Forty-Fourth Army (Japan)

The Japanese 44th Army (第44軍, Dai-yonjyū yon gun) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the final stages of World War II.

Japanese Fortieth-Fourth Army
Position of the 44th Army in 1945
ActiveJanuary 12, 1945 – August 15, 1945　
CountryEmpire of Japan
BranchImperial Japanese Army
TypeInfantry
RoleCorps
Garrison/HQMukden, Manchukuo
Nickname(s)Ensei (遠征, expeditionary)
EngagementsSoviet invasion of Manchuria

History

The Japanese 44th Army was initially raised in July 1941 as the Kwangtung Defense Army (関東防衛軍, Kanto boei gun), an auxiliary force of the Kwantung Army based in the Manchukuo capital of Hsinking for public security and training. As the war situation on the Pacific front grew increasingly desperate for Japan, the Imperial Japanese Army transferred more and more experienced divisions and their equipment out of Manchukuo to other fronts. By early 1945, the vaunted Kwantung Army was largely hollowed out, and indications of a buildup of Soviet Red Army forces on the borders on Mengjiang and Manchukuo were alarming. The Kwantung Defense Army was renamed the Japanese 44th Army on May 30, 1945 and assigned to the Japanese Third Area Army, based in southern Manchukuo. It saw combat against the Soviet Army in Soviet invasion of Manchuria, with combat operations continuing into September, even after the official surrender of Japan. It was officially disbanded at Mukden, with many of its surviving troops becoming Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union.

List of Commanders

Commanding Officer
NameFromTo
1General Tomoyuki Yamashita17 July 19416 November 1941
2Lieutenant General Tatsumi Kusaba6 November 194121 December 1942
3Lieutenant General Satoshi Kinoshita21 December 19427 December 1943
4Lieutenant General Shin Yoshida[1][2][3]7 December 19431 March 1945
5Lieutenant General Yoshio Hongo[4]1 March 1945September 1945

Chief of Staff
NameFromTo
1Lieutenant General Yasunori Yoshioka17 July 19411 July 1942
2Major General Senichi Tasaka1 July 194216 May 1944
3Major General Hiroshi Tamura16 May 19442 October 1944
4Major General Nobuyoshi Obata2 October 1944September 1945

References
  1. Yoshio Hongo (see below) was married to Shin Yoshida's wife's aunt. Source: Reiko Sugita, living descendant.
  2. Lieutenant General Shin Yoshida commanded the "Mechanized Army" with headquarters at Ssupingchieh, starting on July 4, 1942 or possibly as early as April 1941. http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/jap/ww2_IJN_Tanks.php.
  3. Yoshida became President of Manchuria Telecommunication and Telephone after retiring from the army after this posting. Source: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/jap/ww2_IJN_Tanks.php
  4. Yoshio Hongo (see above) was married to Shin Yoshida's wife's aunt. Source: Reiko Sugita, living descendant.

Sources
  • 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 1-84176-354-3.
  • 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 1-84176-882-0.
  • Glantz, David (2003). The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945 (Cass Series on Soviet (Russian) Military Experience, 7). Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5279-2.
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