Landing Operations of Kawaguchi Detachment

[fontessa]

After the landing at British Borneo, Kawaguchi Detachment ｌanded at Cebu and Mindanao.

◇ Composition of Kawaguchi Detachment
- The 35 Infantry Group HQ
- The 124th Infantry Regiment
- 1 platoon of the 16th Reconnaissance Regiment
- The 4th Company, 22nd Field Artillery Regiment
- The 2nd Company, the 21st Field Heavy Artillery Battalion
- Main force of the 44th Anchorage HQ
- 1 platoon of the 23rd Independent Engineer Regiment [type “E”]
- 1 company (minus 2 platoons) of the 26th Independent Engineer Regiment [type “D”]
- Part of Logistics Units

◇ Cebu Landing Operation
【Movement】
■ Departed Lingayen Gulf aboard the following transports on 5 April 1942.
- Borneo Maru (Major Yamada, the commander of the 1st Battalion)
- Tottori Maru (Colonel Oka, the commander of the 124th Infantry Regiment)
- Mexico Maru (Major Gen Kawaguchi, the commander of the detachment)
- Risshun Maru (Major Takamatsu, the commander of the 2nd Batallion)
- India Maru(Lieutenant colonel Watanabe, the commander of the 3rd Battalion)
- Nagano Maru (Supplies)
- Ryuun Maru（Captain Bitou, the commander of the 12nd Company）
Escorted by DesDiv 2 (minus 2 destroyers) DD Murasame and DD Samidare and torpedo boat KIji.
- Landing Support Units
---- Main force of the 44th Anchorage HQ
---- The 2nd Company (minus 1platoon), the 21st Independent Engineer Regiment [type “E”]
---- 1 platoon of the 23rd Independent Engineer Regiment [type “E”]
---- 1 company (minus 2 platoons) of the 26th Independent Engineer Regiment [type “D”]
■ Landed at Cebu on April 10th
- West Coast (Aloguinsan and Barili) Landing with 4 Daihatsus, 3 Shohatsu
---- The 3rd Battalion, the 124th Infantry Regiment
---- Regimental Gun Company
---- 1 platoon of Rapid-fire Gun Company
---- Part of Regiment Signal Unit
---- Temporary Formed Armored Car Company
---- 2 platoons of the brigade signal unit
---- Part of the 14th Army Radio Platoon
---- Part of the 67th Line-of-communications Hospital
- East Coast (Argao) Landing with unknown landing craft
---- The 124th Infantry Regiment HQ
---- The 1st Battalion, the 124th Infantry Regiment
---- The 2nd Battalion (minus 7th Co), the 124th Infantry Regiment
---- Rapid-fire Gun Company (minus 1 platoon)
---- Main force of Regiment Signal Unit
---- 1 platoon of the brigade radio signal unit
---- 1 armored car platoon of the 16th Reconnaissance Regiment
---- The 4th Company, the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment
---- 1 platoon of the 14th Army Road Construction Unit
---- Part of the 14th Army Propaganda Section
---- The 2nd Company, the 21st Field Heavy Artillery Battalion
---- Temporary formed anti-air machine cannon unit

◇ Mindanao Landing Operation
【Movement】
■ Departed Cebu aboard the following transports on 26 April 1942
---- Mexico Maru (Major Gen Kawaguchi, the commander of the detachment)
---- Nagano Maru (Major Takamatsu, the commander of the 2nd Batallion)
---- Tottori Maru (Colonel Oka, the commander of the 124th Infantry Regiment)
---- Borneo Maru (Major Yamada, the commander of the 1st Battalion)
---- India Maru (Lieutenant colonel Watanabe, the commander of the 3rd Battalion)
---- Ryuun Maru (Captain BItou, the commander of the 12th Company)
Escorted by DesDiv 2 (minus 2 destroyers) DD Murasame and DD Samidare.
- Landing Support Units
---- Main force of the 44th Anchorage HQ
---- 1 platoon of the 23rd Independent Engineer Regiment [type “E”]
---- 1 company (minus 2 platoons) of the 26th Independent Engineer Regiment [type “D”]
■ Landed at Mindanao on April 29th
- Part of the Detachment landing at Cotabato with 4 Daihatsus 2 boats with engines
---- The 3rd Battalion HQ
---- The 3rd Battalion (minus 11th and 12th Companies, 1/4 IIIMG)
---- 2 platoons of the brigade signal unit
---- Part of the 67th Line-of-communications Hospital
- Main force of the Detachment Landing at Parang with 8 Daihatsus and 6 Shohatsus
---- The 124th Infantry Regiment HQ　
---- The 1st Battalion, the 124th Infantry Regiment
---- The 2nd Battalion (minus 12th Co), the 124th Infantry Regiment
---- 1 armored car platoon of the 16th Reconnaissance Regiment
---- 1 platoon of the 14th Army Road Construction Unit
---- The 4th Company, 22nd Field Artillery Regiment
---- The 2nd Company, the 21st Field Heavy Artillery Battalion
---- Temporary formed anti-air machine cannon unit

fontessa

[Wellgunde]

Thank you, fontessa. Great info!

