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 ...
during the final days of World War II.
History
The Japanese 35th Army was raised on July 26, 1944 in the Japanese-occupied
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
in anticipation of
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
attempts to invade and retake
Mindanao
Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
and the
Visayan islands
The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, it ...
in central and southern Philippines. It was under the overall command of the
Japanese Fourteenth Area Army
The was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II. It was originally the 14th Army, formed on November 6, 1941 for the upcoming invasion of the Philippines. It was reorganized in the Philippines on July 28, 1944, wh ...
. Initially intended as a
garrison
A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...
force to withstand a long-term
war of attrition
The War of Attrition ( ar, حرب الاستنزاف, Ḥarb al-Istinzāf; he, מלחמת ההתשה, Milhemet haHatashah) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from ...
, as the war situation on the
Pacific front
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the Theater (warfare), theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, ...
grew increasingly desperate for Japan, the
Imperial General Headquarters
The was part of the Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was approximately equivalent to the United States ...
ordered the bulk of the IJA 35th Army to
Leyte
Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census.
Since the accessibility of land has be ...
as reinforcement to Japanese forces in the
Battle of Leyte to fight against the combined American and Philippine Commonwealth troops. As the battle was lost, surviving units were given independent command authority, and were ordered to go to ground and wage a
guerilla campaign on their respective islands for as long as possible. The IJA 35th Army was officially disbanded on April 19, 1945. Some individual
Japanese stragglers did not give up until the 1970s.
List of commanders
Commanding Officer
Chief of Staff
Structure
;Japanese 35th Army
*
16th Infantry Division
*
30th Infantry Division
*
100th Infantry Division
*
102nd Infantry Division
* IJA 54th Independent Mixed Brigade
References
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*{{cite web
, last = Wendel
, first = Marcus
, url = http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=7684
, title = Axis History Factbook
, work = Japanese 33rd Army
35
Military units and formations established in 1944
Military units and formations disestablished in 1945