18th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)

 

In World War I the division was strengthened by an additional infantry brigade (the IJA 29th Brigade) and, led by Lieutenant General Kamio Mitsuomi, was given an independent command in the Siege of Qingdao of the German colony of Qingdao in the Shandong peninsula, China in October 1914, forcing a surrender of German forces after a week-long assault. Notably, an aircraft from divisional air force has become the first airplane ever downed in the air-to-air combat.

However, on 1 May 1925, the division was dissolved by Minister of War Ugaki Kazushige as part of a cost-saving measure during the Kato Takaaki administration, together with the 13th, 15th and 17th divisions.

The 18th Division was resurrected in September 1937 as a square division as a part of general military build-up following the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. As part of the IJA 10th Army under the overall command of the Japanese Central China Area Army it was deployed to the Chinese mainland, as an emergency reinforcement force to supplement the Japanese Shanghai Expeditionary Army in China after the Second Shanghai Incident. The Japanese 18th division subsequently participated in the Battle of Nanjing and the subsequent atrocities known as the Nanjing Massacre. From September 1938, the division came under the control of the IJA 21st Army, and participated in the Canton Operation and the invasion and occupation of Guangdong Province under the command of Lieutenant General Seiichi Kuno. The division remained in China through the 1939–40 Winter Offensive under the command of Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake.

From 6 November 1941 the division came under the command of Lieutenant-General Renya Mutaguchi and was reassigned to the IJA 25th Army (which was under the command of General Yamashita Tomoyuki). It participated in the invasion of Malaya and Singapore. The 124th Infantry Regiment and some other units of the 18th Division took part in the Battle of Borneo from 16 December 1941 on. Following the conquest of Singapore, the division was transferred to the IJA 15th Army for the invasion of Burma, where it suffered over 3000 casualties, primarily from malnutrition and malaria in securing control of the Ledo Road. The supply situation was so bad that some elements of the division stole rations and weapons from the stores of 53rd division, in Tanai Township earning for themselves the nickname of "thief troopers".

In 1942, the division's Kawaguchi Detachment (the 35th Infantry Brigade and 124th Infantry Regiment) was detached and sent to Sarawak, the Philippines and finally to Guadalcanal. There, it took heavy losses in the battles of Edson's Ridge and Henderson Field. After the detachment, the main body of the division was converted to the triangular division format in 1943, while the detachment became the 31st division.

Late in 1943, Mutaguchi was promoted and replaced as commander of the division by Lieutenant-General Shinichi Tanaka. Transferred to the IJA 33rd Army, and operations in northern Burma, the 18th Division fought against the American-led Chinese divisions advancing on Mogaung and Myitkyina, and against the British Chindits operating behind their lines. Although suffering heavy losses, the division nevertheless inflicted many casualties and imposed severe delays on the Allies. Especially hit was the 114th infantry regiment which suffered about 2000 combat casualties while holding an important rail and road hub of Myitkyina in 1944 while under command of the 56th division.

The Japanese 18th Division also suffered heavy losses in the joint operations between the Chinese, American and British armies. According to the most authoritative Japanese war history about the northern Burma campaign, the two war histories "The Chrysanthemum Soldiers - Furuhi no War" written by the former 18th Division staff officer Ushiyama Saitaro. , "The Chrysanthemum Soldiers--"The Battle of the Chrysanthemums" (these two battle histories are actually the quasi-official battle histories of the 18th Division. Ushiyama wrote them clearly and in high quality. At the end of the Battle of the Chrysanthemum Corps Hu Kang, Ushiyama Saitaro pointed out that as a result, After the fall of Myitkyina, "the heroic spirit reached ten thousand and thousands of pillars". In the book "Burma Vertical Operation", Ushiyama Saitaro believed that until the India-Burma Highway was opened, the Japanese army died in the battle in the direction of Hu Kang (i.e., northern Burma), About 20,000 people died from the disease, and about 10,000 people died from the disease in Yunnan. These 30,000 people include those who died from the disease and were lost in battles with the British and Indian troops.[2] However, after the India-Burma Highway was opened, the Chinese army still had some battles with the Japanese army. 18 The troop histories of the three infantry regiments of the division record the losses in combat with the expeditionary force (actually the army stationed in India, but they still call the army stationed in India the expeditionary force). More than seven or eight thousand people were killed in battle.The 114th Regiment, the main force of the Special Myitkyina Garrison, according to its resume, recorded 2,979 dead, 1,821 casualties, and 107 prisoners during its Myitkyina defense operations (May–August 44)

In the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of Imphal in March–July 1944, Lieutenant-General Shinichi Tanaka exchanged divisional appointment with Lieutenant-General Eitaro Naka, formerly Chief of Staff of the Burma Area Army. In the 1945 campaigning season, the division once again lost many thousands of men in the Battle of Central Burma, particularly at Meiktila, south of Mandalay. During the battle, the division was reinforced by 119th infantry regiment from the 53rd division in attempts to recapture Meiktila from the Allies.

The 18th division ended the war in southern Burma. Of the 31,444 men of the division sent to Burma, more than 20,000 did not make it home to Japan.

• List of Japanese Infantry Divisions

• Madej, W. Victor, Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937–1945 [2 vols], Allentown, PA: 1981
• Latimer. Jon Burma: The Forgotten War, London: John Murray, (2004) ISBN 0-7195-6576-6
• Tsingtao Campaign by Colin Denis
• Hough, Frank O.; John A. Crown (1952). "The Campaign on New Britain". USMC Historical Monograph. Historical Division, Division of Public Information, Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps. Archived from the original on 24 December 2006. Retrieved 4 December 2006.
• Miller, John Jr. (1959). "CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul". United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific. Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Department of the Army. p. 418. Retrieved 20 October 2006.

This article incorporates material from the Japanese Wikipedia page 第18師団 (日本軍), accessed 3 March 2016