[Leo Niehorster]

Indeed!

Leo
(I'm back!)

[rjl3]

Fontessa,

Fantastic information! Thank you.

Did these operations have a name? Where they part of M-Go (doesn't seem likely due to the time lapse)? Do you have the escorts names?
More interesting question is why, in April of 1942, they would need escorts to travel within the Philippine Islands. Certainly no allied forces of any type could have been a threat.

Regards,

Ralph

[Wellgunde]

Although the Philippines is an island nation, there is a lot of deep water between the larger islands. I have transited through the Philippines myself a on number of occasions submerged. A number of U.S. submarines were in the vicinity of the southern Philippines (Cebu and Mindanao) in April 1942. Several of these were on their way back to Australia after having been unable to carry out resupply missions to Corregidor due to the surrender. April 1942 was something of turning point in the submarine war. There were command reorganizations, commanding officer replacements, improvements in logistical and material support, an increase in the number of boats, reevaluations of tactical doctrine, and the belated start of a grudging acknowledgement that U.S. submarine torpedoes were defective. Plus submarine patrols from Pearl Harbor were already conducting patrols in "Empire waters" and sinking ships. Last but not least, the ULTRA communications intercepts were starting to make themselves felt. Keep in mind that the IJA and the IJN were running separate transport commands which did not cooperate with each other and which both placed little emphasis on convoys and shipping security. If the Japanese were not worried, they should have been.

[Jerry Asher]

Thanks Fontessa: Just returned and enjoyed your post. Do the records of the detachment cover the operations in south China before Pearl Harbor. I'm specifically looking for operations in Guangdong and Fujian provinces and then French Indo China. Dates, units and ships. Many thanks to all.

[fontessa]

Hello Jerry:

The sources are Kawaguchi Detachment Orders Major Watanabe who was the 3rd Battalion commander held. These cover only following 3 landing operations.
- British Borneo
- Cebu
- Mindanao

fontessa

[hysteric]

Hello fontessa,

Any help you can provide will be gratefully received. Regarding the Kawaguchi Detachment, I'm drawing a blank on the following:

1. On what dates did the Brigade leave the Philippines and arrive on Palau?

2. Missing code numbers for these attached units:
(The units appear sequentially, as poached from various sources.)

25th Army: ”Tomi” 富 (Borneo)
44th Anchorage Headquarters
1 platoon from the 23rd Independent Engineer Regiment
1 company from the 26th Independent Engineer Regiment


14th Army: “Shobu” 尚武 (The Philippines)
11th Water Supply and Purification Section
Attached units from Japan and Manchuria:
33rd Anti Aircraft Battalion
2nd Independent Engineer Company
80th Independent Radio Platoon
37th Fixed Radio Unit
An element from the 21st Field Ordinance Depot
1st Field Well Drilling Company
2nd Field Well Drilling Company
3rd Field Well Drilling Company
4th Field Well Drilling Company
48th Anchorage Headquarters
118th Land Duty Company

17th Army: “Oki” 沖 (Southeast Pacific area, incl. Guadalcanal)
6th Independent Engineer Regiment (minus 5 platoons)
1 company, 28th Independent Engineer Regiment
8th Independent Anti-Tank Gun Company (“8 TAS” from the Ichiki Detach.)
3rd and 6th Platoons, Independent Radio Unit
1 company, 45th Field Anti-Aircraft Battalion

Many thanks in advance.

hysteric

[fontessa]

Hello hysteric,

1. On what dates did the Brigade leave the Philippines and arrive on Palau?

Unfortunately I don't have the above dates.

2. Missing code numbers for these attached units:

I don’t have the unit code numbers of the units disbanded during the war. So I have only a few of the above.
33rd Field Anti-Aircraft Battalion: 3893
45th Field Anti-Aircraft Battalion: 7016
48th Anchorage Headquarters: 9737
3rd Independent Radio Platoon: 11301
6th Independent Radio Platoon: 11302

fontessa

[hysteric]

Hello fontessa,

Many thanks for the excellent information! Your answer also explains why some of these items aren't commonly available which is also helpful. It's odd the dates for the voyage from the Philippines to Palau are obscure for an important unit like the Kawaguchi Detachment.

