Twenty-Third Army (Japan) Explained

Unit Name:Japanese Twenty-Third Army
Dates:June 26, 1941 - August 15, 1945
Country:Empire of Japan
Branch:Imperial Japanese Army
Type:Infantry
Role:Corps
Garrison:Guangdong
Battles:Second Sino-Japanese War

The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

History

The Japanese 23rd Army was established on June 26, 1941, under the command of the Imperial General Headquarters. It was transferred to the control of the China Expeditionary Army on August 12 of the same year. It was based in Guangdong province and on Hainan Island to replace the Southern China Area Army which was disbanded June 26, 1941.

The Japanese 23rd Army was primarily a garrison force to deter the possible landings of Allied forces in southern China. It was involved in the Battle of Guilin-Liuzhou (part of Operation Ichi-Go) from August–November 1944. The Japanese 23rd Army surrendered to the Chinese Kuomintang forces on August 15, 1945, with the surrender of Japan and was disbanded in Guangzhou.

After the war, Imamura, Sakai, and Tanaka were all tried and convicted of war crimes. Sakai and Tanaka were tried in China and executed, while Imamura received a life sentence from an Australian military court. He was released in 1954. Viewing his own sentence as too lenient, Imamura built his own prison in which he imprisoned himself until his death in 1967.

List of Commanders

Commanding officer

Name From To
128 June 1941 6 November 1941
26 November 1941 1 March 1943
31 March 1943 9 September 1945

Chief of staff

Name From To
128 June 1941 15 September 1941
215 September 1941 10 June 1943
310 June 1943 16 December 1944
416 December 1944 15 April 1945
515 April 1945 1 September 1945

See also

References

Books

External links