Fifth Army (Japan)

The Japanese 5th Army (第5軍, Dai-go gun) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army based in Manchukuo from the Russo-Japanese War until the end of World War II. During World War II it was under the overall command of the Kwantung Army.

Japanese Fifth Army
ActiveJanuary 15, 1905 – August 15, 1945　
CountryEmpire of Japan
BranchImperial Japanese Army
TypeInfantry
RoleCorps
Garrison/HQAndong, Manchukuo
Nickname(s)Jōshudan (城集団, Castle)
EngagementsSoviet invasion of Manchuria

History

Russo-Japanese War

The Japanese 5th Army was initially raised on January 15, 1905 in the final stages of the Russo-Japanese War under the command of General Kawamura Kageaki out of only the 11th Infantry Division and three reserve brigades.[2] It took successfully part in the battle of Mukden, when the 5th Army flanked the Russian left wing. It was disbanded at Mukden in January, 1906 after the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth at the end of the war.

Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II

The Japanese 5th Army was raised again on December 7, 1937 in Manchukuo as a garrison force to guard the eastern borders against possible incursions by the Soviet Red Army. As it was based on the eastern frontier, it was not a participant in the Nomonhan Incident, but was temporarily disbanded on February 26, 1938. It was re-established on May 19, 1939 under the direct control of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff. It afterwards came under the command of the Japanese First Area Army, under the overall command of the Kwantung Army, and was used primarily as a training and garrison force. Its equipment and experienced troops were siphoned off to other commands in the southeast Asia theatre of operations as the war situation gradually deteriorated for Japan. By the time of the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, its poorly equipped and poorly trained forces were no longer a match for the experienced battle-hardened Soviet armored divisions, and it was driven back into defensive positions in Andong Province along the Korean border by the time of the surrender of Japan. It was formally disbanded at Jixi.

List of Commanders

Commanding officer
NameFromTo
1General Kawamura Kageaki15 January 1905January 1906
XDisbanded
2General Motoo Furusho8 December 193726 February 1938
XDisbanded
3General Kenji Doihara19 May 193928 September 1940
4Lieutenant General Shigeichi Hada28 September 194015 October 1941
5Lieutenant General Jo Iimura15 October 194129 October 1943
6Lieutenant General Toshimichi Uemura29 October 194327 June 1944
7Lieutenant General Shimizu Tsunenori27 June 1944September 1945

Chief of Staff
NameFromTo
1Major General Uchiyama Kojirō15 January 1905January 1906
XDisbanded
2Lieutenant General Masatake Shina8 December 193726 February 1938
XDisbanded
3Lieutenant General Shizuo Kurashige19 May 19399 March 1940
4Lieutenant General Shiro Makino9 March 194024 April 1941
5Lieutenant General Senichi Tasaka24 April 19411 July 1942
6Major General Masazumi Inada1 July 194222 February 1943
7Lieutenant General Tadasu Kataoka22 February 19433 August 1944
8Major General Shigesada Kawagoe3 August 1944September 1945

Notes
  1. US General Staff 1907, p. 105.
  2. Kowner 2009, p. 180.
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References
  • 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.
  • US General Staff (1907). Epitome of the Russo-Japanese War. US War Department.
  • Kowner, Rotem (2009). The A to Z of the Russo-Japanese War. Scarecrow Press Inc. ISBN 978-0-8108-6841-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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