The was an

infantry division A division is a large military unit or Formation (military), formation, usually consisting of between 6,000 and 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically mak ...

in the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

. Its

tsūshōgō were unit code names used by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II. Each ''tsūshōgō'' consisted of a and a . Unit Character Codes typically consisted of one character, although some units established in the late stages of the ...

code name A code name, call sign or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in industrial c ...

was the , and its military symbol was 12D. The 12th Division was one of six new infantry divisions raised by the Imperial Japanese Army after the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...

(1894–1895). The division received its colors on 1 October 1898 and disbanded in September 1945. Its troops were recruited primarily from communities in the northern portion of the island of

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

Kowner, '' Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War'', p. 107. and it was originally headquartered within

Kokura Castle is a castle in Kitakyushu, Japan. It was built by Hosokawa Tadaoki starting in 1602, with construction completed in 1608. History Construction of Kokura Castle began in 1602 and was completed in 1608. It was the property of the Ogasawara clan ...

(now part of the city of

Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fuku ...

)

Action

During the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, under the command of Lieutenant General

Inoue Hikaru Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during the First Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War. Biography Inoue was born as a younger son to the Moriwaki family in Iwakuni Domain (present day Yamaguchi prefecture), and was later ado ...

, the division deployed to

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

as part of the 1st army. It returned to Kokura after the war, and was deployed again to the continent during the

Japanese intervention in Siberia The of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of Japanese military forces to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by western powers and Japan to support White Russian forces against the Bolshevik Red Army during the Russian Civil ...

from 19 August 1918. The divisional arsenal in

was used meanwhile to supply other units. The participation in the

Siberian Intervention The Siberian intervention or Siberian expedition of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of troops of the Entente powers to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by the western powers, Japan, and China to support White Russian fo ...

has ended 19 July 1919, but resumed again briefly in 1921. The 12th Division headquarters was relocated to

Kurume is a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, the city has an estimated population of 303,579 and a population density of 1,320 persons per km². The total area is 229.96 km². On February 5, 2005, the town of Kitano (from ...

, another city in

Fukuoka prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

in 1925. In February 1932, following the First Shanghai Incident, the IJA 24th Infantry Regiment of the 12th Division was reinforced with additional artillery units, becoming the 24th Mixed Brigade, which was deployed to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, and which was later (from April 1936) assigned to

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

. During that period, the ''12th division'' was an elite unit, sporting an disproportionately large amount of firepower and heavy equipment. In 1940, the division was reorganized into a

triangular division A triangular division is a designation given to the way military divisions are organized. In a triangular organization, the division's main body is composed of three regimental maneuver elements. These regiments may be controlled by a brigade head ...

, with its IJA 14th Infantry Regiment joining the

IJA 25th Division The was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call-sign was the . History The 25th Division was formed in Tonei (東寧), present day Mudanjiang, Manchukuo on 10 July 1940, out of two pre-existing infantry regiments and a num ...

. The 12th Division, under Lieutenant General

Masakazu Kawabe was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army. He held important commands in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and during World War II in the Burma Campaign and defense of the Japanese homeland late in the war. He was ...

was then permanently relocated to Manchukuo from July 1940, coming under the control of the

Japanese Third Army The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army based in Manchukuo as a garrison force under the overall command of the Kwantung Army during World War II, but its history dates to the Russo-Japanese War. History The Japanese 3rd Army was initiall ...

in Dongning and was used primarily for policing and anti-partisan activities. The 56th division took the now vacant

headquarters. However, in 1944 as the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

situation became increasing unfavorable for Japan, the 12th Division was transferred to

Hsinchu Hsinchu (, Chinese: 新竹, Pinyin: ''Xīnzhú'', Wade–Giles: ''Hsin¹-chu²'') is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan Province not among the special municipalities, with estimated 450,655 inhabi ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, where it bolstered the defenses of the 10th area army (and to the

40th army The 40th Army (, ''40-ya obshchevoyskovaya armiya'', "40th Combined Arms Army") of the Soviet Ground Forces was an army-level command that participated in World War II from 1941 to 1945 and was reformed specifically for the Soviet–Afghan War fro ...

in time it was based on

in early 1945) against a possible

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

invasion. However, the Allies bypassed Taiwan and landed on

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

instead, so the 12th Division ended World War II as a garrison force in Taiwan without having seen combat.

References

* * Madej, W. Victor. ''Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945'' volsAllentown, PA: 1981 * This article incorporates material from the Japanese Wikipedia page 第12師団 (日本軍), accessed 10 February 2016

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:12th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) Japanese World War II divisions Infantry divisions of Japan Military units and formations established in 1898 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 1898 establishments in Japan 1945 disestablishments in Japan

Action

See also

References

Notes