Japanese Army. Part 2: 1931-45. Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-84176-354-3 .
Web links
- 第 59 軍. Organization of IJA, accessed December 30, 2014 (Japanese).
Individual evidence
- ^ V. Madej: Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. 1981, p. 5.