Fourth Army (Japan)

The Japanese 4th Army (第4軍, Dai-yon gun) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army based in Manchukuo from the Russo-Japanese War until the end of World War II.

Japanese Fourth Army
ActiveJune 24, 1904 - August 15, 1945　
CountryEmpire of Japan
BranchImperial Japanese Army
TypeInfantry
RoleCorps
Garrison/HQBei'an, Manchukuo
Nickname(s)Hikari (光, Light)
Engagements
Russo-Japanese War
*Battle of Liaoyang
*Battle of Mukden
World War II
*Soviet invasion of Manchuria

History

Russo-Japanese War

The Japanese 4th Army was initially raised on June 24, 1904 in the midst of the Russo-Japanese War under the command of General Nozu Michitsura out of various reserve elements, to provide support and additional manpower in the Japanese drive towards Mukden in the closing stages of the war against Imperial Russia. It was disbanded at Mukden on January 17, 1906 after the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth and the end of the war.

Second Sino-Japanese War

After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese Fourth Army was raised again as a garrison force to guard the northern borders of Manchukuo against possible incursions by the Soviet Red Army. It was based at Bei'an, the capital of a northern Manchukuo province of the same name, that was heavily fortified with various ground emplacements. The Fourth Army afterwards came under the operational command of the Japanese First Area Army under the overall command of the Kwantung Army. As the war situation in the southeast Asia and China fronts of World War II worsened against the Japanese, experienced men and equipment were siphoned off from the Fourth Army to reinforce other units, leaving it largely hollowed out by the start of 1945.

During the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in the final days of World War II, the Japanese Fourth Army was no match for the experienced, battle-hardened Soviet armored and mechanized infantry divisions, who quickly overran or circumvented the Japanese defenses, and its poorly equipped and poorly trained forces were driven back to Harbin by the time of the surrender of Japan. Many of its surviving troops became Japanese POWs in the Soviet Union.

List of Commanders

Commanding officer
NameFromTo
1General Nozu Michitsura30 June 190412 January 1906
XDisbanded
1Lieutenant General Kesago Nakajima15 July 19381 August 1939
2Lieutenant General Jun Ushiroku1 August 193928 September 1940
3Lieutenant General Kohei Washizu28 October 194015 October 1941
4Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama15 October 194121 September 1942
5Lieutenant General Tatsumi Kusaba21 September 19427 February 1944
6Lieutenant General Kanji Nishihara7 February 194423 March 1944
7Lieutenant General Mikio Uemura23 March 1944September 1945

Chief of Staff
NameFromTo
1Major General Uehara Yusaku30 June 190423 January 1906
XDisbanded
1Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi15 July 19381 December 1939
2Lieutenant General Masao Yoshizumi1 December 19399 September 1940
3Lieutenant General Hiroshi Watanabe9 September 19407 July 1941
4Lieutenant General Asasaburo Kobayashi7 July 19411 December 1941
5Lieutenant General Hiroshi Watanabe1 December 19411 August 1942
6Lieutenant General Kohei Takeshi1 August 194211 September 1943
7Major General Saburo Hagi11 September 194326 December 1944
8Major General Bujo Ono26 December 1944September 1945
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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.
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