Japanese Southern China Area Army

Japanese South China Area Army
Active	February 9, 1940-June 26, 1941
Country	Empire of Japan
Branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Field Army
Garrison/HQ	Canton
Nickname	Nami (波, Wave)

Japanese South China Area Army (1940-1941)

Parent unit	China Expeditionary Army

Components	IJA 22nd Army (Nanning) - Lt. General Seiichi Kuno 5th Infantry Division - General Hitoshi Imamura IJA Guards Mixed Brigade - Major General Takeshi Sakurada IJA Taiwan Mixed Brigade - Major General Sadaichi Shioda 18th Infantry Division - Lt. General Seiichi Kuno 38th Infantry Division - Lt. General Yoji Fujii 104th Infantry Division - <brLt. General Kisaburo Hamamoto 106th Infantry Division - Lt. General Ryotaro Nakai (9 March 1940 - disbanded) IJA 21st Independent Aviation Corps

The Japanese South China Area Army (南支那方面軍, Minami Shina hōmen gun) was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army during Second Sino-Japanese War.

History

The Japanese South China Area Army was formed on February 9, 1940 under the control of the China Expeditionary Army. It was transferred to direct control by the Imperial General Headquarters on July 23, 1940. Headquartered in Canton, it was responsible for direction of the Japanese invasion of southern China, garrisoning Japanese-occupied Guangdong Province and controlling military operations in neighboring Guangxi Province. It was disbanded on June 26, 1941 and its component units were reassigned back to the China Expeditionary Army.

List of Commanders

Commanding officer

	Name	From	To
1	Lieutenant General Rikichi Ando	10 February 1940	5 October 1940
2	Lieutenant General Jun Ushiroku	5 October 1940	26 June 1941

Chief of Staff

	Name	From	To
1	Major General Hiroshi Nemoto	10 February 1940	1 March 1941
2	Major General Rimpei Katō	10 February 1940	28 June 1941

References

Books

Dorn, Frank (1974). The Sino-Japanese War, 1937-41: From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor. MacMillan. isbn = 0-02-532200-1.
Madej, Victor (1981). Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. Game Publishing Company. ASIN: B000L4CYWW.

External links

Wendel, Marcus. "Axis History Factbook". Japanese Southern China Area Army.

Notes

On March 9, the 106th division was recalled to Japan for demobilization from Central China. It was disbanded in Central China in April 1940 never having reached South China.