In the meantime, I've found a reference for the '11th Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Unit' that might be of interest (I spent time looking for this unit earlier and couldn't find much). From 'Tales by Japanese Soldiers' by Kazuo Tamayama and John Nunneley. "Abstract from the history of the unit, 'Kiku no Bokyu'"

The 11th Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Unit was formed in Tokyo in 1938 and went to south China. On December 8th 1941, part of the unit landed in Kota Bharu northern Malaya, the major part landing on January 22, 1942 with the 18th Division (Kawaguchi Detachment's parent unit), went to Singapore and Thailand arriving there February 15th on the way to Burma. In Burma they advanced north with the 18th Division.

It kind of seems the 11th Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Unit and the 18th Division had a good relationship, an element from it also being attached to the Kawaguchi Detachment in the Philippines.

Again, thanks.

hysteric

[Akira Takizawa]

Kawaguchi Detachment departed from Davao on July 2nd and arrived on Palau on July 5th.

Taki

[fontessa]

Thanks Taki!

fontessa

[hysteric]

Kawaguchi Detachment departed from Davao on July 2nd and arrived on Palau on July 5th.

Taki

Thanks so much Taki! It's great to have dates for this leg of the voyage, I'm greatful!

hysteric

[hysteric]

Timeline for the Kawaguchi Detachment from its formation to its effective end (in a nutshell). You never know, it may prove useful someone. Thanks to fontessa and Taki for their information.

1. November 20, 1941: Kawaguchi Detachment’s primary units, about 3,500 troops, were drawn from the 18th Division in Canton.
2. December 5th to 16th 1941: Corps assembled in Camranh Bay, French Indochina for the invasion of Borneo under the 25th Army.
3. December 22, 1941: Invasion of Borneo:
4. March 10, 1942: Kawaguchi Detachment placed into the 14th Army’s order of battle.
5. March 24, 1942: Left Borneo for the Philippines.
6. April 1, 1942: Landed in Lingayan Bay, the Philippines.
7. April 5, 1942: Left Lingayan for Cebu,
8. April 10, 1942: Landed on Cebu, occupied it by the 19th.
9. April 26, 1942: Left Cebu for Mindanao.
10. April 29, 1942: landed near Cotabato, Mindanao.
11. May 10, 1942: U.S. troops on Mindanao surrender.
12. May 18, 1942: Placed into the 17th Army’s order of battle.
13. July 2, 1942: Set sail from Davao for Palau Island.
14. July 5, 1942: Land on Palau.
15. August 16, 1942: Set sail for Truk Island.
16. August 20, 1942: Land on Truk.
17. August 24, 1942: Set sail for Guadalcanal (day of the sea 'Battle for the Eastern Solomons'), 2 infantry battalions continue to Guadalcanal on destroyers, the main body re-routes to Rabaul.
18. August 28, 1942: Main body boards fast transports in Rabaul.
19. August 29, 1942: Arrives off Shortland Island at 2200, the Amphibious Unit (1st Battalion, 124th Infantry regiment) stay, the rest of the troops land near Taivu Point, Guadalcanal. The remnants of Ichiki’s men (Kuma Battalion) come under its control.
20. August 31, 1942: Amphibious Unit (A.U.) leave Shortland Island.
21. September 1, 1942: A.U. arrives off Long Island to secretly sail to Guadalcanal in small boats.
22. September 7, 1942: A.U. makes contact with the Brigade.
23. September 11, 1942: A.U. arrives on the left bank of the Matanikau River.
24. September 12 – 13, 1942: Battle of Edson’s Ridge.
25. October 14, 1942: Remnants of the Kawaguchi and Aoba Detachments placed under the 2nd Division's command and reorganized.
26. October 23, 1942: Effective end date for the Kawaguchi Detachment.
The Major General, in command of the right wing of the 2nd Division’s attack on Henderson Field, is relieved of his command for insubordination while arguing for changes to the plan for his assault.
27. November 5, 1942: At 2240, Major General Kawaguchi and 348 others evacuate Guadalcanal aboard the Navy’s Ko Detachment (10 destroyers).
28. February 5, 1943: The remnants of the former Kawaguchi Detachment evacuate Guadalcanal, 3 days before the last of the Japanese troops do so.

hysteric

[rjl3]

Does anyone know what ships were used to transport the detachment from Davao to Palau and Truk? I have pretty good data for the Ichiki Detachment but not for the Kawaguchi Detachment.

Thanks,
Ralph