20th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
20th Division | |
---|---|
Active | 24 December 1915 – 13 September 1945 |
Country | Empire of Japan |
Branch | Imperial Japanese Army |
Type | Infantry |
Garrison/HQ | Yongsan, Korea |
Nickname(s) | Morning Division |
Engagements | Second Sino-Japanese War World War II |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Masutaro Nakai |
The 20th Division (第20師団, Dai-nijū Shidan) was an
was the Morning Division (朝兵団, Asa Heidan).Formation
The 20th Division and the
Action
After the
On 1 July 1940, the reconnaissance regiment replaced the cavalry regiment, which was detached in 1942. Also, on 16 July 1941, the 77th infantry regiment was detached and transferred to the newly created 30th division, thus converting the 20th division to the triangular division format. In 1942, the division was sent to southern Manchukuo, and its field artillery regiment was changed to a mountain artillery regiment.
During the fighting in New Guinea, the division consisted of three infantry regiments—78th, 79th and 80th—along with the 26th Field Artillery Regiment. the 20th Reconnaissance Regiment, the 20th Engineer Regiment and the 20th Transport Regiment.[2]
From October 1943, the 20th Infantry Division under Lieutenant General
During the Battle of Hollandia at the end of April 1944, Shigeru Katagiri was killed in combat while en route from Madang to Wewak. He was replaced by Major General Masutaro Nakai, who was promoted to lieutenant general in April 1945. The surviving forces of the Nakai Detachment of the 20th division held out against the Australian Army in the Markham, Ramu and Finisterre campaigns and other combat operations in New Guinea until the end of the war. Of the approximately 25,000 men in the 20th Division, only 1,711 survived the war. More men died in New Guinea from malaria and malnutrition than from combat with the Americans or Australians.
See also
- List of Japanese Infantry Divisions
Notes
- ^ Rottman 2005, p. 11.
- ^ Rottman 2005, p. 15.
References
- Madej, W. Victor, Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937–1945 [2 vols], Allentown, PA: 1981
- Dexter, David (1961). The New Guinea Offensives. OCLC 2028994. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- Gailey, Harry A. (2004). MacArthur's Victory: The War In New Guinea 1943–1944. New York: Random House. ISBN.
- Rottman, Gordon L. (2005). Duncan Anderson (ed.). Japanese Army in World War II: The South Pacific and New Guinea, 1942–43. Oxford and New York: Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-870-7.
- This article incorporates material from the Japanese Wikipedia page 第20師団 (日本軍), accessed 7 March 2016