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 ...

. It was created on February 2, 1942 by blending a detachment from 20th Independent Mixed Brigade (Imperial Japanese Army) to 62nd infantry brigade in

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

, simultaneously with the 68th and 69th divisions. Being the counter-insurgency division (C-type/hei-type) it has a backbone composed of independent infantry battalions and lacked an artillery force. The men of the division were drafted through 5th military district, located in

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

Action

After completing a training, the division was assigned to the 13th army and sent 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 ...

area in April 1942 to take a part in

Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign The Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign or the Chekiang–Kiangsi campaign ( Japanese: 浙贛作戦, ), also known as Operation Sei-go ( Japanese: せ号作戦), was a campaign by the China Expeditionary Army of the Imperial Japanese Army under Shunroku ...

. From May 1942, the division operated in Guangde County,

Quzhou Quzhou is a prefecture-level city in western Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the upper course of the Qiantang River, it borders Hangzhou to the north, Jinhua to the east, Lishui to the southeast, and the provinces o ...

Lishui Lishui (; Lishuinese: ''li⁶ syu³'' ) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It borders Quzhou, Jinhua and Taizhou to the north, Wenzhou to the southeast, and the province of Fujian to ...

Wenzhou Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou �y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east o ...

and other prefectures. A large reinforcement for the ''70th division'' has sailed from

Karatsu is a city located in Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. Its name, formed from the Japanese word roots 唐 ''kara'' (China, or continental East Asia in general), and 津 ''tsu'' (port), signifies its historical importance as a ...

25 May 1942, and arrived to

28 May 1942.SURABAYA MARU: Tabular Record of Movement
/ref> Later it taken a defensive positions in the direction of

Jiaxing Jiaxing (), alternately romanized as Kashing, is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province, China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the ...

. It was subordinated to 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 6th army, and ordered to go 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 ...

during the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian strategic offensive operation (russian: Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция, Manchzhurskaya Strategicheskaya Nastu ...

in August 1945.

Reference and further reading

* List of Japanese Infantry Divisions * Madej, W. Victor. ''Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945'' volsAllentown, PA: 1981 * 秦郁彦編『日本陸海軍総合事典』第2版、東京大学出版会、2005年。 * 外山操・森松俊夫編著『帝国陸軍編制総覧』芙蓉書房出版、1987年。 * 別冊歴史読本戦記シリーズNo.32 太平洋戦争師団戦史』、新人物往来社、1996年。 This article incorporates material from the article 第70師団_(日本軍) in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on 13 January 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:70th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) Japanese World War II divisions Infantry divisions of Japan Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 1942 establishments in Japan 1945 disestablishments in Japan

Action

See also

Reference and further reading