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 Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

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 ...

. Its

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 assign ...

was the . It was formed on 16 September 1941 at

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

and initially assigned to

Central District Army The was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army responsible for the defense of the Japanese home islands during the Pacific War. It was one of the regional commands in the Japanese home islands reporting to the General Defense Command. Comman ...

. The nucleus for the division formation was the headquarters of the 16th division. The men of the ''53rd Division'' were drafted from

Shiga 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 nort ...

Fukui is a Japanese name meaning "fortunate" or sometimes "one who is from the Fukui prefecture". It may refer to: Places * Fukui Domain, a part of the Japanese han system during the Edo period * Fukui Prefecture, a prefecture of Japan located in ...

, Mie and

prefectures, belonging to Kyoto mobilization district. The ''53rd Division'' was initially assigned as the reserve of 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 ...

in November 1943. In December 1943, the division sailed from Moji, with a stop-over in Kaohsiung and in January 1944 landed in Saigon and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. On 29 April 1944, the division was assigned to the 33rd army, and arrived in the northern outskirts of Mandalay on 13 May 1944. In June 1944 the 153rd Infantry Regiment was detached to reinforce the 33rd division in the ailing

Battle of Imphal ) , partof = the Operation U-Go during the Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II , image = Imphalgurkhas.jpg , image_size = 300 , caption = Gurkhas advancing with Grant tanks ...

and was largely wiped out. The main body of the division took part in several battles against the

Chindits The Chindits, officially as Long Range Penetration Groups, were special operations units of the British and Indian armies which saw action in 1943–1944 during the Burma Campaign of World War II. The British Army Brigadier Orde Wingate form ...

, a large British and Indian long-range penetration force which was operating north of

Indaw Indaw ( shn, ဝဵင်းဢၢင်းတေႃႇ)is a town in northern Burma, in Sagaing Division, Katha District, Indaw Township. It is located about 2 km south-east of Indaw Lake. The rail junction at Naba is located about 6 k ...

. In late May, they defeated a Chindit brigade to clear the lines of communication to the 18th division, but at the end of June the division was driven from Mogaung, with 1600 casualties. From January 1945, the division was used as a reserve force in the Battle of Meiktila and Mandalay, with the main body of the ''53rd division'' staying south of Mandalay. The 119th infantry regiment was attached to the 18th division for its attacks on Meiktila. After the attacks on Meiktila were broken off, the remnants of the division attempted to hold a position near Pyawbwe but were overrun by allied tanks. Finally, after retreating south, the division suffered further heavy casualties to artillery fire and airstrikes in the

Battle of the Sittang Bend The Battle of the Sittang Bend and the Japanese Breakout across Pegu Yomas were linked Japanese military operations during the Burma Campaign, which took place nearly at the end of World War II. Surviving elements of the Imperial Japanese Army ...

in July–August 1945. The remnants of the division ceased fighting on the lower

Sittang River The Sittaung River ( my, စစ်တောင်းမြစ် ; formerly, the Sittang or Sittounghttps://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/8th-uncsgn-docs/inf/8th_UNCSGN_econf.94_INF.75.pdf ) is a river in south central Myanmar in Bago ...

on 17 August 1945,Yoshimi Yoshiaki, "Grassroots Fascism: The War Experience of the Japanese People", p.238 after the surrender of Japan.

Notes

*This article incorporates material from Japanese Wikipedia page 第53師団 (日本軍), accessed 3 June 2016

Reference and further reading

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:53th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) Japanese World War II divisions Infantry divisions of Japan Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 1940 establishments in Japan 1945 disestablishments in Burma J

See also

Notes

See also

Reference and further reading