Thirty-Fourth Army (Japan)

The Japanese 34th Army (第34軍, Dai Sanjū-yon gun) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the final stages of World War II.

History

The IJA 34th Army was formed in Hopei province, in Japanese-occupied China on 3 July 1944 from the Wuhan Defense Army (武漢防衛軍, Bukan Bōei-gun), a force created out of reserve elements of the IJA 11th Army to protect Japanese rear lines when the IJA 11th Army moved south to participate in the Battle of Guilin–Liuzhou during Operation Ichi-Go. Afterwards, it was transferred to the operational control of the Japanese Sixth Area Army, and continued in its role as a garrison force for Wuhan and the surrounding region. In March 1945, it participated in counter-insurgency operations with the IJA 12th Army and in June was transferred to the operational control of the Kwantung Army. The following month, it completed a transfer from China to Hamhung, in northern Korea, where it was assigned border patrol during against possible incursions by the Soviet Union into Korea and part of southern Manchukuo. It was overrun by the Soviet Red Army during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria at the end of World War II.

List of commanders

Commanding officer

Chief of staff

References

Books

• 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. 
• Glantz, David (2003). The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945 (Cass Series on Soviet (Russian) Military Experience, 7). Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5279-2. 

External links

• Wendel, Marcus. "Axis History Factbook". Japanese Thirty-Fourth Army.