The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia: Japanese Southern
Expeditionary Army (original) (raw)
The Southern Expeditionary Army was responsible for executing the major ground operations of the Centrifugal Offensive by which Japan hoped to seize southeast Asia before the Alliescould react. This offensive was completely successful, achieving all of its objectives ahead of schedule and at smaller loss than anticipated. Southern Expeditionary Army was subsequently renamed Southern Army.
The location of 21 Division, the area army reserve, is uncertain. Mortonplaces it still in North China until 20 January 1942.
Southern Expeditionary Army (Terauchi; at Saigon)
1 Parachute Brigade "Dash Forward" (at Nyutabaru,Kyushu)
Deployed to Southeast Asia in December 1942 following the outbreak of war.
1 Parchute Regiment (at Chiai)
2 Parachute Regiment (at Saigon)
Conducted airborne attack on Palembang
21Division (Tanaka; at Cam Ranh?)
From Kanazawa. Had seen two years' service in China.
38 Division (Sano; near Hong Kong)
From Nagoya. 20,000 men with motorized transport. Assigned to Southern Expeditionary Army from 23 Armyfor the attack on Hong Kong. The commander of 23 Army, Sakai, seems to have personally supervised the Hong Kong operation.
228 Regiment
229 Regiment
230 Regiment
21 Independent Mixed Brigade (Yamagata)
Eventually committed to New Guinea.
21 Air Regiment (at Gia Lam)
82 Light Squadron (at Tien Flo)
12 Ki-48 Lily
84 Squadron (at Nha Trang)
83 Air Regiment (at Sanya)
71 Squadron
10 Ki-51 Sonia
73 Squadron
89 Squadron (at Dau Mot)
12 Ki-32 Mary
7 Air Regiment (at Chiai)
Transportfor Dash Forward?
1 Squadron
2 Squadron
13 Squadron
12 Ki-57 Topsy (at Chiai)
6 Ki-59 Theresa(at Dau Mot)
47 Squadron (at Tien Flo)
Experimental squadron
Responsible for taking the Philippines.
16 Division (Morioka; at Naze)
From Kyoto. This division had been recently triangularized and had not seen recent combat. Homma did not rate it very highly. Those elements not detached to Magong or Palau were embarked with the Lamon Bay Force.
9 Regiment
20 Regiment
At Magong
33 Regiment
Two of its battalions were at Palau (Kimura Detachment)
48 Division (Tsuchihashi; at Magong)
Embarked with Lingayen Gulf Force. Formed in 1940 in Formosaand lacked battle experience, but Homma still considered it the best division in 14 Army. It was partially motorized and reinforced with artillery.
From Hiroshima. 6500 mostly older reservists.Considered totally unprepared for combat by its own commander. Intended for garrison duty.
Light tanks. Attached to 20 Regiment, 16 Division.
7 Tank Regiment (at Magong)
80-100 tanks, including "heavy" 13-ton tanks. Attached to 48 Division.
21 Engineer Regiment (at Magong)
15 Army (IIda; at Phnom Penh?)
Responsible for taking Burma. Little more than a cadre ln 7 December 1941, with some of its units still in China.
33 Division (Sakurai; in Central China)
From Sendai. Had seen service in central China.
55 Division (Takeuchi; on Thaiborder)
From Zentsuji. Less 143 Regiment, which was assigned to 25 Army.
Responsible for taking the Netherlands East Indies. Would not deploy to the combat zone until the Philippines and Singaporewere isolated.
2 Division (Maruyama; at Cam Ranh)
56 Brigade (Sakaguchi; at Palau)
Designated to become the infantry group of 56 Division. Responsible for seizing Tarakanand Balikpapan. Included 146 Regiment.
25 Army (Yamashita; at Cam Ranh)
Responsible for taking Malaya
5 Division (Matsui; with Singora Attack Force)
From Hiroshima. One of the finest and most heavily mechanized divisions in the Japanese Army with specialist training in amphibious assault. Also one of the largest, since it was still a square division. Three of its four regiments were assigned to land at Singoraand the fourth at Patani and drive down the west coast of Malaya.
