> 11th Army - Lt. General Waichiro Sonobe
> Odd. I found 11th Army commander listed as Lt. General Katsuichiro Enbu (9 Mar 1940 - 10 Apr 1941)
"Katsuichiro Enbu" is a mistranslation. "Waichiro Sonobe" is a correct reading of his name.
> Any idea of the dates his command began and ended?
9 Mar 1940 - 10 Apr 1941
> Perhaps that part of 4th Divison might be this Yoshida Detachment or was that from some other unit maybe the detachment of 40th Divison?
No
> Was Yoshida Detachment operating with the Ikeda Detachment attacking toward Ichang as you mention or was it with the 3rd Divison up north?
I don't know.
> Thanks. I wondered which brigade was sent. Any idea what other supporting divisional units were tagged on to this Detachement?
Ikeda Detachment
13th Infantry Regiment
One battalion each from 47th, 23rd, 45th Infantry Regiments
One battalion of 2nd Independent Mountain Gun Regiment
One platoon of 6th Cavalry Regiment
One company of 6th Engineer Regiment
Two companies of 6th Transport Regiment
> Yoshida Detachmet - Col. Yoshida
> What composed this unit? Maybe part of 4th Division or 40th Divison?
It consisted of 61st Infantry Battalion, guard unit from 13th Division and other support units. I don't know what unit 61st Infantry Battalion was.
> 101st Mixed Brigade - Major General Matsuyama
> Was this a Independant Mixed Brigade or a detachment of the 101st Division?
It was a temporary brigade locally formed. It consisted of China Stationed Infantry Battalion, 26th IIB and other support units.
> Matsui Detachment - Major General Matsui (22nd Infantry Group)
> Was this the infantry brigade group from the 22nd Division?
He was the commander of 22nd Infantry Group. But, the troops of Matsui detachment were gathered from some different divisions.
> If so how many of its 3 infantry regiments (and other units) came along?
It had three infantry battalions extracted from 15th, 17th and 22nd Divisions. It is unknown from which regiments they came.
> Kansui(漢水) Detachment - Col. Higaki (17th Anchorage HQ)
> What is this type of unit?
It is a shipping force. The OOB of Kansui Detachment is as follows.
17th Anchorage HQ
6th Reserve Battalion of Imperial Guard Division
6th Independent Engineer Regiment
1st Company of 10th Independent Engineer Regiment
Five Surface Transport Units
Construction Transport Unit
9th Transport Supervision Unit
> Do you know what roles these detachments had in the campaign?
Kansui Deachment attacked together with Ikeda Detachment. I don't know the operations of other detachments.
> Another thing that I am curious about is what Naval force was involved here? It would seem necessary to secure the length of the Yangze from Yueh Yang to Icheng. Any info on fleet assets involved here?
1st China Expeditionary Fleet participated in the campaign. But, I don't know the details.
> 3rd Hikodan - Major General Saburo Endo
> Any idea of his term of command?
11th, 59th, 60th, 44th, 75th Sentai's
One squadron of 15th Sentai
One squadron of 90th Sentai
17th Independent Squadron
Correction:
The commander of 3rd Hikodan was Major General Kuwana. Endo succeeded to him in Aug.
Sino-Japanese Air War 1937 ? 1945
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/sino-japanese-1940.htm
has it as
3rd Hikoshidan - Lieutenant General Kinoshita (Nanking)
- 1st Hikodan - Major General Nakazono (Peiking)
- 3rd Hikodan - Major General Kuwana (Hankow)
It may be Hakan needs to correct his site. Is the 3rd Hikodan command listing from the official Japanese history or elsewhere?
Stated above. The term of Hikoshidan(Air Division) was used since 1942. Before then, it was called Hikoshudan(Air Group).
Taki