Dai-1 Teishin Shūdan

Dai-1 Teishin Shūdan ; 1st Air Assault Division
	; ; Japanese Paratrooper of the 1st Air Assault Division jumps out of an airplane during World War II.
active	November 1944 to September 1945
Country	Japan
Armed forces	Japanese armed forces
Armed forces	Japanese army
Branch of service	Parachute force
Type	division
Strength	Approx. 8,000
Location	Japan
Nickname	Teishin ( 挺進 "dangerous attack")
Butcher	Pacific War

The Dai-1 Teishin Shūdan ( Japanese 第 1 挺進集団 , German "1st Air Storm Division") was a major unit of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Forces from November 1944 to September 1945 during World War II . The airborne division of the parachute troops of the Imperial Japanese Army was never deployed as a whole, but provided individual brigades , regiments and companies for military operations. The core of the force remained in Japan to train more paratroopers . Yours Tsūshōgō Code (military code name) was 1RD .

history

Since 1941, the 1st Air Storm Brigade had been the core of the Japanese Army Parachute Force. On November 21, 1944, the 1st air storm group was set up from existing units. The designation "group" was given because neither teams nor equipment were available in sufficient numbers. The structure of the 1st air storm group, however, corresponds to that of a division and therefore the designation "Dai-1 Teishin Shūdan" has established itself as the 1st air storm division. The nominal strength of the division should have been around 12,000 men, but constant losses, regroupings and new recruits reduced the strength to around 8,000 men.

The commander of the 1st Air Assault Division was Major General Tsukada Rikichi , who until then had only commanded army ground troops . Tsukada had experience as a flight instructor and had served on brigade and army headquarters during the 1930s. At the end of the 1930s, he had commanded an air regiment and then an air brigade. Since February 1944 Tsukada was Chief of Staff of the 3rd Air Army when he took over the leadership of the 1st Air Assault Division in November 1944.

The six Luftsturm- and Gleiter- " regiments " consisted mainly of infantry - battalions , although their identification "regiment" was. They had no artillery , had only a few fire support units and were dependent on external units for logistics and supplies. Only the soldiers of the air storm regiments received parachute jump training, while the remaining units did not receive such training.

Calls

As a closed unit, the Dai-1 Teishin Shūdan never participated in any company in its history. On the other hand, it made individual brigades, regiments or companies available for operations before and during their formation.

Units of the Dai-1 Teishin Shūdan participating in combat operations:

February 1942: 2nd air storm regiment at the Battle of Palembang
December 1944: 3rd Air Storm Regiment and parts of the 4th Air Storm Regiment in Operation Te
December 1944: 4th Air Storm Regiment at the Battle of Ormoc
January 1945: 2nd Air Storm Brigade in the Battle of Luzon
May 1945: Pioneers of the 1st Air Storm Regiment in the air landing on Okinawa

