The army that carved out Japan’s land empire during World War 2 is examined in two volumes. Drawn from period and modern Japanese and American sources the Imperial Army’s corps are arranged as they were deployed in the field, each with its history and order of battle. A chapter covering the divisions and brigades deployed under them follows. Next, an index of individual units arranged in sequence by code number makes searching the book easy. Over 6,000 units are identified and represented in the two volumes.
Today the Japanese Army remains mysterious, in part because it was secretive by nature. These books are wide ranging and informative, but of special interest is the ability to draw back the curtain on one of the Imperial Japanese Army’s most coveted secrets, the intelligence code name and number camouflage it called Tsushogo.
The Imperial Japanese Army Volume 1, Japan, the Annexed Territories and Manchuria covers the army in Japan and adjacent territories. Okinawa and civil unrest aside, these places remained largely unscathed until late 1944, serving the Empire as bases for most of the major and minor Japanese Army units that shipped to the Pacific, South Asia and Indian Ocean regions.
Japan’s end of war armies are present in fine historic detail, each with its history and order of battle. These are the armies the United States estimated it would lose 1 million American lives to in an invasion, and why it opted to drop the atomic bomb. Details and histories of the Imperial armies in Taiwan, Korea and Manchuria are included in the book. The crushing Soviet invasion of Manchuria in early August 1945 can be found in the events of each of the armies they overran. Based on original sources, this is an illuminating must have reference for anyone interested in the history of World War 2 in the Asia-Pacific region.
