40th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)

40th Division
Active 1939 - 1945
Country Empire of Japan
Branch Imperial Japanese Army
Type Infantry
Garrison/HQ Zentsuji, Kagawa, Japan
Nickname(s) Whale Division
Engagements Second Sino-Japanese War

The 40th Division (第40師団 Dai-yonju Shidan) was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the Whale Division (鯨兵団 Kujira Heidan).

History

The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) 40th Division was raised as a triangular division on 30 June 1939 in Zentsuji city Kagawa prefecture. Its manpower came primarily from the four prefectures of Shikoku island. Although intended as a garrison force to maintain public order and to cover police duties in Japanese-occupied portions of China, due to the deteriorating situation in the Second Sino-Japanese War it was quickly assigned to front-line combat duties.

The 40th Division was initially assigned to the Eleventh Army on 2 October 1939 and was stationed from Hankou to Guangji along the banks of the Yangtze River, then the Hubei Xianning area.

It was involved in combat during the Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang, Central Hopei Operation and the Battle of South Henan in 1940, and in the Second Battle of Changsha in 1941 and Third Battle of Changsha in 1942.

In April 1942, the 40th Division was one of the units assigned to capturing the downed American airmen of the Doolittle Mission in what came to be known as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign. From April 1944, it was assigned to Operation Ichi-go.

In January 1945, the 40th Division was assigned to guard the Canton - Hankou Railway. Afterwards, it came under the command of the Twenty-Third Army and stationed in the Guangdong-Macau area to counter anticipated landings by Allied forces. However, as American forces invaded Okinawa in April 1945, the 40th Division received orders to withdraw from Guangdong to Shanghai. En route, while in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, the war came to an end. The 40th Division's final orders were to withdraw from Nanchang to Nanjing, where it was demobilized, and its surviving troops were returned to Sasebo, Japan by May 1946.

Noted commanders in the history of the 40th Division include Lieutenant General Naojikiro Amaya, who commanded the division while it was stationed in Manchuria, from 2 October 1939 until 25 August 1941.

Organization

The 40th Division was organized as a triangular division.

40th Division -

See also

Reference and further reading

Allentown, PA: 1981

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