__NOTOC__ The 25th Independent Mixed Regiment was a

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

of 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 ...

(IJA) active during World War II. It was raised in July 1944, and deployed to

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

in September that year. Elements of the regiment briefly saw combat against the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

on islands near

Tawi-Tawi Island Tawitawi Island (also spelled Tawi Tawi or Tawi-Tawi) is a Philippine island in the Sulu Archipelago between the Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea, about east of Borneo. It is the main island of Tawi-Tawi Province. Tawitawi has an area of , making it th ...

and against Australian forces during the

Battle of North Borneo The Battle of North Borneo took place during the Second World War between Allied and Japanese forces. Part of the wider Borneo campaign of the Pacific War, it was fought between 10 June and 15 August 1945 in North Borneo (later known as Sa ...

History

The 25th Independent Mixed Regiment (25th IMR) was one of a group of ten such units raised in Japan during June and July 1944. These units had an authorised strength of 83 officers, 15 warrant officers and 2,132 enlisted soldiers. They comprised: * Regimental headquarters * Three infantry

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ...

s (each with 590 men, and organised into three rifle companies, a machine gun company and a 70mm howitzer platoon) * Infantry gun company (equipped with four 75mm regimental guns) * Anti-tank company (equipped with four 37mm guns) * Engineer company. The regiment was established in July 1944 to bolster the Borneo Defence Army (which was later renamed the Thirty-Seventh Army). All of the regiment other than its 2nd Battalion was transported from Japan to

Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is a Federal Territory of Malaysia. Its territory includes and six smaller islands, off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capita ...

off Borneo during September on board the battleships ''Fusō'' and ''Yamashiro''. The regimental headquarters, 1st and 3rd Battalions were then transferred to Tawi-Tawi Island where an Allied landing was expected. The 2nd Battalion subsequently arrived at Labuan, and was ordered to march across the interior of Borneo rejoin the rest of the regiment due to a shortage of shipping; it eventually reached

Sandakan Sandakan (, Jawi: , ) formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of ...

. In February 1945 all elements of the 25th IMR on Tawi-Tawi Island other than the 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion were withdrawn to Tawao on the mainland of Borneo due to the difficulty of supplying the island. Soon after arriving on the mainland, the 25th IMR was ordered to march across Borneo to the Brunei Bay area with the

56th Independent Mixed Brigade __NOTOC__ The 56th Independent Mixed Brigade was an Imperial Japanese Army unit of World War II. It was raised in June 1944 to reinforce the defences of Japanese-occupied Borneo, and was initially stationed in the north-east of the island. In earl ...

. This required the soldiers to march on tracks for hundreds of kilometres through mountainous jungle with inadequate food supplies. The 2nd Battalion arrived at Jesselton in February, and all other elements of the regiment arrived there in May. The 25th IMR was assigned responsibility for defending the coastal area between Beaufort and

Tuaran Tuaran ( ms, Pekan Tuaran) is the capital of the Tuaran District in the West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 128,200 in 2019 with half the population consists of ethnic Dusuns, most of the Lotud eth ...

. Elements of the 25th IMR saw combat during the

Battle of the Visayas 250px, Map of U.S. operations in Southern Philippines, 1945 250px, Japanese troops surrender to the 40th Division, September 1945 The Battle of Visayas (Filipino: ''Labanan sa Visayas;'' Visayan languages: ''Gubat sa Kabisay-an'') was fought by ...

and

in April and July 1945 respectively. At this time the regiment was one of the main elements of the Thirty-Seventh Army, along with the 56th and 71st Independent Mixed Brigades. The 9th Company resisted the 2nd Battalion of the US Army 163rd Infantry Regiment's landings on small islands off Tawi-Tawi between 2 and 6 April before withdrawing in small boats to the mainland of Borneo. Around 30 Japanese were killed in this fighting, and two Americans were killed and four wounded. After reaching Sandakan, the company began an overland march to re-join the remainder of the regiment, and was at

Ranau 'Ranau'' ( ms, Pekan Ranau) is the capital of the Ranau District in the West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 8,970 in 2010. Climate Ranau has a tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest cl ...

at the end of the war. The only part of the main body of the 25th IMR's sector to be attacked was

Papar The Papar (; from Latin ''papa'', via Old Irish, meaning "father" or "pope") were, according to early Icelandic sagas, Irish monks who took eremitic residence in parts of what is now Iceland before that island's habitation by the Norsemen of S ...

. The regiment did not resist the Australian 2/32nd Battalion's occupation of Papar on 12 July, with Australian official historian

Gavin Long Gavin Merrick Long (31 May 1901 – 10 October 1968) was an Australian journalist and military historian. He was the general editor of the official history series '' Australia in the War of 1939–1945'' and the author of three of its 22 volu ...

writing that its only defenders were "two Japanese with a machine-gun who made off as the Australians approached". At the end of the war the 25th IMR had a strength of over 900 personnel.

References

Citations

Works consulted

* * * * * {{cite book , last1=Smith , first1=Robert Ross , title=Triumph in the Philippines, series=

United States Army in World War II ''United States Army in World War II'' is the official history of the ground forces of the United States Army during World War II. The 78-volume work was originally published beginning in 1946. Overview The work describes and to a degree eval ...

, date=1993 , publisher=Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army , location=Washington, DC , isbn=9781410224958, url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Triumph/index.html, orig-year=1963 Mixed regiments of Japan Military units and formations established in 1944 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 1944 establishments in Japan 1945 disestablishments in Japan