Taiwan Army of Japan

The Taiwan Army of Japan (台湾軍, Taiwan gun) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army stationed on the island of Taiwan as a garrison force. Taiwanese were relegated to non-combatant civilian work work as manual labourers, porters and Chinese language interpreters. Taiwanese were not allowed as combatants until 1942 when volunteers were permitted to enlist and all combatant soldiers from the Taiwan army of Japan before 1942 were ethnic Japanese. Japan only conscripted Taiwanese in 1945 in a last ditch attempt for manpower.

Taiwan Army of Japan
Taiwan Army of Japan HQ, Taihoku
ActiveAugust 20, 1919 - September 22, 1944
CountryEmpire of Japan
BranchImperial Japanese Army
TypeInfantry
RoleCorps
Garrison/HQTaihoku

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 Japanese Taiwan Army 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. Troops from this army were also involved in the Nanjing Massacre in December 1937.

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
NameFromTo
1General Jiro Akashi20 August 191926 October 1919
2General Goro Shiba1 December 19194 May 1921
3Lieutenant General Heitaro Fukuda4 May 19216 August 1923
4General Soroku Suzuki6 August 192320 August 1924
5Lieutenant General Takaichi Kanno20 August 192428 July 1926
6Lieutenant General Kunishige Tanaka28 July 192610 August 1928
7General Takashi Hishikari10 August 19283 June 1930
8General Jotaro Watanabe3 June 19301 August 1931
9Lieutenant General Saburo Hayashi1 August 19319 January 1932
10General Nobuyuki Abe9 January 19321 August 1933
11General Iwane Matsui1 August 19331 August 1934
12Field Marshal Count Hisaichi Terauchi1 August 19342 December 1935
13Lieutenant General Heisuke Yanagawa2 December 19351 August 1936
14Field Marshal Shunroku Hata1 August 19362 August 1937
15Lieutenant General Mikio Tsutsumi2 August 19378 September 1938
16Lieutenant General Tomou Kodama8 September 19381 December 1939
17Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima1 December 19392 December 1940
18Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma2 December 19406 November 1941
19General Rikichi Ando6 November 194117 September 1945

Chief of staff
NameFromTo
1Major General Koichiro Soda20 August 191925 February 1921
2Major General Kojiro Satoi25 February 19214 February 1924
3Major General Kinzo Watanabe4 February 192426 July 1927
4Major General Nenosuke Sato26 July 192724 April 1930
5Major General Takeshi Kosugi24 April 193011 April 1932
6Major General Yoshishige Shimizu11 April 193218 March 1933
7Major General Kennosuke Otsuka18 March 193322 January 1934
8Major General Sumei Kuwaki22 January 19341 August 1935
9Lieutenant General Ryuhei Ogisu1 August 19351 March 1937
10Major General Masataka Hata1 March 193719 February 1938
11Lieutenant General Hisaichi Tanaka19 February 19388 September 1938
12Major General Kazuo Otsu15 October 19389 March 1940
13Lieutenant General Mikio Uemura9 March 19401 March 1941
14Lieutenant General Takaji Wachi1 March 194120 February 1942
15Lieutenant General Shichiro Higuchi20 February 194229 October 1943
16Lieutenant General Shinpachi Kondo29 October 19438 July 1944
17Lieutenant General Haruki Isayama8 July 194417 September 1945

See also

References
    • Madej, Victor (1981). Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. Game Publishing Company. ASIN: B000L4CYWW.

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