The was an

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

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 ...

. It was raised and demobilized on four occasions.

History

The Japanese 2nd Army was initially raised during the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...

from September 27, 1894, to May 14, 1895, under the command of General

Ōyama Iwao was a Japanese field marshal, and one of the founders of the Imperial Japanese Army. Biography Early life Ōyama was born in Kagoshima to a ''samurai'' family of the Satsuma Domain. as a younger paternal cousin to Saigo Takamori. A proté ...

. It was revived for the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

from March 6, 1904, to January 2, 1906, under the command of General

Oku Yasukata Count was a Japanese field marshal and leading figure in the early Imperial Japanese Army. Biography Early life Born in Kokura (in present-day Kitakyūshū) to a ''samurai'' family of the Kokura Domain in Buzen Province, Oku joined the militar ...

. It fought in most of the major campaigns of the war, including the

Battle of Nanshan The was one of many vicious land battles of the Russo-Japanese War. It took place on 24–26 May 1904 across a two-mile-wide defense line across the narrowest part of the Liáodōng Peninsula, covering the approaches to Port Arthur and on th ...

Battle of Te-li-Ssu The Battle of Te-li-ssu ( '), also called Battle of Wafangou (russian: Бой у Вафангоу) after the nearby railway station, was a land battle of the Russo-Japanese War. It was fought at a hamlet some north of Port Arthur, Manchuria. ...

, Battle of Tashihchiao, Battle of Shaho,

Battle of Liaoyang The (russian: Сражение при Ляояне) was the first major List of battles of the Russo-Japanese War, land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, on the outskirts of the city of Liaoyang in present-day Liaoning Province, China. The city ...

, Battle of Sandepu, and Battle of Mukden. The Japanese 2nd Army was raised again on August 23, 1937, and placed under the command of the

Japanese Northern China Area Army The was an area army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. History The Japanese North China Area Army was formed on August 21, 1937 under the control of the Imperial General Headquarters. It was transferred to th ...

as reinforcement to Japanese forces in China following the

Marco Polo Bridge Incident The Marco Polo Bridge Incident, also known as the Lugou Bridge Incident () or the July 7 Incident (), was a July 1937 battle between China's National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army. Since the Japanese invasion of Manchuria ...

. The 2nd Army participated in the North China Incident,

Tianjin–Pukou Railway Operation The Tientsin–Pukow Railway Operation ( ja, 津浦線作戦; early August to mid November, 1937) was a follow up operation to the Battle of Beiping-Tianjin of the Japanese army in North China at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, foug ...

Battle of Xuzhou The Battle of Xuzhou was a military conflict between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China forces in May 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. History In 1937 the North China Area Army had chased Song ...

and Battle of Taierzhuang before being demobilized on December 15, 1938. The fourth and final incarnation of the Japanese 2nd Army was on July 4, 1942, when it was revived under the command of the

Japanese First Area Army The was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, based in northern Manchukuo and active in combat against the Soviet Union in the closing stages of the war. History The Japanese 1st Area Army was formed on July 4, 1942 und ...

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

. It was transferred to the Japanese Second Area Army on October 30, 1943. Towards the closing stages of the war, on June 30, 1945, it was transferred to 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 Expedition ...

and was based in the

Celebes Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sul ...

at the end of World War II.

List of commanders

Commanding officer

Chief of Staff

References

* * * *

External links

*{{cite web , last = Wendel , first = Marcus , url = http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=6887 , title = Axis History Fac , work = Japanese 2nd Army Military units and formations established in 1894 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 02