Fiftieth Army (Japan)

Japanese Fiftieth Army (1945)
Parent unit	Japanese Eleventh Area Army
Components	* 157th Infantry Division (Towada) 308th Infantry Division (Aomori) 95th Independent Mixed Brigade (Hachinohe)

The Japanese 50th Army (第50軍 , Dai-gojyū gun^?) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the final days of World War II.

[edit] History

The Japanese 50th Army was formed on 19 June 1945 under the Japanese 11th Area Army as part of the last desperate defense effort by the Empire of Japan to deter possible landings of Allied forces in northern Honshū during Operation Downfall. The Japanese 50th Army was based in Aomori Prefecture and consisted mostly of poorly-trained reservists, conscripted students and walking wounded. It was demobilized at the surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945 without having seen combat.

	Name	From	To
Commanding officer	Lieutenant General Toshimoto Hoshino	10 June 1945	15 August 1945
Chief of Staff	Major General Kimihide Ota	1 June 1945	1 November 1945

Drea, Edward J. (1998). "Japanese Preparations for the Defense of the Homeland & Intelligence Forecasting for the Invasion of Japan", In the Service of the Emperor: Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-1708-0.
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.
Skates, John Ray (1994). The Invasion of Japan: Alternative to the Bomb Downfall. New York: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0-87249-972-3.