structure

Unit					commander	Strength	Armament or info
1st Air Storm Division Dai-1 Teishin Shūdan 第 1 挺進集団					Major General Tsukada Rikichi	100 *
	1st Air Storm Brigade Dai-1 Teishin Dan 第 1 挺進団				Colonel Nakamura Isamu	50 *
		1st Dai-1 Air Storm Regiment Teishin Rentai 第 1 挺進連隊			Lieutenant Colonel Yamada Hideo	816
			Regimental headquarters				Type 94 8mm pistol
			1st Rifle Company				Type 2 7.7 mm rifle, Type 94 8 mm pistol, 9x Type 99 light machine gun
			2nd Rifle Company				Type 2 7.7 mm rifle, Type 94 8 mm pistol, 9x Type 99 light machine gun
			3rd Rifle Company				Type 2 7.7 mm rifle, Type 94 8 mm pistol, 9x Type 99 light machine gun
			Engineer Company				Type 93 flamethrower, explosive devices
			Heavy weapons company
				Company leadership
				Anti-tank train			4x Type 94 3.7 cm anti-tank guns or 4x Type 97 8 cm grenade launchers
				Infantry gun train			4x Type 92 7 cm battalion gun
				Machine gun train			6x Type 92 heavy machine gun
		2nd Dai-2 Air Storm Regiment Teishin Rentai 第 2 挺進連隊			Lieutenant Colonel Oosaki Kunio	816
			Structure like 1st air storm regiment
	2nd Air Storm Brigade Dai-2 Teishin Dan 第 2 挺進団				Colonel Tokunaga Kenji	50 *
		3rd Dai-3 Air Storm Regiment Teishin Rentai 第 3 挺進連隊			Major Shirai Tsuneharu	816
			Structure like 1st air storm regiment
		4th Dai-4 Air Storm Regiment Teishin Rentai 第 4 挺進連隊			Major Saida Chisaku	816
			Structure like 1st air storm regiment
The following units are glider infantry and were subordinate to the division leadership
		1st Glider Infantry Regiment,			Major Yamamoto Haruichi	816	Soldiers were taken over from infantry divisions and had no parachute training
			Leadership squad
			1st Glider Rifle Company
			2nd Glider Rifle Company
			3rd Glider Rifle Company
			Glider Pioneer Company
			Glider anti-tank company				4x 4.7 cm pack
			Glider Mountain Gun Company				4x 7.5 cm mountain gun
		2nd Glider Infantry Regiment			Major Takaya Saburo	816	Soldiers were taken over from infantry divisions and had no parachute training
			Structure as for 1st Glider Infantry Regiment
The following units are air storm flier associations and were subordinate to the division leadership
	1st Air Storm Aviation Brigade				Colonel Kawashima Keigo	50 *
		1st Air Storm Aviation Regiment			Lt. Col. Niihara Akihito	500 *
			1st Air Storm Transport Aircraft Company				9x Type 100 'Topsy' , 1x Nikajima Type 100 'Helen' for heavy cargo drops
			2nd Air Storm Transport Aircraft Company				9x Type 100 'Topsy', 1x Nikajima Type 100 'Helen' for heavy cargo drops
			3rd Air Storm Transport Aviation Company				9x Type 100 'Topsy', 1x Nikajima Type 100 'Helen' for heavy cargo drops
		2nd Luftsturm-Flieger-Regiment			Major Toda Kan	500 *
			Structure as for 1st Luftsturm-Flieger-Regiment
The following units are glider-pilot associations and were subordinate to the division leadership
		1st Glider Flier Regiment			Kitaura Sonfuku	50 *
			1. Glider-Flieger-Company			150 *	9x Type 100 'Topsy', 18x Type 4 Ku-8 'Gander' cargo gliders
			2. Glider-Flieger-Company			150 *	9x Type 100 'Topsy', 18x Type 4 Ku-8 'Gander' gliders
			3rd Glider Flier Company			150 *	9x Type 100 'Topsy', 18x Type 4 Ku-8 'Gander' gliders
The following units were under the division leadership
	1st Air Storm Brigade Communication Unit					50 *
	101st Ground Company					100 *
	102nd Ground Company					100 *
	103rd Ground Company					100 *
	1st Air Storm Pioneer Association				Major Fukumoto Ryuichi
		Leadership squad				20 *
		1st Air Storm Engineer Company				100 *
		2nd Air Storm Engineer Company				100 *
		3. Air Storm Pioneer Equipment Platoon				100 *
	1. Air storm telecommunication unit				Captain Tamura Kazuo	100 *
	1. Air storm maintenance unit				Major Isami Kenji	100 *
	1st air storm tank unit				Major Tanaka Kenichi
		Leadership squad				50 *	2x Type 2 Ke-Te light tanks
		Panzer Company				100 *	12x Type 2 Ke-Te light tanks
		Infantry company				100 *
		Anti-tank company				100 *	4x 4.7 cm Pak, 12x Type 94 Te-Ke ( tankette )
		Motorized company				100 *	60x Type 95 light trucks
		Maintenance squad				20 *
						7,986	Overall strength

(*) Estimated manpower

literature

Rottman & Takizawa: Japanese Paratroop Forces of World War II Osprey Publishing, UK, 2005, ISBN 978-1-8417-6903-5

Web links

Organization Parachute Division of Imperial Japanese Army
Organization of Japanese Raiding Groups 1939-1945. http://usacac.army.mil , accessed December 19, 2017 .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Rottman & Tazawana, p. 10.
↑ Rottman & Tazawana, p. 13

[RT10-1] Rottman & Tazawana, p. 10.

[RT13-2] Rottman & Tazawana, p. 13