The was an

infantry division A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 6,000 and 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. Histo ...

in 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 ...

. Its call-sign was (from the

Yodo River The , also called the Seta River (瀬田川 ''Seta-gawa'') and the Uji River (宇治川 ''Uji-gawa'') at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefectur ...

History

The 4th Division was formed in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

City in January 1871 as the , one of six regional commands created in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army. The Osaka Garrison had responsibility for the central region of

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island sepa ...

(

Kansai The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...

district), ranging from

Shiga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the north ...

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

. The six regional commands were transformed into divisions under the army reorganization of 14 May 1888.

Early action

The ''4th regional command'' played a vital role in the defeat of the

Satsuma Rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and b ...

in 1877. 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 p ...

in 1895, the ''4th division'' landed on

Liaodong Peninsula The Liaodong Peninsula (also Liaotung Peninsula, ) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located between the mouths of the Daliao River ...

and performed security duties as part of army reserve, though its 7th Mixed Brigade was sent to northern Formosa in September 1895 during the Japanese invasion of Taiwan, and helped to pacify the Kapsulan (

Yilan Yilan may refer to: China * Yilan County, Heilongjiang (依兰县), county of central Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China * Yilan Town, Heilongjiang (依兰镇), seat of Yilan County * Yilan, Jilin (依兰镇), town in Yanji Taiwan ...

) district. During 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 ...

, the division, led by Lieutenant General Ogawa Mataji, participated in the Battle of Nanshan,

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

(where the commander was wounded and replaced by Lieutenant General Tsukamoto Katsuyoshi),

Battle of Shaho The Battle of Shaho ( ja, 沙河会戦 (''Saka no kaisen''), russian: Сражение на реке Шахе) was the second large-scale land battle of the Russo-Japanese War fought along a front centered at the Shaho River along the Mukden– P ...

and

Battle of Mukden The , one of the largest land battles to be fought before World War I and the last and the most decisive major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, was fought from 20 February to 10 March 1905 between Japan and Russia near Mukden ...

. The division later served in the

Siberian Intervention The Siberian intervention or Siberian expedition of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of troops of the Entente powers to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by the western powers, Japan, and China to support White Russian fo ...

and the Jinan Incident (1928).

Action in
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...
and
Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the 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, including the vas ...

On 10 February 1937, the 4th Division came under the command of the

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...

. Actually departing

6 September 1937, and landing in

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

12 September 1937. It participated in

Central Hubei Operation The Central Hubei Operation was one of the engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was ...

Battle of South Henan The Battle of South Henan (), was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. This battle was the first time the NRA engaged the Japanese in sout ...

, and Jiangbei operation (attacking from northern Anlu). It was transferred to the 11th Army on 1 July 1940. In September 1941, the division participated in

Battle of Changsha (1941) The Battle of Changsha (6 September – 8 October 1941; ) was Japan's second attempt at taking the city of Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city o ...

. From 11 June 1941, it started reorganization to a

triangular division A triangular division is a designation given to the way military divisions are organized. In a triangular organization, the division's main body is composed of three regimental maneuver elements. These regiments may be controlled by a brigade hea ...

, giving the 70th infantry regiment to the 25th division, eventually transferred to the active reserve force in the Japanese home islands. In March 1942, the reorganization was complete and the 4th Division was then reassigned to the 14th Army, arriving in the

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 ...

to participate in the

Battle of Bataan The Battle of Bataan ( tl, Labanan sa Bataan; January 7 – April 9, 1942) was fought by the United States and the Philippine Commonwealth against Japan during World War II. The battle represented the most intense phase of the Japanese i ...

on 3 April 1942. The 4th Division also significantly contributed to Japanese efforts in the

Battle of Corregidor The Battle of Corregidor (; ), fought on May 5–6, 1942, was the culmination of the Japanese campaign for the conquest of the Commonwealth of the Philippines during World War II. The fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942, ended all organized ...

