The 71st Independent Mixed Brigade was an

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 ...

unit of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was formed in September 1944 to be used to reinforce Japanese forces in

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 eas ...

. Two of its four intended

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

battalions were never established.

History

The 71st Independent Mixed Brigade (IMB) was established in September 1944 by the

Southern Expeditionary Army Group ''Nanpō gun'' , image = 1938 terauchi hisaichi.jpg , image_size = 200px , caption = Japanese General Count Terauchi Hisaichi, right, commanding officer of the Southern Expeditiona ...

as one of three such units formed that month to reinforce Japanese-held positions in French Indochina, Borneo and Burma. The 71st IMB was intended for service in Borneo, and was to be manned by personnel sent from Japan. The main elements of the 71st IMB were to be the 538th, 539th, 540th and 541st Independent Infantry Battalions. The formation was to also comprise a brigade headquarters, signal unit, artillery unit and an engineer unit. This structure was the same as that used for most IMBs which came under the command of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group. The 71st IMB was assigned to defend southern Borneo, as an element of the Thirty-Seventh Army. The disruption caused by the Philippines campaign affected the process of establishing the brigade there, and two of its infantry battalions and the brigade engineer unit were never formed.

References

;Citations ;Works consulted * * {{DEFAULTSORT:71st Independent Mixed Brigade Independent Mixed Brigades (Imperial Japanese Army) Military units and formations established in 1944 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 1944 establishments in Japan 1945 disestablishments in Japan

History

See also

References