Japanese 15th Division

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The 15th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army fought in China and Burma during World War II. It consisted of 51st, 60th and 67th Infantry Regiments.

After serving in central China, the division was ordered to join 15th Army in Burma on 17 June 1943, but was delayed with road building in Thailand for several months. Arriving in Burma it would take part in the planned attack on Imphal, Operation U-Go along with 31st and 33rd Division.

1 Imphal
2 Mandalay
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Imphal

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. 15th Division hold 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 it had to cross difficult terrain with only poor tracks. Because of the difficult terrain, the division’s ordinary artillery was replaced and with mountain guns and the anti-tank equipment was left behind on the assumption that the British would not field tanks. Of the division’s nine battalions, one had been detached to the force dealing with the second Chindits operation, and most of 67th Regiment was still in Thailand.

Thus 15th Division started the campaign with 6 battalions, 18 guns and a commander, Lieutenant-General Masafumi Yamauchi, mortally ill of tuberculosis. Soon it had to be urged onwards by the commander of 15th Army, Renya Mutaguchi A British force at Sangshak was within 15th Division’s operational area, but because of its slow speed, units from 31st Division assaulted this position on 23 March. 60th Regiment arrived soon after, but was not allowed to take part in the final assault 27 March. 15th Division cut the Imphal-Kohima road at Kangpokpi on 3 April. Soon the division was involved in heavy fighting for a hill called Nungshigum. From here the Japanese could threaten the headquarters of the Indian IV Corps and also marked the closest they ever came to Imphal. In their final assault the British included tanks, which, because of the steep sides, the Japanese had considered impossible. The tanks proved decisive. Although the attackers also suffered heavy losses, the defending battalion was almost annihilated. Despite this setback Yamauchi continued his encirclement of Imphal from the north. The British commander, Geoffrey Scoones drew the conclusion that the 15th was the weakest link in the Japanese front, and ordered Indian 23rd Infantry Division and Indian 5th Infantry Division 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 31st Division began retreating from Kohima after suffering heavy casualties. This left 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; Yamauchi was replaced with Lieutenant-General Ryuichi Shibita. On 7 July the division received orders for a last ditch attack on Palel, but by now it had been shattered as a military formation; its remnants back across the Chindwin and safety.

[edit] Mandalay

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

The opposing unit, Indian 19th Infantry Division, established its first bridgeheads on the eastern side of the Irrawaddy on 14 January and all attempts to dislodge them failed. After a rapid build-up, the British commander, Thomas Wynford Rees ordered his men forward. Brushing aside all opposition, its forward elements were within sight of Mandalay 7 March. 15th Division, now under command of Major-General Seiei Yamamoto, had received orders to defend the old Burmese capital to the last man. Of the two main positions, the Japanese were driven off Mandalay Hill by 12 March, but the thick walls of Fort Dufferin withstood artillery, bombing and stealth. On 18 March the division received new orders allowing its withdrawal, which it did through the sewers night of 19 March.

By this time the Japanese situation in Burma was deteriorating rapidly. The survivors of 15th Division retreated through the territory of the revolting Karen people and into the Southern Shan States where it remained at the time of the armistice.