Twenty-Third Army (Japan)

The Japanese 23rd Army (第23軍, Dai-nijyusan gun) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

Japanese Twenty-Third Army
Active	June 26, 1941 - August 15, 1945
Country	Empire of Japan
Branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Corps
Garrison/HQ	Guangdong
Engagements	Second Sino-Japanese War
Commanders
Notable commanders	Hitoshi Imamura Takashi Sakai Hisakazu Tanaka

History

The Japanese 23rd Army was established on June 26, 1941, under the command of the Imperial General Headquarters. It was transferred to the control of the China Expeditionary Army on August 12 of the same year. It was based in Guangdong province and on Hainan Island to replace the Southern China Area Army which was disbanded June 26, 1941.

The Japanese 23rd Army was primarily a garrison force to deter the possible landings of Allied forces in southern China. It was involved in the Battle of Guilin-Liuzhou (part of Operation Ichi-Go) from August–November 1944. The Japanese 23rd Army surrendered to the Chinese Kuomintang forces on August 15, 1945, with the surrender of Japan and was disbanded in Guangzhou.

After the war, Imamura, Sakai, and Tanaka were all tried and convicted of war crimes. Sakai and Tanaka were tried in China and executed, while Imamura received a life sentence from an Australian military court. He was released in 1954. Viewing his own sentence as too lenient, Imamura built his own prison in which he imprisoned himself until his death in 1967.

List of Commanders

Commanding officer

	Name	From	To
1	General Hitoshi Imamura	28 June 1941	6 November 1941
2	Lt. General Takashi Sakai	6 November 1941	1 March 1943
3	Lt. General Hisaichi Tanaka	1 March 1943	9 September 1945

Chief of staff

	Name	From	To
1	Lt. General Seizo Arisue	28 June 1941	15 September 1941
2	Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi	15 September 1941	10 June 1943
3	Major General Yosuke Adachi	10 June 1943	16 December 1944
4	Major General Katsunobu Uzawa	16 December 1944	15 April 1945
5	Major General Naosuke Tomita	15 April 1945	1 September 1945

See also

• Hong Kong Defence Force (Imperial Japanese Army)

References

Books

• Dorn, Frank (1974). The Sino-Japanese War, 1937-41: From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor. MacMillan. ISBN 0-02-532200-1.
• Madej, Victor (1981). Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. Game Publishing Company. ASIN: B000L4CYWW.

External links

• Wendel, Marcus. "Axis History Factbook". Japanese Twenty Third Army.