Kwantung Army
Kwantung Army | |
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Ryojun, Kwantung Leased Territory (1906–1932)Xinjing, Manchukuo (1932–1945) | |
Nickname(s) | Toku (德兵團, Toku heidan), "Virtue" |
Engagements |
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Kwantung Army | |
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Chinese name | |
Hanyu Pinyin | Guāndōngjūn |
Wade–Giles | Kuan1-tung1 Chün1 |
Yue: Cantonese | |
Yale Romanization | Gwāan dūng gwān |
Jyutping | Gwaan1 dung1 gwan1 |
Transcriptions | |
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Revised Romanization | Gwandonggun Gantogun |
McCune–Reischauer | Kwandonggun Kant'ogun |
Transcriptions | |
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Revised Hepburn | Kantō-gun |
The Kwantung Army (Japanese: 関東軍, Kantō-gun) was a general army of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1919 to 1945.
The Kwantung Army was formed in 1906 as a security force for the
In August 1945
The Kwantung Army perpetrated several war crimes during World War II, sponsoring Unit 731, which both carried out acts of biological warfare and performed unethical human experimentation on civilians and Allied prisoners of war.
History
Formation
In 1895,
The Kwantung Garrison was established in 1906 to defend this territory and originally was composed of an
Independent actions
Although the Kwantung Army was nominally subordinate to the
Presented with the
Second World War
After the campaign to secure Manchukuo, the Kwantung Army continued to fight in numerous border skirmishes with China as part of its
However, by the late 1930s, the Kwantung Army's vaunted reputation was severely challenged during the
The Kwantung Army was heavily augmented over the next few years, up to a strength of 700,000 troops by 1941, and its headquarters was transferred to the new Manchukuo capital of
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Kwantung Army in Mongolia during theBattle of Khalkhyn Gol, July 1939
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Map of Japanese Hokushin-ron plans for a potential attack on the Soviet Union. Dates indicate the year that Japan gained control of the territory.
Surrender of the Kwantung Army
By 1945, the Kwantung Army consisted of 713,000 personnel, divided into 31 infantry divisions, nine infantry brigades, two tank brigades, and one special purpose brigade. It possessed 1,155 light tanks, 5,360 guns, and 1,800 aircraft. The quality of troops had fallen drastically, as all the best men and materiel were siphoned off for use in other theaters. These forces were replaced by militia, draft levies, reservists, and cannibalized smaller units, all equipped with woefully outdated equipment.[7] The Kwantung Army was also equipped with bacteriological weapons, prepared for use against Soviet troops (see Unit 731). The bulk of military equipment (artillery, tanks, aircraft) was developed in the 1930s, and very few of the soldiers had sufficient training or any real experience.
The Kwantung Army was outclassed and swiftly defeated in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria which began on 9 August 1945.
The final commanding officer of the Kwantung Army, General Otozō Yamada, ordered a surrender on August 16, 1945, one day after Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan in a radio announcement. Some Japanese divisions refused to surrender, and combat continued for the next few days. Marshal Hata received the "ultimatum to surrender" from Soviet General Georgii Shelakhov[8][9] in Harbin on August 18, 1945.[8] He was one of the senior generals who agreed with the decision to surrender, and on August 19, 1945, Hata met with Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky,[10] but asked that he be stripped of his rank of Field Marshal in atonement for the Army's failures in the war.[11]
The remnants of the Kwantung Army were either dead or on their way to Soviet
War crimes and trials
After the surrender of Japan, the Soviet Red Army discovered secret installations for experimenting with and producing
Arrested by the
List of commanders
Kwantung Army
Commanding officer
Name | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
1- | Tachibana Kōichirō |
1919 | 6 January 1921 |
2 | General Misao Kawai |
6 January 1921 | 10 May 1922 |
3 | General Shinobu Ono | 10 May 1922 | 10 October 1923 |
4 | General Yoshinori Shirakawa | 10 October 1923 | 28 July 1926 |
5 | Field Marshal Baron Nobuyoshi Mutō |
28 July 1926 | 26 August 1927 |
6 | General Chotaro Muraoka | 26 August 1927 | 1 July 1929 |
7 | General Eitaro Hata | 1 July 1929 | 31 May 1930 |
8 | General Takashi Hishikari | 3 June 1930 | 1 August 1931 |
