The was an
infantry division
A division is a large military unit or 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 make up a corps. Histo ...
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 call-sign was the .
History
The 25th Division was formed in Tonei (東寧), present day
Mudanjiang
Mudanjiang (; Manchu: ''Mudan bira''), alternately romanized as Mutankiang, is a prefecture-level city in the southeast part of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. It was called ''Botankou'' under Japanese occupation. It serves as ...
,
Manchukuo on 10 July 1940, out of two pre-existing infantry regiments and a number of miscellaneous units and placed under the
5th Army of the
Kwantung Army
''Kantō-gun''
, image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG
, image_size = 300px
, caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo
, dates = April ...
as part of the final defenses of Manchukuo against the
Soviet army
uk, Радянська армія
, image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg
, alt =
, caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army
, start_date ...
.
In March 1945, it was withdrawn to
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, and assigned to
Kobayashi, Miyazaki as part of the final defense of the Japanese home islands against the projected American invasion (
Operation Downfall). Overall, the ''25th division'' has never seen any combat.
See also
*
List of Japanese Infantry Divisions
Reference and further reading
* Madej, W. Victor. ''Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945''
volsAllentown, PA: 1981
* This article incorporates material from the Japanese Wikipedia page
第25師団 (日本軍), accessed 8 March 2016.
{{DEFAULTSORT:25th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
Japanese World War II divisions
Infantry divisions of Japan
Military units and formations established in 1940
Military units and formations disestablished in 1945
1940 establishments in Japan
1945 disestablishments in Japan