Japanese Third Area Army

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= Japanese Third Area Army


caption=Capitulation of Japanese forces in Manchuria
dates= 1943-10-29 - 1945-08-15
country= Empire of Japan
allegiance=
branch= Imperial Japanese Army
type= Infantry
role= Field Army
garrison=Mukden
nickname= 強 (Kyō = “mighty”)
battles=Operation August Stormcommand structure
name= Japanese Third Area Army
date=1943-1945
parent=Kwangtung Army
subordinate=

* Japanese 30th Army
* Japanese 44th Army
* 108th Infantry Division
* 136th Infantry Division
* 79th Independent Mixed Brigade
* 130th Independent Mixed Brigade
* 134th Independent Mixed Brigade
* 1st Independent Armored Brigade
The nihongo| Japanese Third Area Army|第3方面軍|Dai san hōmen gun was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, based in southern Manchukuo and active in combat against the Soviet Union in the very final stages of the war. [Jowett, The Japanese Army 1931-45 ]

History

The Japanese 3rd Area Army was formed on 1943-10-29 under the control of the Kwangtung Army as a military reserve and garrison force to maintain security and public order in southern Manchukuo as many veteran divisions of the Kwangtung Army were transferred to the various southern fronts in the Pacific War. It consisted mostly of minimally-trained reservists, conscripted students and home guard militia, without adequate weapons or supplies. [Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire] The 3rd Area Army was headquartered in Mukden.

The units of the 3rd Area Army proved to be no match for the Red Army when the Soviet Union invaded Manchukuo in Operation August Storm towards the end of World War II. General Jun Ushiroku refused orders from Kwantung Army Headquarters to retreat, and launched a counterattack along the Mukden-Port Arthur railway, along which many Japanese civilians were fleeing. However, General Uchiroku was hampered by lack of armor and by insufficient ammunition, and by 13 August 1945, his formations were largely shattered. A mutiny by the Manchukuo Imperial Army at Shinkyō ended his attempts to regroup. [ Glantz, The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945 ] Many surviving soldiers of the 3rd Area Army, including General Ushiroku, became prisoners in Siberia and other parts of the Soviet Union after the surrender of Japan on 1945-08-15.

List of Commanders

Commanding officer

=Chief of Staff=

References

Books

*cite book
last = Frank
first = Richard B
coauthors =
year = 1999
title = Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire
publisher = Random House
location = New York
id = ISBN 0-679-41424-X
*cite book
last = Glantz
first = David
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2003
chapter =
title = The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945 (Cass Series on Soviet (Russian) Military Experience, 7)
publisher = Routledge
location =
id = ISBN 0-7146-5279-2
*cite book
last = Jowett
first = Bernard
coauthors =
year = 1999
title = The Japanese Army 1931-45 (Volume 2, 1942-45)
publisher = Osprey Publishing
location =
id = ISBN 1841763543
*cite book
last = Madej
first = Victor
coauthors =
year = 1981
title = Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945
publisher = Game Publishing Company
location =
id = ASIN: B000L4CYWW
*cite book
last = Marston
first = Daniel
coauthors =
year = 2005
title = The Pacific War Companion: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima
publisher = Osprey Publishing
location =
id = ISBN 1841768820
*cite book
last = Hasegawa
first = Tsuyoshi
coauthors =
year =
title = Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan
publisher = Belknap Press
location =
id = ISBN 0-674-01693-9

External links

*cite web
last = Wendel
first = Marcus
url = http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=6739
title = Axis History Factbook
work = Japanese Third Area Army

Notes