The was a field army 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 ...

responsible for the defense of the Kantō region and northern Honshū during the Pacific War. It was one of the regional commands in the

Japanese home islands The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, ''Nihon rettō'') is a group of 6,852 islands that form the country of Japan, as well as the Russian island of Sakhalin. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East Chin ...

reporting to the

General Defense Command The was a headquarters organization and general army of the Imperial Japanese Army, established to control all land and air units stationed within Japan proper, Korea and Taiwan during World War II. History The General Defense Command was esta ...

History

The Eastern District Army was established on 16 November 1923 in the aftermath of the Great Kantō earthquake as the . It was essentially a

home guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting w ...

and garrison, responsible for recruitment and civil defense training to ensure the security of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, and the surrounding areas. On 1 August 1935, the Tokyo Defense Headquarters was renamed the Eastern Defense Command. On 1 August 1940, it was renamed again as the Eastern Army, which became the Eastern District Army on 1 February 1945. The Eastern District Army existed concurrently with the Japanese 12th Area Army, which was tasked with organizing the final defenses of Tokyo against the expected American invasion of the Japanese home islands. The Eastern District Army played an especially significant role in combating the 15 August 1945 attempted coup d'etat of Major

Kenji Hatanaka (28 March 1912 – 15 August 1945) was a Japanese military officer and one of the chief conspirators in the Kyūjō incident, a plot to seize the Imperial Palace and to prevent the broadcast of Emperor Hirohito's surrender speech to mark th ...

, who sought to prevent the Emperor's announcement of Japan's surrender from being broadcast. At the time, the commander of the Eastern District Army was Lieutenant General

Shizuichi Tanaka was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and Japanese Military Governor of the Philippines during World War II. Biography Early life and military service Tanaka was born in Issai village, Hyōgo prefecture (now part of the city of Tatsun ...

. Support of the Eastern District Army was essential to Hatanaka's plan to take over the Imperial Palace, and so Hatanaka exhorted General Tanaka to aid him. Tanaka refused, and later told his men to ignore Strategic Order 584, forged by Hatanaka and ordering the Eastern District Army to seize and defend the Imperial Palace; in short, to aid in the coup. Rather than send in his men to defeat the rebels by force, Tanaka traveled to the Imperial Palace and spoke to Hatanaka and the other rebel leaders personally, haranguing them, and putting an end to the rebellion. The Eastern District Army remained active for several months after the surrender of Japan to help maintain public order until the arrival of the American occupation forces, and to oversee the final demobilization and dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Army.

Commanders

Commanding officer

Chief of Staff

External links

*{{cite web , last = Wendel , first = Marcus , url = http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=7715 , title = Axis History Factbook , work = Eastern Army Field armies of Japan Military units and formations established in 1923 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 1923 establishments in Japan

History

Commanders

Commanding officer

Chief of Staff

See also

Further reading

External links