Chosen Army of Japan

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Japanese Chosen Army

Surrender of Japanese Forces in Southern Korea
Active 1904-03-11-1945-08-15　
Country Empire of Japan
Branch Imperial Japanese Army
Type Infantry
Role Corps
Garrison/HQ Keijo
Japanese Chosen Army (1945)
Parent unit Japanese Seventeenth Area Army
Components

The Japanese Chosen Army (朝鮮軍 Chosen gun?) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army, forming a garrison force in Korea under Japanese rule.

Contents

[edit] History

Japanese forces occupied large portions of the Empire of Korea during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, and a substantial Korean Garrison Army ( 韓国駐剳軍 Kankoku Chusatsugun?) was established in Seoul to protect the Japanese embassy and civilians on 11 March 1904. After the Annexation of Korea by the Empire of Japan in 1910, this force was renamed the Chosen Chusatsugun, and was further renamed the Japanese Chosen Army on 1 June 1918. The primary task of the Chosen Army was to guard the Korean peninsula against possible incursions from the Soviet Union; however, its units were also used for suppression of nationalist uprisings and political dissent within Korea itself. The Chosen Army also came to the assistance of the Kwantung Army in its unauthorized invasion of Manchuria in 1937. In 1941, the Chosen Army was subordinated to the General Defense Command.

In 1945, as the situation in the Pacific War was turning increasing against Japan, the Chosen Army was transformed into the Japanese Seventeenth Area Army, and subsequently placed under the overall administrative command of the Kwantung Army. Its two undermanned infantry divisions were unable to withstand the massive Soviet Red Army armored and amphibious assault on Korea during Operation August Storm. After the surrender of Japan, the Chosen Army remained armed to maintain public order under the arrival of substantial Allied forces to take control.

[edit] List of Commanders

[edit] Commanding officer

Name From To
1 Lieutenant General Kensai Haraguchi 11 March 1904 8 September 1904
2 Marshal Yoshimichi Hasegawa 8 September 1904 21 December 1908
3 General Haruno Okubo 21 December 1908 18 August 1911
4 General Arisawa Ueda 18 August 1911 14 January 1912
5 General Sadayoshi Ando 14 January 1912 25 January 1915
6 General Seigo Inokuchi 25 January 1915 18 August 1916
7 General Yoshifuru Akiyama 18 August 1916 6 August 1917
8 General Satoshi Matsukawa 6 August 1917 24 July 1918
9 General Heitaro Utsunomiya 24 July 1918 16 August 1920
10 Lieutenant General Jiro Oba 16 August 1920 24 November 1922
11 General Shinnosuke Kikuchi 24 November 1922 20 August 1924
12 General Soroku Suzuki 20 August 1924 2 March 1926
13 General Shusei Morioka 2 March 1926 5 March 1927
14 General Hanzo Kanaya 5 March 1927 1 August 1929
15 General Jiro Minami 1 August 1929 22 November 1930
16 Lieutenant General Senjuro Hayashi 22 November 1930 26 May 1932
17 General Yoshiyuki Kawashima 26 May 1932 1 August 1934
18 General Kenkichi Ueda 1 August 1934 2 December 1935
19 General Kuniaki Koiso 2 December 1935 15 July 1938
20 General Kotaro Nakamura 15 July 1938 7 July 1941
21 General Seishiro Itagaki 7 July 1941 7 April 1945
22 Lieutenant General Yoshio Kozuki 7 April 1945 September 1945

[edit] Chief of Staff

Name From To
1 Lieutenant General Rikisaburo Saito 19 March 1904 12 September 1904
2 Lieutenant General Toyosaburo Ochiai 12 September 1904 7 April 1905
3 General Kikuzuo Otani 7 April 1905 1 June 1906
4 Lieutenant General Takashi Muta 1 June 1906 21 December 1908
5 General Jiro Akashi 21 December 1908 15 June 1910
6 Lieutenant General Shozo Sakakibara 15 June 1910 30 November 1910
7 General Katsusaburo Shiba 30 November 1910 28 September 1912
8 General Koichiro Tachibara 28 September 1912 17 April 1914
9 Lieutenant General Gencho Furumi 17 April 1914 1 April 1916
10 Lieutenant General Tan Shirozu 1 April 1916 6 August 1917
11 Lieutenant General Kentaro Ichikawa 6 August 1917 1 November 1918
12 Major General Toyoshi Ono 1 November 1918 20 July 1921
13 Major General Kinichi Yasumitsu 20 July 1921 6 August 1923
14 Major General Harumi Akai 6 August 1923 2 March 1926
15 Lieutenant General Senyuki Hayashi 2 March 1926 26 August 1927
16 Marshal Count Hisaichi Terauchi 26 August 1927 1 August 1929
17 Lieutenant General Kotaro Nakamura 1 August 1929 22 December 1930
18 General Tomou Kodama 22 December 1930 1 August 1933
19 Major General Keikichi Ogushi 1 August 1933 2 December 1935
20 Major General Yoshishige Saeda 2 December 1935 1 December 1936
21 Lieutenant General Seiichi Kuno 1 December 1936 1 March 1938
22 Lieutenant General Kenzo Kitano 1 March 1938 7 September 1939
23 Lieutenant General Yakutaira Kato 7 September 1939 1 March 1941
24 Lieutenant General Hiroshi Takahashi 1 March 1941 9 July 1942
25 Lieutenant General Junjiro Ihara 9 July 1942 September 1945

[edit] References

  • Frank, Richard B (1999). Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-41424-X. 
  • Jowett, Bernard (1999). The Japanese Army 1931-45 (Volume 2, 1942-45). Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1841763543. 
  • 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 1841768820. 

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

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