Wikipedia

Japanese Korean Army

(Redirected from Chosen Army of Japan)

The Japanese Korean Army (朝鮮軍, Chōsen-gun, lit. 'Korean military') was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army that formed a garrison force in Korea under Japanese rule. The Korean Army consisted of roughly 350,000 troops in 1914.

Japanese Korean Army
Surrender of Japanese Forces in Southern Korea
ActiveMarch 11, 1904 – August 15, 1945　
Country Empire of Japan
Allegiance Emperor of Japan
Branch Imperial Japanese Army
TypeInfantry
RoleArmy
Garrison/HQKeijo
Japanese Korean Army
Japanese name
Kanji朝鮮軍
Hiraganaちょうせんぐん
Korean name
Hangul조선군
Hanja朝鮮軍

History edit

Japanese forces occupied large portions of the Empire of Korea during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, and a substantial Korean Garrison Army (韓国駐剳軍, Kankoku Chusatsugun) was established in Seoul to protect the Japanese embassy and civilians on March 11, 1904. After the Annexation of Korea by the Empire of Japan in 1910, this force was renamed the Chosen Chusatsugun, and was further renamed the Japanese Korean Army on June 1, 1918. The primary task of the Korean Army was to guard the Korean peninsula against possible incursions from the Soviet Union; however, its units were also used for suppression of nationalist uprisings and political dissent within Korea itself. The Korean Army also came to the assistance of the Kwantung Army in its unauthorized invasion of Manchuria in 1931. In 1941, the Army was subordinated to the General Defense Command.

While Seishirō Itagaki (板垣 征四郎) was commander of the Chosen Army from 7 July 1939 to 7 April 1945, Japan began assembling its nuclear weapons program with the industrial site near the Chosen reservoir as its equivalent to the Oak Ridge laboratory for the United States' Manhattan Project.[1] Both Itagaki and Masanobu Tsuji (辻 政信) refused to support neither peace between Japan and the United States nor have Japan attack the Soviet Union during Nazi Germany's Operation Barbarosa.[2] It may have altered world history. Tsuji planned to assassinate Fumimaro Konoe if Konoe had Japan attack the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarosa and maintain peace with the United States.[3]

In 1945, as the situation in the Pacific War was turning increasingly against Japan, the Army was transformed into the Japanese Seventeenth Area Army, and subsequently placed under the overall administrative command of the Kwantung Army. Its two undermanned infantry divisions were unable to withstand the massive Soviet Red Army armored and amphibious assault on Korea during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. After the surrender of Japan, the Army south of the 38 parallel remained armed under operational command of the United States Army to maintain public order until the arrival of substantial Allied forces to take control.

List of Commanders edit

Commanding officer edit

Name From To
1 Lieutenant General Kensai Haraguchi 11 March 1904 8 September 1904
2 Marshal Yoshimichi Hasegawa 8 September 1904 21 December 1908
3 General Haruno Okubo 21 December 1908 18 August 1911
4 General Arisawa Ueda 18 August 1911 14 January 1912
5 General Sadayoshi Ando 14 January 1912 25 January 1915
6 General Seigo Inokuchi 25 January 1915 18 August 1916
7 General Yoshifuru Akiyama 18 August 1916 6 August 1917
8 General Satoshi Matsukawa 6 August 1917 24 July 1918
9 General Heitaro Utsunomiya 24 July 1918 16 August 1920
10 Lieutenant General Jiro Oba 16 August 1920 24 November 1922
11 General Shinnosuke Kikuchi 24 November 1922 20 August 1924
12 General Soroku Suzuki 20 August 1924 2 March 1926
13 General Shusei Morioka 2 March 1926 5 March 1927
14 General Hanzo Kanaya 5 March 1927 1 August 1929
15 General Jirō Minami 1 August 1929 22 November 1930
16 Lieutenant General Senjuro Hayashi 22 November 1930 26 May 1932
17 General Yoshiyuki Kawashima 26 May 1932 1 August 1934
18 General Kenkichi Ueda 1 August 1934 2 December 1935
19 General Kuniaki Koiso 2 December 1935 15 July 1938
20 General Kotaro Nakamura 15 July 1938 7 July 1941
21 General Seishirō Itagaki 7 July 1941 7 April 1945
22 Lieutenant General Yoshio Kozuki 7 April 1945 September 1945

Chief of Staff edit

Name From To
1 Lieutenant General Rikisaburo Saito 19 March 1904 12 September 1904
2 Lieutenant General Toyosaburo Ochiai 12 September 1904 7 April 1905
3 General Kikuzuo Otani 7 April 1905 1 June 1906
4 Lieutenant General Takashi Muta 1 June 1906 21 December 1908
5 General Jiro Akashi 21 December 1908 15 June 1910
6 Lieutenant General Shozo Sakakibara 15 June 1910 30 November 1910
7 General Katsusaburo Shiba 30 November 1910 28 September 1912
8 General Koichiro Tachibana 28 September 1912 17 April 1914
9 Lieutenant General Gencho Furumi 17 April 1914 1 April 1916
10 Lieutenant General Tan Shirozu 1 April 1916 6 August 1917
11 Lieutenant General Kentaro Ichikawa 6 August 1917 1 November 1918
12 Major General Toyoshi Ono 1 November 1918 20 July 1921
13 Major General Kinichi Yasumitsu 20 July 1921 6 August 1923
14 Major General Harumi Akai 6 August 1923 2 March 1926
15 Lieutenant General Senyuki Hayashi 2 March 1926 26 August 1927
16 Marshal Count Hisaichi Terauchi 26 August 1927 1 August 1929
17 Lieutenant General Kotaro Nakamura 1 August 1929 22 December 1930
18 General Tomou Kodama 22 December 1930 1 August 1933
19 Major General Keikichi Ogushi 1 August 1933 2 December 1935
20 Major General Yoshishige Saeda 2 December 1935 1 December 1936
21 Lieutenant General Seiichi Kuno 1 December 1936 1 March 1938
22 Lieutenant General Kenzo Kitano 1 March 1938 7 September 1939
23 Lieutenant General Yakutaira Kato 7 September 1939 1 March 1941
24 Lieutenant General Hiroshi Takahashi 1 March 1941 9 July 1942
25 Lieutenant General Junjiro Ihara 9 July 1942 September 1945

References edit

  1. ^ Wilcox, Robert K. (10 December 2019). Japan's Secret War: How Japan's Race to Build its Own Atomic Bomb Provided the Groundwork for North Korea's Nuclear Program. Permuted Press (third edition). ISBN 978-1682618967.
  2. ^ Goldman, Stuart D. (August 28, 2012). "The Forgotten Soviet-Japanese War of 1939: From May to September 1939, the USSR and Japan fought an undeclared war involving over 100,000 troops". The Diplomat. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  3. ^ Budge, Kent G. Tsuji Masanobu (1901-1961?). Pacific War Online Encyclopedia website. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  • 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.

External links edit

See also edit


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Japanese_Korean_Army&oldid=1220772228"