Twentieth Army (Japan)

The Japanese 20th Army (第20軍, Dai-nijyū gun) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Japanese Twentieth Army
ActiveSeptember 10, 1941 - July 15, 1946
CountryEmpire of Japan
BranchImperial Japanese Army
TypeInfantry
RoleCorps
Nickname(s)Sakura (桜, Cherry)

History

The Japanese 20th Army was formed on September 10, 1941 under the Kwantung Army in Heilongjiang province in northern Manchukuo as a garrison and border patrol force. It came under the administrative control of the Japanese First Area Army on July 4, 1942. On October 19, 1944, it was transferred to central China and came under the command of the Japanese Sixth Area Army to provide a garrison force for areas left under defended by the movement of troops further south in Operation Ichi-Go. From April 9, 1945 - June 7, 1945 it carried out the offensive in the Battle of West Hunan, the last major Japanese offensive of the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which time it suffered significant casualties.[1] After the surrender of Japan, the 20th Army came under control of the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China and was assigned to the maintenance of public order until it was officially disbanded on July 15, 1946 at Hengyang, Hunan province.

Historical controversy

Some of western works has a difficulty distinguishing Twentieth Army from Eleventh Army (Japan) belonging to the same Japanese Sixth Area Army group.[2]

List of Commanders

Commanding officer
NameFromTo
1Lieutenant General Kameji Seki11 September 194111 March 1943
2Lieutenant General Masaki Honda11 March 19438 April 1944
3Lieutenant General Ichirō Banzai8 April 1944September 1945

Chief of Staff
NameFromTo
1Major General Shiori Nagura2 October 19411 July 1942
2Major General Sadatake Nakayama1 July 19427 February 1944
3Major General Taro Kawame7 February 194415 June 1945
4Major General Yoji Ichikawa15 June 1945September 1945

References
  • 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.

Notes
  1. Hsu Long-hsuen, and Chang Ming-kai. History of the Sino Japanese War (1937-1945). 2nd ed. Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China: Chung Wu Publishing Co., 1972. p. 457
  2. Japanese China Expeditionary Army Forces in China Late April 1945 Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine
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