Dai-1 Teishin Shūdan
Dai-1 Teishin Shūdan |
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Japanese Paratrooper of the 1st Air Assault Division jumps out of an airplane during World War II. |
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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 TsūshōgōCode (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 | ||||
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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 |
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2nd Rifle Company | Type 2 7.7 mm rifle, Type 94 8 mm pistol, 9x Type 99 light machine gun |
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3rd Rifle Company | Type 2 7.7 mm rifle, Type 94 8 mm pistol, 9x Type 99 light machine gun |
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Engineer Company | Type 93 flamethrower, explosive devices |
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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 |
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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 |
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2nd Air Storm Transport Aircraft Company | 9x Type 100 'Topsy', 1x Nikajima Type 100 'Helen' for heavy cargo drops |
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3rd Air Storm Transport Aviation Company | 9x Type 100 'Topsy', 1x Nikajima Type 100 'Helen' for heavy cargo drops |
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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 |
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2. Glider-Flieger-Company | 150 * | 9x Type 100 'Topsy', 18x Type 4 Ku-8 'Gander' gliders |
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3rd Glider Flier Company | 150 * | 9x Type 100 'Topsy', 18x Type 4 Ku-8 'Gander' gliders |
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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
See also
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 .