96th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) explained

Unit Name:96th Division
Native Name:第96師団
Country:Empire of Japan
Dates:1945 - 1945
Allegiance:58th army
Branch:Imperial Japanese Army
Type:Infantry
Size:9000[1]
Garrison:Seoul
Nickname:Mistery 22001
Battles:none
96th Division
Date:May 1945
Parent:58th army
Subordinate:
  • 292. Infantry regiment (Fukuoka)
  • 293. Infantry regiment (Ōmura)
  • 294. Infantry regiment (Ōmura)
  • 96. Mortar battalion
  • 96. Engineer company
  • 96. Signals company
  • 96. Field hospital

The was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the . It was created 6 February 1945 in Seoul. The nucleus for the formation was the headquarters and training camps of the 56th division and 84th infantry brigade. It was nominally a triangular division.

Action

The 96th division was assigned to 17th area army 10 February 1945. Although it was planned initially to raise a brigade, the plans were suddenly changed to division during the formation. Due to equipment shortage, the division was severely understrength and a numerous substitutions were made. In particular, mortar battalion was actually equipped with the anti-aircraft machine guns.

The formed 96th division was sent to the north of Jeju Island in April 1945, and reassigned to 58th army. It absorbed that time a 32nd independent infantry battalion plus independent automatic cannon company, and received a complement of the anti-tank guns.

Tasked with fortification building in Jeju Island, the 96th division was subject to the attacks by local guerilla and frequent air raids, but was not invaded until surrender of Japan 15 August 1945.

References and further reading

This article incorporates material from the article 第96師団 (日本軍) in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on 24 June 2016.

Notes and References

  1. http://www.jacar.go.jp/english/glossary_en/term/0100-0040-0060-0010-0020-0010.html 96th Division (Gen)