9 Brigade (Kawamura; with Singora Attack Force)
11 Regiment (at Cam Ranh)
Would deploy as second echelon to Singora by 1941-12-16
41 Regiment (with Singora Attack Force)
Formed the vanguard of 5 Division at Singora.
21 Brigade (Sugiura; at Cam Ranh)
21 Regiment (at Shanghai)
Did not deploy to Thailand until January 1942.
42 Regiment (with Patani Attack Force)
Responsible for securing Patani.
18 Division (Mutaguchi; at Canton)
From Kurume. Had considerable combat experience in China and had specialist training in amphibious assault. A square division, but one of its brigade headquarters was detached with one regiment to operate under 16 Army, leaving the other brigade headquarters and three regiments with the main body of the division.
23 Brigade (at Canton)
55 Regiment (at Canton)
56 Regiment (with Kota Baharu Attack Force)
Responsible for seizing Kota Baharu.
35 Brigade (at Canton)
Kawaguchi Detachment was built around the brigade headquarters and 124 Regiment and was responsible for seizing points in west Borneo: Miri,Kuching, Brunei
114 Regiment
In reserve for probable deployment to Malaya.
124 Regiment
56 Division (Watanabe; at Fukuoka)
From Kurume. This division was newly activated and the brigade designated to become its infantry group (56 Brigade) was operating with 16 Army. Yamashita left the headquarters in Japan, where it was effectively part of the area army reserve. Deployed to Burma1941-12.
Imperial Guards Division (Nishimura; on Thai border)
Consisted of 3,4 and 5 Guards Regiments. Responsible for securing Thailand and the Kra Peninsula before joining the rest of 25 Army in Malaya.
3 Tank Group
Amounted to a full armored division, with four regiments. Three regiments (1, 2, and 6) were equipped with 37 M-97 and 20 M-95 tanks; the 14 Tank Regiment was equipped with 45 M-95 tanks.
143 Regiment
Detailed from 55 Division, 15 Army, to seize points along the Kra Isthmus. Regiment headquarters embarked on a transport off Prachuap; two battalions in two transports and one cargo ship off Jumbhorn; another battalion and three transports off Nakhorn.
3 Air Division (Sugawara; at Kompong Trach)
There is excellent agreement on the composition of 3 Air Division among various sources.
3 Air Brigade (Endo)
27 Light Air Regiment (at Kompong Chanang)
23 Ki-51 Sonia
59 Air Regiment
75 Light Air Regiment
25 Ki-48 Lily
90 Light Air Regiment
25 Ki-48 Lily
7 Air Brigade (Yamamoto; at Phnom Penh)
12 Heavy Air Regiment
21 Ki-21 Sally
60 Heavy Air Regiment
39 Ki-21 Sally
51 Recon Squadron
64 Air Regiment (at Phiquoc)
6 Ki-27 Nate
35 Ki-43 Oscar
98 Heavy Air Regiment (at Saigon)
42 Ki-21 Sally
10 Air Brigade (Hirotaka; at Krakor)
31 Light Air Regiment (at Siem Reap)
24 Ki-30 Ann
77 Air Regiment (at Siem Reap)
62 Heavy Air Regiment
22 Ki-21 Sally
70 Recon Squadron
12 Air Brigade (Aoki; at Phiquoc)
1 Air Regiment
11 Air Regiment
50 Recon Squadron (at Kompong Trach)
81 Recon Squadron (at Phnom Penh)
5 Air Division (Obata, at Heito)
There is significant disagreement among various sources on the composition of 5 Air Division. We use the composition given by Francillon (1979).
4 Air Brigade (Kawahara; at Chiai)
8 Light Air Regiment
27 Ki-48 Lily
14 Heavy Air Regiment
18 Ki-21 Sally
16 Light Air Regiment
27 Ki-30 Ann
50 Air Regiment (Hengchun)
10 Independent Air Squadron (at Heito)
52 Recon Squadron
13 Ki-51 Sonia
74 Recon Squadron
10 Ki-36 Ida
76 Recon Squadron
11 Air Transport Squadron (at Taichu)
12 Air Transport Squadron (at Phnom Penh)
Not given in Francillon, but identified by Rottman as part of the parachute transport force.
24 Air Regiment (at Heito)