Taiwan Army of Japan

Taiwan Army of Japan
Taiwan Army of Japan
	Taiwan Army of Japan HQ, Taihoku
Active	August 20, 1919 - September 22, 1944
Country	Empire of Japan
Branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Corps
Garrison/HQ	Taihoku

The Taiwan Army of Japan (台湾軍, Taiwan gun) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army recruited from, and stationed on, the island of Taiwan as a garrison force.

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.^[1]

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[]

	Name	From	To
1	General	20 August 1919	26 October 1919
2	General Goro Shiba	1 December 1919	4 May 1921
3	Lieutenant General	4 May 1921	6 August 1923
4	General	6 August 1923	20 August 1924
5	Lieutenant General	20 August 1924	28 July 1926
6	Lieutenant General	28 July 1926	10 August 1928
7	General Takashi Hishikari	10 August 1928	3 June 1930
8	General Jotaro Watanabe	3 June 1930	1 August 1931
9	Lieutenant General	1 August 1931	9 January 1932
10	General Nobuyuki Abe	9 January 1932	1 August 1933
11	General Iwane Matsui	1 August 1933	1 August 1934
12	Field Marshal Count Hisaichi Terauchi	1 August 1934	2 December 1935
13	Lieutenant General Heisuke Yanagawa	2 December 1935	1 August 1936
14	Field Marshal Shunroku Hata	1 August 1936	2 August 1937
15	Lieutenant General	2 August 1937	8 September 1938
16	Lieutenant General	8 September 1938	1 December 1939
17	Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima	1 December 1939	2 December 1940
18	Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma	2 December 1940	6 November 1941
19	General Rikichi Ando	6 November 1941	17 September 1945

Chief of staff[]

	Name	From	To
1	Major General	20 August 1919	25 February 1921
2	Major General	25 February 1921	4 February 1924
3	Major General	4 February 1924	26 July 1927
4	Major General	26 July 1927	24 April 1930
5	Major General	24 April 1930	11 April 1932
6	Major General	11 April 1932	18 March 1933
7	Major General	18 March 1933	22 January 1934
8	Major General	22 January 1934	1 August 1935
9	Lieutenant General	1 August 1935	1 March 1937
10	Major General	1 March 1937	19 February 1938
11	Lieutenant General Hisaichi Tanaka	19 February 1938	8 September 1938
12	Major General	15 October 1938	9 March 1940
13	Lieutenant General	9 March 1940	1 March 1941
14	Lieutenant General Takaji Wachi	1 March 1941	20 February 1942
15	Lieutenant General	20 February 1942	29 October 1943
16	Lieutenant General	29 October 1943	8 July 1944
17	Lieutenant General	8 July 1944	17 September 1945

References[]

^ "Taiwan - Taiwan as part of the Japanese empire". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-11-22. The Taiwanese worked in Japan’s defense and war-related industries in Taiwan and in other ways abetted Japan’s war efforts. Many Taiwanese served in the Japanese military, including units that fought in China. Taiwanese troops even participated in the atrocities against Chinese civilians at Nanjing (Nanking) and other places on the mainland. Of the Taiwanese who served in the Japanese military, more than 30,000 were killed in combat.

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

External links[]

Wendel, Marcus. "Axis History Factbook". Taiwan Army.

[1] "Taiwan - Taiwan as part of the Japanese empire". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-11-22. The Taiwanese worked in Japan’s defense and war-related industries in Taiwan and in other ways abetted Japan’s war efforts. Many Taiwanese served in the Japanese military, including units that fought in China. Taiwanese troops even participated in the atrocities against Chinese civilians at Nanjing (Nanking) and other places on the mainland. Of the Taiwanese who served in the Japanese military, more than 30,000 were killed in combat.

[1]