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Kwantung Army
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Kantō Army (Japanese: 関東軍, also known as the Guandong Army or Kwantung Army, Kantōgun; simplified Chinese: 关东军; traditional Chinese: 關東軍; pinyin: Guāndōngjūn; Wade-Giles: Kwan-tung chün; Korean: 관동군), was an army group of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). It took its name from the Kwantung Peninsula[1] where it was based. Headquartered in Hsinking (modern Changchun), it became the largest and most prestigious command in the IJA. Many of its personnel, such as Chief of Staff Hideki Tojo, were promoted to high positions in both the military and civil government. Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda worked as liaison officer between the Imperial house and the Kanto Army.
The unit was originally established in 1906 as the Kwantung Garrison to defend the Japanese-controlled Kwantung Leased Territory and the areas adjacent to the South Manchurian Railway. Composed of an infantry division and a heavy siege artillery battalion, it was stationed within the Kwantung Leased Territory. Supplementing this force were six independent garrison battalions as railway guards deployed along the railway zone, making a total troop strength of 10,000 men. Since the reorganization of 1919, this military unit was called the Kanto Army.
Although the Kanto Army was nominally subordinate to the Japanese High Command, its leadership demonstrated significant self-determination, as conspirators in the Army plotted the assassination of Zhang Zuolin in 1928 and the Mukden Incident and the subsequent invasion of Manchuria (1931) leading to the foundation of Manchukuo in 1932. The Army was heavily augmented over the next few years in the effort to pacify Manchukuo and up to a strength of 700,000 troops in 1941, to defend the whole territory of Manchuria and Inner Mongolia. Generals and young officers virtually controlled the puppet government of Manchukuo Emperor Pu Yi.
The Army fought in the opening phase of the Second Sino-Japanese War in Operation Nekka and Operation Chahar and against the Soviet Union's Red Army at the Nomonhan in 1939, sustaining heavy casualties. After the Nomonhan incident, the Army became under direct control of the Imperial General Headquarters.
Its performance against the Red Army anticipated some of the defects of the IJA as a whole, which became apparent during World War Two in the Pacific. Although a source of constant unrest during the 1930s, the Army remained remarkably obedient during the 1940s, proof that the Japanese High Command could keep control—as long as it was willing to retain it.
After the outbreak of the Pacific War, many troops from the Kanto Army were transferred from Manchuria to the Pacific islands. At the time of Operation August Storm, when the Soviet Red Army invaded Japanese-occupied Manchuria in August 1945, the Army's strength was nearly 600,000. The Army by that time was comprised of one armored division, 25 infantry divisions, six independent brigades, and up to 25 security battalions. However, much of its heavy weapons and ammunition reserves and best personnel had been transferred to the Pacific, which left the Kanto Army as a counterinsurgency and border security force.
Soviets and Japanese were fighting for control over Manchuria, Northern China [2]. To cope with the Soviet invasion, the Kanto Army planned to form a defense line near Hsinking, which had become the capital of Manchukuo, but on August 18, 1945, 1st Far East Front of Red Army took Kharbin and arrested the Chiefs of Staff declaring ultimatum to surrender the rest of Kanto Army [3]. At that time the Red Army discovered secret labs with biological weapons of mass destruction at Unit 100 and Unit 731 where critical amount of plague bacteria was prepared by Japanese and packed in small containers for delivery, in quantities enough to kill all humans on the planet [4]. Japanese Generals H. Hata and Yamada sent their messages to Tokyo. Emperor Hirohito ordered them to surrender. At the same time, orders were issued to destroy much of the evidence relating to biological and chemical weapon testing. At this point, historians relate, little remained of the once-proud Kanto Army. Its remnants either lay dead on the battlefield or were on their way to Soviet Prisoner-of-war camps. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese prisoners of war were forced to work in Soviet labor camps in Siberia, Russian Far East and Mongolia. They were not freed until the 1950s and many of them were forced to stay in Siberia. A notable mutiny of the Manchukuo Defence Force also occurred at this time.
The Kanto Army was also the responsible parties to some of the most infamous Japanese war crimes, including the operation of several biological warfare experimentation program facilities directed by Shiro Ishii such as Unit 100 and Unit 731. Unit 731 was found to have engaged extensively in biological and chemical weapon testing on Chinese civilians in the period of 1937 through 1945, including the use of live civilian subjects, many of whom were children for testing of biological and chemical weapons.
In 1948, the Tokyo tribunal sentenced to death some military who were part of this army as officers. Amongst them were generals Seishiro Itagaki, Iwane Matsui, Kenji Doihara, Hideki Tojo and Akira Muto. They were hung at Sugamo prison; generals Shunroku Hata, Hasimoto and ten others were sentenced to life in prison for their crimes against humanity [5].