Burma Regional Army

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Burma Regional Army

Japanese troops in Burma.jpg

Japanese soldiers in Burma
active March 27, 1943 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 army
Strength approximately 150,000-300,000
Insinuation South army
Location Rangoon
Nickname Mori ( 森 , "forest")
Butcher Pacific War
Supreme command
list of Commander in chief

The Burma regional army ( Japanese 緬甸 方面軍 , Biruma hōmengun ) was one of the regional armies of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1943 to 1945 . Your tsūshōgō (military code name) was code Forest ( 森 , Mori ).

history

On March 27, 1943, the Daihon'ei ( Imperial Headquarters of the Army and Navy ) set up the Burma Regional Army under the command of General Kawabe Masakazu in Rangoon , Burma, as part of the Southern Army . It consisted of the 15th Army , a total of four infantry divisions , three independent mixed brigades and other smaller units such as B. for air defense , logistics , medical services etc. In August 1944 reinforcements followed in the form of the 15th and 31st divisions and the following month the 54th division .

By February 1944, the regional army was divided into ten divisions , divided into three armies , swollen and comprised around 300,000 men.

At the beginning of the year General Kawabe worked with the commander of the 15th Army, Lieutenant General Mutaguchi Ren'ya , whom he knew from previous posts, on a pre-emptive strike against British troops at Imphal . The aim of this strike was to prevent the Allied troop concentrations around Imphal and, if the operation went well, to prepare an offensive into British India . These plans met with resistance from most of the Japanese unit commanders of the Burma Regional Army, and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Singapore-based Southern Army, Inada Masazumi , spoke out against such an offensive at the time. Many Japanese officers saw the difficult supply situation in Burma in particular as an obstacle to a successful operation. In October 1943, Terauchi Hisaichi approved the blow as Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Army and Tōjō Hideki as Prime Minister , as he was, according to their understanding, of a defensive character.

Course of Operation U-gō

In March 1944, the Japanese began Operation U-gō with the aim of capturing Imphal and Kohima , which failed with heavy losses until June. The offensive planned by Mutaguchi turned out to be a complete failure and resulted in the highest operating casualties the Japanese suffered in the entire war. In the medium term, the Japanese losses during the fighting ensured the Allied reconquest of Burma. In the course of the operation, Kawabe fell ill with amoebic dysentery and was replaced on August 30, 1944 by General Kimura Heitarō so that he could return to Japan to recover.

Due to the catastrophic supply situation and the ongoing fighting, the Burma regional army had melted to less than 100,000 men in early 1945. For the first time, a major Japanese unit had not only been beaten, but was on the run. Some of the units only had 25% of their strength. So were z. B. of the 28th Army only 6000 men alive.

In a desperate attempt to reach saving Thailand, the remnants of the Burma regional army tried to escape across the Sittaung River . During the Battle of Sittaung in July / August 1945, these remains were also shot down by British artillery .

The remaining elements of the Burma Regional Army surrendered on August 15, 1945 in Moulmein , Burma.

Commander in chief

Commanders

Surname From To
1. General Kawabe Masakazu March 27, 1943 August 30, 1944
2. General Kimura Heitaro August 30, 1944 September 12, 1945

Chiefs of Staff

Surname From To
1. Major General Naka Eitarō March 18, 1943 September 22, 1944
2. General Tanaka Shin'ichi September 22, 1944 May 23, 1945
3. Major General Shidei Tsunamasa May 23, 1945 July 29, 1945

Subordinate units

1943

When the Burma Regional Army was set up in March 1943, it consisted of the following units:

1 Unity joined in August 1943.
2 Unity joined in September 1943.

1944

In November 1944, the Burm Regional Army consisted of the following units:

3Relocated in January 1944 after being destroyed during the Battle of Guadalcanal

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 1931-45 (2) Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 978-1-84176-354-5
  • Charles Pettibone: The organization and order or battle of militaries in World War II: Volume VII: Germany's and Imperial Japan's allies & puppet states Trafford, 2012
  • Saburo Hayashi and Alvin D. Coox: Kogun. The Japanese Army in the Pacific War. The Marine Corps Association, Quantico, Virginia 1959.
  • William Slim: Defeat into Victory , Pan military classics, 2009, ISBN 978-0-330-50997-8
  • Robert Lyman: Kohima 1944 Osprey Publishing, 2010 ISBN 978-1-84603-939-3

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Ness, p. 39
  2. ↑ Madej, p. 2
  3. ↑ a b Japanese Forces Burma Area Army, November 15, 1944, Kirby, Stanley, Woodburn, The War Against Japan, London, Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1961. (PDF) (No longer available online.) United States Army Combined Arms Center, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved June 2, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cgsc.edu
  4. ^ Saburo Hayashi and Alvin D. Coox: Kogun. The Japanese Army in the Pacific War. 1959.
  5. ↑ Ness, p. 41
  6. ↑ Lyman p. 6
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Kawabe is the family name, Masakazu the first name.