on 5 May 1942. After the

Philippines campaign (1941–1942) The Philippines campaign ( fil, Kampanya sa Pilipinas, es, Campaña en las Filipinas del Ejercito Japonés, ja, フィリピンの戦い, Firipin no Tatakai), also known as the Battle of the Philippines ( fil, Labanan sa Pilipinas) or the Fa ...

ended on 8 May 1942, the division was returned to the home islands to perform security duties. It came under the control of the 25th Army in September 1943. The 4th Division departed from

Moji-ku, Kitakyūshū is a Japanese ward of the city of Kitakyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture. It is the former city of Moji which was one of five merged to create Kitakyūshū in 1963. It faces the city of Shimonoseki across the Kanmon Straits between Honshū and Kyūs ...

on 10 October 1943 and performed garrison duties on

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

from early November 1943. Parts of the 4th Division were on Chicago Maru transport when it was sunk 15 October 1943, and therefore were temporarily diverted to

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City ( Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Ka ...

, Taiwan.IJA Hospital Ship/Transport CHICAGO MARU: Tabular Record of Movement
/ref> Assigned to the 15th Army on 14 January 1945, its final headquarters was in

Lampang Lampang, also called Nakhon Lampang ( th, นครลำปาง, ) to differentiate from Lampang province, is the third largest city in northern Thailand and capital of Lampang province and the Mueang Lampang district. Traditional names for L ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. The 4th Division started disbanding in June 1946. The soldiers were repatriated from

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

back to the Japanese ports of Uraga and

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

. The last sub-unit, a field hospital, departed

4 June 1946 and arrived at

25 June 1946. By 27 June 1946 the dissolution of the 4th Division was complete.

Memorial headquarters building

The original headquarters for the 4th Division was

Osaka Castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and it played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Layout The main tower ...

. When the castle was reconstructed in 1931, a new headquarters building was erected within the castle grounds a short distance away by donations raised from the citizens of Osaka, so that the castle and its immediate surroundings could be made into a public park. In 1940, the headquarters moved again, this time to

Hōkoku Shrine (Osaka) is a Shinto shrine located in Osaka, Japan. It is one of several Toyokuni shrines built in honor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It is part of the Osaka Castle Park. History Hōkoku Shrine was ordered built in the 12th year of Meiji (1879) by the Em ...

area. The divisional arsenal in Osaka detonated 14 August 1945 due to Allied bombing, resulting in light damage to the headquarters buildings. As of 2013, the headquarters building remained as a war memorial within the Osaka Castle Park. Noted commanders in the history of the 4th Division have included

Takashima Tomonosuke Viscount was a samurai of Satsuma Domain, general in the early Imperial Japanese Army, and a cabinet minister in Meiji period Japan. Part of Sophia University in Tokyo is located on the site of his house. Biography Military career Born into a '' ...

Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa of Japan, was the second head of a collateral branch of the Japanese imperial family. He was formerly enshrined in Tainan-Jinja, Taiwan, under the name ''Kitashirakawa no Miya Yoshihisa-shinnō no Mikoto'' as the main and only deity. Biograp ...

, Ichinohe Hyoe, Abe Nobuyuki, Terauchi Hisaichi, Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko and

Tomoyuki Yamashita was a Japanese officer and convicted war criminal, who was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Yamashita led Japanese forces during the invasion of Malaya and Battle of Singapore, with his accomplishment of conquerin ...

Reference and further reading

* Madej, W. Victor. ''Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945'' volsAllentown, PA: 1981 This article incorporates material from the article 第4師団 (日本軍) in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on 21 January 2016.

External links

Current 4th Division site
{{DEFAULTSORT:04th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)) Japanese World War II divisions Infantry divisions of Japan Military units and formations established in 1871 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946 1871 establishments in Japan 1946 disestablishments in Japan J

History

Early action

Memorial headquarters building

See also

Reference and further reading

External links