Third Army (Japan)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= Japanese Third Army


caption=IJA 3rd Army at Port Arthur, 1904
dates= May 1904-Aug 1945　
country= Empire of Japan
allegiance=
branch= Imperial Japanese Army
type= Infantry
role= Corps
garrison= Yanji, Manchukuo
nickname= nihongo|Iwa|岩|rock
battles=Russo-Japanese War
Operation August Stormcommand structure
name= Japanese 3rd Army
date= 30 July 1945
parent=Japanese First Area Army
subordinate=

* 3rd Army Headquarters
** 132nd Independent Mixed Brigade
** 101st Mixed Regiment
** 101st Mixed Regiment
** 2nd Heavy Artillery Regiment

** 3rd Heavy Artillery Regiment

** Tungning Heavy Artillery Regiment

** 2nd Independent Heavy Artillery Company

** 1st Independent Heavy Mortar Company

** 55th Signal Regiment

** Najin Fortress Garrison

** Najin Fortress Artillery Unit

** 460th Specially Established Guard Battalion
** 623d Specially Established Guard Company

** 651st Specially Established Guard Company

* 79th Infantry Division
* 122th Infantry Division
* 127th Infantry Division
* 128th Infantry Division

The nihongo|Japanese 3rd Army|第3軍|Dai-san gun was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army based in Manchukuo as a garrison force under the overall command of the Kwantung Army.

History

The Japanese 3rd Army was initially raised during the Russo-Japanese War under the command of General Nogi Maresuke. In the initial stages of the war, its primary mission was the Siege of Port Arthur. After the fall of that Russian stronghold, it was transferred north, where it played a crucial role in the subsequent Japanese drive towards Mukden in the closing stages of the war. It was disbanded at the end of the war.

The Japanese 3rd Army was raised again on 13 January 1938 in Manchukuo as a garrison force to guard the eastern borders against possible incursions by the Soviet Red Army. It afterwards came under the command of the Japanese First Area Army in July 1942.

During the invasion of the Soviet Army in Operation August Storm, its forces were no match for the experienced battle-hardened Soviet Army, and it was forced back from various locations in Kirin province to the Korean border, surrendering at the end of the war in Yanji and Hunchun, in what is now part of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture

List of Commanders

Commanding officer

Chief of Staff

References

*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 = 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 = 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

External links

*Lt. Col. David Glantz, [http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/glantz3/glantz3.asp August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, Leavenworth Paper No.7] , Command and General Staff College, February 1983.
** [http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/glantz3/glantz3.asp#ap1 Kwantung Army Order of Battle 30 July 1945]

*cite web
last = Wendel
first = Marcus
url = http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=6888
title = Axis History Factbook
work = Japanese 3rd Army