The was an

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 mar ...

division 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 Emper ...

. It has no

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally ass ...

, similar to 101st division. It was formed 15 May 1938 in

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

as a C-class

square division A square division is a designation given to the way military divisions are organized. In a square organization, the division's main body is composed of four "maneuver," i.e., infantry regimental elements. Other types of regiments, such as artillery ...

. The nucleus for the formation was the 6th division headquarters. The division was originally subordinated to the Central China Expeditionary Army. Its first division commander was Lieutenant General Matsuura Junrokuro, a graduate from Japanese Army War College.

Action

The 106th Division was assigned to 11th army. Landing south of

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

22 July 1938, it soon participated in the

Battle of Wuhan The Battle of Wuhan (武漢之戰), popularly known to the Chinese as the Defense of Wuhan, and to the Japanese as the Capture of Wuhan, was a large-scale battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Engagements took place across vast areas of Anhui ...

, capturing

Jiujiang Jiujiang (), formerly transliterated Kiukiang or Kew Keang, is a prefecture-level city located on the southern shores of the Yangtze River in northwest Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. It is the second-largest prefecture-level cit ...

26 July 1938. During August 1938, it advanced along railroad to

Nanxun District Nanxun District () is a district in the prefecture-level city of Huzhou, Zhejiang province, China. Nanxun Town, an ancient Venetian town, is located in the district. It is one of the most well-preserved old towns in this region and is known for ...

,World War II database: Battle of Wuhan
/ref> and in September 1938 was heavily engaged in the

Battle of Wanjialing The Battle of Wanjialing, known in Chinese text as the Victory of Wanjialing (), refers to the Chinese Army's successful engagement during the Wuhan theatre of the Second Sino-Japanese War against the Japanese 101st, 106th, 9th and 27th div ...

. The 106th artillery regiment was stuck in mountainous terrain, therefore was unable to provide any fire support from 20 September 1938, and entire division suffered heavy losses after its parts has been encircled in Lianxi District. Five of the eight regiments were routed 24 September - 13 October 1938, and division suffered an 11,164 casualties (over half of total strength). From 1939 the ''106th Division'' was commanded by Lieutenant General Ryotaro Nakai. Under his command the division was in the

Battle of Nanchang The Battle of Nanchang () was a military campaign fought around Nanchang, Jiangxi between the Chinese National Revolutionary Army and the Japanese Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was the first major conflict to occur ...

(in particular divisional artillery acting in Battle of Xiushui River 20 March 1939), and the

Battle of Changsha (1939) The First Battle of Changsha (17 September 1939 – 6 October 1939; ) was the first of four attempts by Japan to take the city of Changsha, Hunan, during the second Sino-Japanese War. It was the first major battle of the war to fall within the ...

. The division was planned to be demobilized after finishing a mop-up operations in

Shantou Shantou, alternately romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 2020 census (5,391,028 in 2010) and an administrative ...

area. Due to the ongoing 1939-40 Winter Offensive, the demobilization of the ''106th division'' was cancelled 20 December 1939. Instead it was assigned to the 21st army and sent to hold positions along the south bank of the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

River between

Wuhu Wuhu () is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Anhui province, China. Sitting on the southeast bank of the Yangtze River, Wuhu borders Xuancheng to the southeast, Chizhou and Tongling to the southwest, Hefei city to the northwest, Ma' ...

and

Hukou ''Hukou'' () is a system of household registration used in mainland China. The system itself is more properly called "''huji''" (), and has origins in ancient China; ''hukou'' is the registration of an individual in the system (''kou'' lit ...

and stood off the attacks of the Chinese. The division was demobilized on March 9, 1940, with dissolution completed in April 1940. Some of the soldiers of ''106th division'', in particularly belonging to the 113th infantry regiment, were re-employed in the 56th division formed 10 July 1940.

Notes

*This article incorporates material from Japanese Wikipedia page 第106師団 (日本軍), accessed 17 June 2016

References

* Madej, W. Victor, ''Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle'', 1937-1945 vols Allentown, PA: 1981. * Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, ''History of The Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) 2nd Ed.'', 1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung, Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China. {{DEFAULTSORT:106th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) Japanese World War II divisions Infantry divisions of Japan Military units and formations established in 1937 Military units and formations disestablished in 1940 1937 establishments in Japan 1940 disestablishments in Japan

Action

See also

Notes

References