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 10 July 1940 at Hirosaki, Aomori, simultaneously with 51st, 52nd, 54th, 55th, and 56th divisions, as a reserve and provisional unit. Its call-sign “Oku” was taken from the ancient name of the Tohoku region of northern Honshū, " Oshu". The formation nucleus was the headquarters of the

8th Division 8th Division, 8th Infantry Division or 8th Armored Division may refer to: Infantry divisions * 8th Division (Australia) * 8th Canadian Infantry Division * 8th Air Division (People's Republic of China) * 8th Division (1st Formation) (People's Repu ...

. Its manpower came from the Aomori, Iwate, Yamagata and

Akita is a Japanese name and may refer to: Places * 8182 Akita, a main-belt asteroid * Akita Castle, a Nara period fortified settlement in Akita, Japan * Akita Domain, also known as Kubota Domain, feudal domain in Edo period Japan * Akita, Kumamoto ...

prefectures. The ''57th division'' was initially assigned to direct command of

Emperor Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

, but was transferred to Northern District Army as soon as it formed 2 December 1940.

History

To participate in the Special exercise of the Kwantung Army (actually a mobilization for the possible large-scale conflict with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

) together with 51st division, the ''57th Division'' was assigned to the

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

`s 3rd army on 1 August 1941. The preparations for the war with the Soviet Union were officially cancelled 9 August 1941 though, and ''57th division'' was reassigned to the 4th army. During 1941-1945 the division was used to defend a Manchukuo in coastal part of

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...

. In March 1945, the ''57th division'' was replaced in

with the recently formed 125th division and sent to

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...

to eventually join 36th army protecting

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

region. The division nearly completed sea leg of transfer (to

) by 18 April 1945. Due to bad developments of Battle of Okinawa, 10 May 1945 the further movement of the ''57th division'' was cancelled and it was re-subordinated to the 16th Area ArmyCHAPTER XIX HOMELAND DEFENSE: STRATEGIC SETBACKS AND FINAL PREPARATIONS, p. 622
/ref> to counter the anticipated Operation Downfall by the US forces. The division has met the day of surrender of Japan 15 August 1945 at

without seeing any combat.

Notes

*This article incorporates material from Japanese Wikipedia page 第57師団 (日本軍), accessed 9 June 2016

Reference and further reading

* Madej, W. Victor. ''Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945'' volsAllentown, PA: 1981 {{DEFAULTSORT:57th 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 Japan

History

See also

Notes

Reference and further reading