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 ...
. 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 ass ...
was the . It was formed on 2 February 1942 in
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 ...
city as a class C (security) division, simultaneously with the
69th and
70th divisions. The backbone of security division has consisted of the eight independent infantry battalions, and it does not have an artillery regiment. The nucleus for the formation was the
14th Independent mixed brigade.
Action
The ''68th division'' has started a garrison duty from April 1942, covering an area of the former
14th Independent mixed brigade. The ''68th division'' took part in the
Battle of West Hubei in April 1943. At the end of 1943, it participated in
Battle of Changde, operating in
Hanshou County.
In May 1944, the ''68th division'' was assigned to
11th army and has participated in
Operation Ichi-Go, particularly on the southern flank of the
defense of Hengyang.
After the end of the offensive, the ''68th division'' was assigned to
20th army and participated in the
Battle of West Hunan
The Battle of West Hunan (), also known as the Battle of Xuefeng Mountains () and the Zhijiang Campaign (), was the Japanese invasion of west Hunan and the subsequent Allied counterattack that occurred between 6 April and 7 June 1945, during the ...
from April 1945.
See also
*
List of Japanese Infantry Divisions
*
Independent Mixed Brigades (Imperial Japanese Army)
Notes
*This article incorporates material from Japanese Wikipedia page
第68師団 (日本軍), accessed 19 June 2016
Reference and further reading
* Madej, W. Victor. ''Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945''
volsAllentown, PA: 1981
Japanese World War II divisions
Infantry divisions of Japan
Military units and formations established in 1942
Military units and formations disestablished in 1945
1942 establishments in Japan
1945 disestablishments in Japan
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