123rd Division (Imperial Japanese Army) explained

Unit Name:	123rd Division
Native Name:	第123師団
Dates:	1945–1945
Country:	Empire of Japan
Allegiance:	4th army
Branch:	Imperial Japanese Army
Type:	Infantry
Garrison:	Sunwu County
Nickname:	Matsukaze division
Battles:	Soviet invasion of Manchuria

123rd Division
Date:	1945
Parent:	4th Army
Subordinate:	268th Infantry Regiment (Nagoya) 269th Infantry Regiment (Tsu) 27th Infantry Regiment (Gifu) 123rd Field Artillery Regiment 123rd Engineer Regiment 123rd Transport Regiment 123rd Airborne Battalion 123rd Signal Company

The was an infantry division of the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the . It was formed on 16 January 1945 in Sunwu County as a triangular division. It was part a batch of eight simultaneously created divisions: the 121st, 122nd, 123rd, 124th, 125th, 126th, 127th and 128th Divisions. The nucleus of the formation was the 73rd Independent Mixed Brigade, which was formed in October 1944 from the headquarters of the 1st Division.

History

On 30 March 1945 the 123rd Division's formation was complete and it was assigned to the 4th Army.^[1]

Notes and References

1. http://www.jacar.go.jp/english/glossary_en/term/0100-0040-0070-0010-0010-0030-0020.html 123rd Division [sic] (Matsukaze)] It was tasked with the garrison of Sunwu County, adjacent to the 135th Independent Mixed Brigade in Aihui District. The division fought and withstood the Soviet invasion of Manchuria with heavy casualties, but did not yield until the surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945. The majority of division personnel were taken prisoner to the Soviet Union in September 1945.

   See also

   • List of Japanese Infantry Divisions
   • Independent Mixed Brigades (Imperial Japanese Army)

   Notes and references

   • This article incorporates material from Japanese Wikipedia page 第123師団 (日本軍), accessed 28 June 2016
   • Madej, W. Victor, Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937–1945 [2 vols], Allentown, PA: 1981.

   }