Japanese Unit Identification

[MahiMahi]

I also posted this in Models as I'm not sure which would be more appropriate.

Hey guys, brand new user here for a first time question. How did the Japanese Army identify subordinate units? For instance what would be the Japanese designation/abbreviation for a notional Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division?

I was given a link to the 1944 edition of TM-E 30-480, Handbook Japanese Military Forces and Chapter XII, §1(2)(b-d)http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/I ... 12.html#II which kind of answer that question, but at the same time implies a Japanese officer would have to mix between Kanji, Arabic, and Roman numerals in addition to using the English alphabet for abbreviations, and that just doesn't seem correct given the pervasive xenophobia.

b. Military abbreviations. (1) English letters,both capital and small, normally are used in military abbreviations.

(2) The basic army abbreviations appear in most cases to be derived from German words and, in the case of most recent additions, romanized forms of Japanese words. For example: BA (Bergartillerie), mountain artillery; SeE (Sempaku eiseitai hombu), shipping medical unit headquarters. (3) Naval abbreviations are derived largely from English words and less frequently from romanized forms of Japanese words. For example: BC, battle-cruiser; cdg, combined destroyer group; AtB (Attached "butai"), attached force.

c. Numbers. The numbers of units and weapons are shown by placing the appropriate figure, either Arabic or Japanese, with necessary additions, in parentheses after the particular sign or abbreviation. For example (2), two airplanes; A () three battalions of field artillery (the two characters in the parentheses are, respectively, "three" and the first character of the Japanese word for "battalion").

d. Identification. (1) When it is necessary to distinguish between enemy and friendly forces, the Japanese show signs for the former in red, for the latter in blue.

(2) In indicating the organizational numbers of units, Arabic numerals usually are used for all units except battalions, for which Roman numerals are used. The number of the lower unit precedes that of the higher organization of which it isi a part, the two being separated by a slanting line. For example: 18 P, the 18th Engineers; III/2i, 3d Battalion of the 2d Infantry Regiment. II St/1A, 2d Battalion Ammunition Train of the 1st Field Artillery Regiment.

(3) Platoons and sections usually are shown as fractions of a company. For example: 1/42/1P, 1 platoon of the 2d Company of the 1st Engineer Regiment; 1/162/5i, 1 section of the 2d Company of the 5th Infantry Regiment.

(4) Missing units of an organization are indicated by numerals, preceded by a minus sign, in parentheses. Units attached to an organization are shown similarly with a plus instead of a minus sign. For example: 2ii(-7.8), 2d Infantry Regiment less the 7th and 8th Companies; 1(+iP)/2i, 1st Company, plus a labor unit, of the 2d Infantry Regiment.

[hysteric]

Hello Mahimahi,

The abbreviations you quote are part of a notational map language the Japanese Army developed. Soldiers made maps and wrote in diaries identifying units with this shorthand.

You are confusing it with rikugun - army, shidan - division, rentai - regiment, daitai - battalion, chutai - company, etc. There is also another way to refer to units called Tsushogo, unit code names and numbers (search this forum for an explanation).

Hope that helps.

hysteric

[wdgysin]

MahiMahi;
The Japanese did indeed use arabic numerals sometimes mixed with Japanese unit designations. Most units had abbreviations that were
based in arabic numerals and sometime used on maps; these are not to be confused with tactical symbols which were a different category. Some
of the abbreviations were: Division - D, Brigade - B, Regiment - R, Battalion - b, company - c. These correspond to the Romanji (which is basically
telling English speakers how to pronounce the Japanese) Regiment -R - Rentai, Company - c - chutai. Some do not correspond such as Division - D - Shidan, Brigade - B - Ryodan, Battalion - b - Daitai. The 3rd Division for example is 3D. Most tactical symbols and military abbreviations are shown in Chapter XII, Conventional Signs and Abbreviations in TM-E - 30- 480. If you look at original documents in the JACAR (Japanese Center for Asian Historical Records) website, most units in official documents were designated with Japanese numbers, ie: 1 - 一, 2 - 二, 3 - 三, etc... Yet on many maps you will see the above military abbreviations. I can only surmise (since I don't read Japanese) that the mixing of Arabic and Japanese numbers and designations may be because the Japanese military was trained by western armies. This is just my best guess.
Japanese companies were designated by numbers not letters as in western armies. Thus the 1st Company was designated 第一中隊. Dai ichi chutai (romanji pronunciation). Battalions were designated by roman numerals (unless independent, which had numbers).
The Tsushogo, which Hysteric mentions, were assigned to brigade level and above units as a code name for the unit and also used for postal routing. They were in two parts, a kanji character (sometimes two), which was the code word for the division, and a number designating the total formation or a unit within the formation. The 3rd Division's was 幸 (Kō/Fortune) 3700 which was used for the division as a whole.

[Akira Takizawa]

> I can only surmise (since I don't read Japanese) that the mixing of Arabic and Japanese numbers and designations may be because the Japanese military was trained by western armies. This is just my best guess.

Arabic number was generally used in Japan. For example, numbers in science and mathematics were written in Arabic.

P.S.
Arabic number was introduced in Meiji era. In 1872, Japanese Government decided to teach arithmetic by using Arabic number at school. Through school education, Arabic number became popular in Japan.

Taki

[wdgysin]

Thanks for the insight Taki.