15th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)

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15th Division
Minami Jiro, and Kanji Ishiwara

The 15th Division (第15師団, Dai Jūgo Shidan) was an

.

Action

Interwar period

The

Aichi prefecture

.

However, on 1 May 1925, it was dissolved by Minister of War

divisions.

Second Sino-Japanese War

In July 1937, open hostilities broke out against

and to maintain public safety over Japanese-occupied areas.

Battle of Imphal

On 17 June 1943 the 15th division was reassigned to the

. During these operations, the division lost more than half of its men in combat or due to disease, and was forced out of Burma into Thailand in August 1945 days before the end of the war, where it was officially disbanded.

Operation U-Go was planned to start in the beginning of March 1944, but because of 15th Division's slow arrival start of the offensive was postponed to 15 March. The 15th Division formed the central position of the three attacking divisions, and its primary objective was to cut the road between Imphal and Kohima at Kangpokpi. On the map this was the shortest and most direct route towards Imphal, but the division had to cross difficult terrain with only poor tracks. Because of the difficult terrain, the division’s field artillery was replaced with mountain guns and the anti-tank equipment was left behind. Of the division’s nine battalions, one had been detached to the force dealing with the second Chindits operation, and most of its 67th Regiment was still in Thailand.

Thus, the 15th Division started the campaign with 6 battalions, 18 guns and a commander, Lieutenant-General

to destroy it. In the following months the British with their superiority in numbers and almost unstoppable tanks drove the Japanese off one hill after another.

In the middle of June the Japanese 31st Division began retreating from Kohima after suffering heavy casualties. This left the 60th Regiment blocking the Imphal-Kohima road in an impossible situation and the British broke through and reopened the road on 22 June. The next day saw a change in command, with Yamauchi replaced by Lieutenant-General Ryuichi Shibata. On 7 July the division received orders for a last-ditch attack on Pallel, but by now it had been shattered as a military formation; its remnants retreated back across the Chindwin River to safety.

Battle of Meiktila and Mandalay

After the defeat at Imphal and Allied advances in the north, the Japanese forces in Burma were forced on the defensive to try to stop the Allies from crossing the Irrawaddy. In January 1945 the 15th Division, together with the 53rd Division, was thrown into the defense of Mandalay. The division had received some reinforcements, but at 4500 men it was still less than half of nominal strength.

The opposing,

withstood artillery and air bombardment. On 18 March the division received new orders allowing its withdrawal, which it did through the sewers on the night of 19 March.

By this time the Japanese position in Burma had completely collapsed. The survivors of the 15th Division (less than half its original strength of 15,000 men) retreated via the territory of the hostile

15 August 1945.

See also

• List of Japanese Infantry Divisions

Reference and further reading

• Madej, W. Victor. Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945 [2 vols] Allentown, PA: 1981
• Louis Allen, Burma: The longest War, Dent Publishing, 1984,
  ISBN 0-460-02474-4
• Jon Latimer, Burma: The Forgotten War, London: John Murray, 2004
  ISBN 0-7195-6576-6
• This article incorporates material from the Japanese Wikipedia page 第15師団 (日本軍), accessed 18 February 2016