Taiwan Army of Japan

Taiwan Army of Japan

Taiwan Army of Japan HQ, Taihoku
Active August 20, 1919 - September 22, 1944
Country Empire of Japan
Branch Imperial Japanese Army
Type Infantry
Role Corps
Garrison/HQ Taipei
 
Taiwan Army of Japan (1935)
Parent unit
Components
  • Taiwan Garrison
    • 1st Taiwan Infantry Brigade
    • 2nd Taiwan Infantry Brigade
  • Taiwan Mountain Artillery Brigade
  • 8th Taiwan Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment
  • 1st Tank Regiment
  • 2nd Tank Regiment
  • 6th Tank Regiment
  • 14th Tank Regiment
  • 3rd Field Artillery Regiment
  • 18th Field Artillery Regiment
  • 1st Signal Regiment
  • 3rd Air Division
  • 3rd Air Brigade
  • 7th Air Brigade
  • 10th Air Brigade
  • 12th Air Brigade
  • 5th Air Division
  • 4th Air Brigade

The Taiwan Army of Japan (台湾軍 Taiwan gun?) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army recruited from, and stationed, on the island of Taiwan as a garrison force.

Contents

History

Following the First Sino-Japanese War, the Treaty of Shimonoseki transferred control of Taiwan from Qing dynasty China to the Empire of Japan. The Japanese government established the Governor-General of Taiwan based in Taipei. The Governor-General of Taiwan was given control of local military forces on 20 August 1919, which formed the nucleus of the Taiwan Army of Japan.

Primarily a garrison force, the Taiwan Army of Japan was placed under control of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. A component of the Taiwan Army, the Taiwan Independent Combined Brigade, was active in numerous campaigns on the Chinese mainland, and was later expanded into the 48th Infantry Division.

Towards the end of World War II, as the situation looked increasingly desperate for Japan, the Taiwan Army was merged with several other units garrisoning the island of Taiwan against possible Allied invasion, and the Taiwan Army was absorbed into the new Japanese Tenth Area Army on 22 September 1944, under which it formed the Taiwan District Army on 1 February 1945, but its command was directly by the Japanese 10th Area Army.

List of commanders

Commanding officers

Name From To
1 General Jiro Akashi 20 August 1919 26 October 1919
2 General Goro Shiba 1 December 1919 4 May 1921
3 Lieutenant General Heitaro Fukuda 4 May 1921 6 August 1923
4 General Soroku Suzuki 6 August 1923 20 August 1924
5 Lieutenant General Takaichi Kanno 20 August 1924 28 July 1926
6 Lieutenant General Kunishige Tanaka 28 July 1926 10 August 1928
7 General Takashi Hishikari 10 August 1928 3 June 1930
8 General Jotaro Watanabe 3 June 1930 1 August 1931
9 Lieutenant General Saburo Hayashi 1 August 1931 9 January 1932
10 General Nobuyuki Abe 9 January 1932 1 August 1933
11 General Iwane Matsui 1 August 1933 1 August 1934
12 Field Marshal Count Hisaichi Terauchi 1 August 1934 2 December 1935
13 Lieutenant General Heisuke Yanagawa 2 December 1935 1 August 1936
14 Field Marshal Shunroku Hata 1 August 1936 2 August 1937
15 Lieutenant General Mikio Tsutsumi 2 August 1937 8 September 1938
16 Lieutenant General Tomou Kodama 8 September 1938 1 December 1939
17 Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima 1 December 1939 2 December 1940
18 Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma 2 December 1940 6 November 1941
19 General Rikichi Ando 6 November 1941 17 September 1945

Chief of staff

Name From To
1 Major General Koichiro Soda 20 August 1919 25 February 1921
2 Major General Kojiro Satoi 25 February 1921 4 February 1924
3 Major General Kinzo Watanabe 4 February 1924 26 July 1927
4 Major General Nenosuke Sato 26 July 1927 24 April 1930
5 Major General Takeshi Kosugi 24 April 1930 11 April 1932
6 Major General Yoshishige Shimizu 11 April 1932 18 March 1933
7 Major General Kennosuke Otsuka 18 March 1933 22 January 1934
8 Major General Sumei Kuwaki 22 January 1934 1 August 1935
9 Lieutenant General Ryuhei Ogisu 1 August 1935 1 March 1937
10 Major General Masataka Hata 1 March 1937 19 February 1938
11 Lieutenant General Hisaichi Tanaka 19 February 1938 8 September 1938
12 Major General Kazuo Otsu 15 October 1938 9 March 1940
13 Lieutenant General Mikio Uemura 9 March 1940 1 March 1941
14 Lieutenant General Takaji Wachi 1 March 1941 20 February 1942
15 Lieutenant General Shichiro Higuchi 20 February 1942 29 October 1943
16 Lieutenant General Shinpachi Kondo 29 October 1943 8 July 1944
17 Lieutenant General Haruki Isayama 8 July 1944 17 September 1945

See also

References

External links