The was an

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

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 ...

based in

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

from 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 ...

until the end of World War II. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it was under the overall command of the

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

History

Russo-Japanese War

The Japanese 5th Army, then known as the Yalu River Army, was initially raised on January 15, 1905 in the final stages of the

under the command of General

Kawamura Kageaki Viscount was a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army. Biography Kawamura was born in Kagoshima in the Satsuma han feudal domain (present day Kagoshima prefecture. He first fought as a samurai in the Anglo-Satsuma War. He was part of the ...

out of only the 11th Infantry Division and three reserve brigades. It took successfully part in the

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 ...

, when the 5th Army flanked the Russian left wing. It was disbanded at Mukden in January, 1906 after the signing of the

Treaty of Portsmouth A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal perso ...

at the end of the war.

Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II

The Japanese 5th Army was raised again on December 7, 1937 in Manchukuo as a

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

force to guard the eastern borders against possible incursions by the

Soviet 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, ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

. As it was based on the eastern frontier, it was not a participant in the

Nomonhan Incident The Battles of Khalkhin Gol (russian: Бои на Халхин-Голе; mn, Халхын голын байлдаан) were the decisive engagements of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese border conflicts involving the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Jap ...

, but was temporarily disbanded on February 26, 1938. It was re-established on May 19, 1939 under the direct control of the

Imperial Japanese Army General Staff The , also called the Army General Staff, was one of the two principal agencies charged with overseeing the Imperial Japanese Army. Role The was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry, to replace the Ministry of Military Affairs ...

. It afterwards came under the command of the

Japanese First Area Army The was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, based in northern Manchukuo and active in combat against the Soviet Union in the closing stages of the war. History The Japanese 1st Area Army was formed on July 4, 1942 und ...

, under the overall command of the

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

, and was used primarily as a training and garrison force. Its equipment and experienced troops were siphoned off to other commands in the

southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

theatre of operations as the war situation gradually deteriorated for Japan. By the time of the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian strategic offensive operation (russian: Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция, Manchzhurskaya Strategicheskaya Nastu ...

, its poorly equipped and poorly trained forces were no longer a match for the experienced battle-hardened Soviet

armored division A division is a large military unit or Formation (military), 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 mak ...

s, and it was driven back into defensive positions in

Andong Province Andong / Antung ( Wade-Giles) (), or Liaodong () was a former province in Northeast China, located in what is now part of Liaoning and Jilin provinces. It was bordered on the southeast by the Yalu River, which separated it from Korea. History Th ...

along the Korean border by the time of the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

. It was formally disbanded at

Jixi Jixi () is a city in southeastern Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China. At the 2020 census, 1,502,060 people resided within its administrative area of and 560,118 in its built-up (''or metro'') area made up of 3 out of 6 urban dis ...

List of Commanders

Commanding officer

Chief of Staff

Notes

References

* * * * * * *

External links

*{{cite web , last = Wendel , first = Marcus , url = http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=6890 , title = Axis History Factbook , work = Japanese 5th Army 05 Military units and formations established in 1905 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 1905 establishments in Japan