The was an infantry division 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 ...

. The division was formed in 1939 and was disbanded in 1945. Its

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

was the . The ''36th Division'' was activated at

Hirosaki is a city located in western Aomori Prefecture, Japan. On 1 April 2020, the city had an estimated population of 168,739 in 71,716 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Hirosaki developed as a castle town fo ...

7 February 1939, simultaneously with 32nd, 33rd, 34th,

35th Military units *35th Fighter Wing, an air combat unit of the United States Air Force *35th Infantry Division (United States), a formation of the National Guard since World War I *35th Infantry Regiment (United States), a regiment created on 1 July 1 ...

and 37th divisions.

Action

The ''36th division'' was initially assigned to 1st army garrison duty in

North China North China, or Huabei () is a List of regions of China, geographical region of China, consisting of the provinces of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. Part of the larger region of Northern China (''Beifang''), it lies north ...

. The division was assigned to 2nd army, ordered to move south in October 1943 and reformed to seaborne division 5 November 1943, with infantry regiments absorbing artillery and engineering units. Soon the ''36th division'' has departed

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 ...

, briefly stopped at

Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island. Hal ...

and finally landed in Sarmi on

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

island. The majority of the 222nd infantry regiment was sent to

Biak Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua (province), Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and c ...

(forming ''Biak Detachment'') where it was annihilated in

Battle of Biak The Battle of Biak was part of the Western New Guinea campaign of World War II, fought between the United States Army and the Japanese Army from 27 May to 17 August 1944. Taking place on the island of Biak, in Geelvink Bay, in present-day Indo ...

by 17 August 1944. On

, the US forces have landed in

Aitape Aitape is a small town of about 18,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the ...

22 April 1944 and in Sarmi 17 May 1944, squeezing ''36th division'' to the coastal strip south of

. From June 1944, the fighting on

had downgraded to sporadic skirmishes, and the rest of ''36th division'' have survived until

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

15 August 1945 nearly unscathed, coping mostly with the problem of starvation.

References

*This article incorporates material from Japanese Wikipedia page 第36師団 (日本軍), accessed 17 March 2016 * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:36th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) Japanese World War II divisions Infantry divisions of Japan Military units and formations established in 1939 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 1939 establishments in Japan 1945 disestablishments in Japan

Action

See also

References