9 | General Shigeru Honjō | 1 August 1931 | 8 August 1932 |
10 | Field Marshal Baron Nobuyoshi Mutō | 8 August 1932 | 27 July 1933 |
11 | General Takashi Hishikari | 29 July 1933 | 10 December 1934 |
12 | General Jirō Minami | 10 December 1934 | 6 March 1936 |
13 | General Kenkichi Ueda | 6 March 1936 | 7 September 1939 |
14 | General Yoshijirō Umezu | 7 September 1939 | 18 July 1944 |
14 | General Otozō Yamada | 18 July 1944 | 11 August 1945 |
Chief of Staff
Name | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Major General Matasuke Hamamo |
12 April 1919 | 11 March 1921 |
2 | Major General Kaya Fukuhara | 11 March 1921 | 6 August 1923 |
3 | Major General Akiharu Kawada | 6 August 1923 | 2 December 1925 |
4 | Major General Tsune Saito | 2 December 1925 | 10 August 1928 |
5 | Major General Koji Miyake | 10 August 1928 | 8 August 1932 |
6 | Lieutenant General Kuniaki Koiso |
8 August 1932 | 5 March 1934 |
7 | Lieutenant General Toshizo Nishio |
5 March 1934 | 23 March 1936 |
8 | Major General Seishirō Itagaki | 23 March 1936 | 1 March 1937 |
9 | Lieutenant General Hideki Tōjō |
1 March 1937 | 30 May 1938 |
10 | Lieutenant General Rensuke Isogai | 18 June 1938 | 7 September 1939 |
11 | Lieutenant General Jo Iimura | 7 September 1939 | 22 October 1940 |
12 | Lieutenant General Heitarō Kimura | 22 October 1940 | 10 April 1941 |
13 | Lieutenant General Teiichi Yoshimoto | 10 April 1941 | 1 August 1942 |
14 | Lieutenant General Yukio Kasahara | 1 August 1942 | 7 April 1945 |
15 | Lieutenant General Hikosaburo Hata | 7 April 1945 | 11 August 1945 |
See also
- Armies of the Imperial Japanese Army
- Japanese settlers in Manchuria
- Kantokuen – cancelled Japanese invasion of the Soviet Far East
- Kawashima Yoshiko– Chinese princess turned Japanese spy
- Military history of Japan
- Organization of the Kwantung Army
- Zhongma Fortress – site of chemical and biological warfare research
- Senbu
References
Citations
- ^ Mayako Shimamoto, et al. Historical Dictionary of Japanese Foreign Policy (2015) p. 168.
- ^ Harries, Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army
- ^ Young, Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism.
- ^ Culver, Margaret S. "Manchuria: Japan's Supply Base." Far Eastern Survey, vol. 14, no. 12, 1945, pp. 160–163.
- ^ Coox, Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939
- ^ Yamamuro, Manchuria Under Japanese Domination.
- ^ Glantz, p. 28
- ^ a b "ВОЕННАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА --[ Мемуары ]-- Белобородов А.П. Прорыв на Харбин". militera.lib.ru.
- ^ a b "Гудок.RU - Новости железнодорожного транспорта, машиностроения и логистики". gudok.ru. Archived from the original on 2017-10-06. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
- ^ The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945: August Storm By David M. Glantz. [1]
- ^ Budge, Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
- ^ "Unit 731". Archived from the original on April 30, 2009.
- ^ Hal Gold, Unit 731 Testimony, 2003, p. 109
General and cited sources
- ISBN 0-8047-1835-0.
- Coox, Alvin (1977). The Anatomy of a Small War: The Soviet-Japanese Struggle for Changkufeng/Khasan, 1938. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-9479-2.
- Dorn, Frank (1974). The Sino-Japanese War, 1937-41: From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor. MacMillan. ISBN 0-02-532200-1.
- Glantz, LTC David M., "August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria". Leavenworth Papers No. 7, Combat Studies Institute, February 1983, Fort Leavenworth Kansas.
- Glantz, David (2003). The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945. Cass Series on Soviet (Russian) Military Experience, 7. Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5279-2.
- Harries, Meirion (1994). Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. Random House; Reprint edition. ISBN 0-679-75303-6.
- Jowett, Bernard (1999). The Japanese Army 1931–45 (Volume 2, 1942–45). Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-354-3.
- Madej, Victor (1981). Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937–1945. Game Publishing Company. ASIN: B000L4CYWW.
- Marston, Daniel (2005). The Pacific War Companion: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-882-0.
- Yamamuro, Shinichi (2005). Manchuria Under Japanese Domination. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-3912-1.
- Young, C. Walter (1931). The International Legal Status of the Kwantung Leased Territory
- Young, Louise (1999). Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21934-1.
External links
- Wendel, Marcus. "Japanese Army: Kwantung Army". Axis History Factbook. Archived from the original on 29 October 2006.