Eighteenth Army (Japan)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= Japanese Eighteenth Army


caption= General Adachi surrendering
dates= 1942-11-09 - 1945-08-15
country= Empire of Japan
allegiance=
branch= Imperial Japanese Army
type= Infantry
role= Corps
garrison=New Guinea
nickname=nihongo|Mō|猛|Fierce
battles=New Guinea campaigncommand structure
name= Japanese Eighteenth Army
date=1945
parent= Japanese Eighth Area Army
subordinate=

* 20th Infantry Division
* 41st Infantry Division
* 51st Infantry Division The nihongo|Japanese 18th Army|第18軍 |Dai-jyūhachi gun was a army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the World War II.

History

The Japanese 18th Army was formed on 9 November 1942 under the Japanese Eighth Area Army of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group for the specific task of opposing landings by Allied forces in Japanese-occupied New Guinea.

New Guinea campaign

The 18th Army contained the IJA 20th Division and IJA 41st Division, both of which arrived in New Guinea safely. However, the IJA 51st Division, including Adachi and his senior staff, came under Allied air attack while en route from their supply base at Rabaul to Lae, in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. All eight transport ships and four destroyers were sunk with the loss of 3,664 men, and only 2,427 men of the Division were rescued.

Operation Cartwheel, an Allied master plan implemented from mid-1943, progressively severed the supply lines between Rabaul and frontline Japanese forces. Key defeats included the withdrawal of the Imperial Japanese Navy from the Solomon Islands campaign, followed by landings on New Britain, as well as Aitape and Hollandia, in April 1944.

Adachi's forces were badly affected by tropical diseases like malaria, heat exhaustion and [malnutrition] for the remainder of the war, despite Adachi's efforts to achieve some form of self-sufficiency by planting crops and giving priority in rations to the sick. As ammunition began to run low, many of Japanese field commanders resorted to banzai charges, rather than surrender.

By the end of the war in September 1945, most of his forces had been annihilated. Of Adachi's original 140,000 men, barely 13,000 were still alive when the war ended. The remnants of the Japanese 18th Army surrendered to the Australian 6th Division at Wewak, New Guinea.

List of Commanders

References

Books

*cite book
last = Hayashi
first = Saburo
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 1959
title = Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War
publisher = Marine Corps. Association
location =
id = ASIN B000ID3YRK
*cite book
last = Drea
first = Edward J.
authorlink =
coauthors =
chapter = Adachi Hatazo: A Soldier of His Emperor
year = 2003
title = In the Service of the Emperor: Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army
publisher = Bison Books
location =
id = ISBN-13: 978-0803266384
*cite book
last = Fuller
first = Richard
authorlink =
coauthors =
chapter = Adachi Hatazo
year = 1992
title = Shōkan: Hirohito's Samurai
publisher = Arms and Armour Press
location = London
id = ISBN 1-85409-151-4

External links

*cite web
last = Wendel
first = Marcus
url = http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=6929
title = Axis History Factbook
work = Japanese Eighteenth Army