Commanders in IJA Divisions in Malaya campaign.

[marek O.]

Hello gentlemen.
I'm looking for names of some officers from 25th Army in Malaya. I got few of them, but not all, and I'm not sure of all of them. Here is my list:
Imperial Guards Division - co lt. gen. Nishimura Takuma, cos col. Imai Kamejiro ;
Infantry Group - mjr. gen. Kobayashi Takashi ;
3rd Regiment IGD - col. Yoshida Masaru ; [other source - col. Ikunuma Yoshiro]
1st Baon - ?
2nd Baon - ?
3rd Baon - lt.col. Nakajima Masakiyo
4th Regiment IGD - col. Kunishi Kentaro
1st Baon - lt.col. Oka Haruo
2nd Baon - mjr. Ito Mitsuharu
3rd Baon - lt.col. Yoshida Masaru
5th Regiment IGD - col. Iwakuro Takeo
1st Baon - mjr. Yamamoto Hayato
2nd Baon - lt.col. Kojima Yoshinori
3rd Baon - mjr. Ogaki Shoichi
Field Artillery Regiment IGD - col. Nomura Yasuo
Engineer Regiment IGD - ?
Transport Regiment IGD - col. Obata Nobuyoshi
Recon Regiment IGD - col. Kuwata Teizo
Communication Unit IGD - ?
Technical Unit IGD - mjr. Morioka Eisaku
Medical Unit IGD - ?
1st Field Hospital IGD - ?
2nd Field Hospital IGD - ?
I have also one name - col. Shiihashi Kanji, maybe he was commanding some Divisional unit, but he may have been staff officer of IGD.
5th ID - co lt. gen. Matsui Takuro, cos col. Kawagoe Shigesada
9th IB - mjr. gen. Kawamura Saburo
11th IR - col. Watanabe Tsunahiko
41st IR - col. Okabe Kanichi
21st IB - mjr. gen. Sugiura Eikichi
21st IR - col. Harada Noriyoshi
42nd IR - col. Ando Tadao
5th FAR - col. Nakahira Mineyoshi
5th ER - col. Tamura Y. ?
5th TrR - lt.col. Ueki Takashi
5th Recon Regiment - col. Saeki Shizuo
Communication Unit of 5thID - cpt. Koto Yoshio
Medical Unit of 5thID - ?
Technical Unit of 5th ID - ?
2nd Department of Water Purification of 5th ID - ?
1st Field Hospital of 5th ID - ?
2nd Field Hospital - ?
18th ID - lt. gen. Mutaguchi Renya, cos col. Takeda Hisashi
23rd IB - mjr. gen. Takumi Hiroshi
55th IR -col. Koba Hiroshi
56th IR - col. Nasu Yoshio
35th IB - mjr. gen. Kawaguchi Kiyotake
114th IR - col. Kohisa Hitashi
18th MAR - lt. col. Takasu Katsutoshi
12th ER - lt. col. Fujii Ichie
12th TrR - ?
22nd Cavalry Battalion -
Communication Unit of 18th ID - ?
Medical Unit of 18th ID - ?
Technical Unit of 18th ID - ?
Sick Horses Depot of 18th ID - ?
2nd Field Hospital of 18th ID - ?
3rd Field Hospital - ?
4th Field Hospital - ?
56th ID - lt. gen. Matsuyama Yuzo, cos col. Fujiwara Takeshi,
113th IR - col. Matsui Hideji
148th IR - ?
56th FAR - ?
56th ER - ?
56th TrR - ?
56th Recon Regiment - ?
Communication Unit of 56th ID - ?
Technical Unit of 56th ID - ?
Sick Horses Depot of 56th ID - ?
2nd Field Hospital of 18th ID - ?
3rd Field Hospital - ?
As always: check my list, add somebody's name, if You can, correct my mistakes. Somehow 25th Army in Malaya is not a most popular topic. I had to compose my list from many different sources. They mostly confirmed each other, not always thou. But they were always very scetchy.
Regards,
Marek

[Akira Takizawa]

> 3rd Regiment IGD - col. Yoshida Masaru ; [other source - col. Ikunuma Yoshiro]
He is 生沼吉郎. His name is read as Oinuma, not Ikunuma.

I cannot check the rest of such a long list. Here is a list of commanders. See from frame 334.

http://www.nids.mod.go.jp/military_hist ... ?kanno=001

Taki

[Fatboy Coxy]

Thank you for posting this Marek
"Somehow 25th Army in Malaya is not a most popular topic" is quite the understatement!

Perhaps because British and Australians posters are less likely to be interested in such an overwhelming failure on the part of their respective historical
armed forces, the Americans and the rest of the world only have eyes on their own clashes, few Japanese engage partly because this is an English speaking based forum, and in general, perhaps because it was all over so quick, however I do find the campaign fascinating and your OOB was greatly appreciated.

And also thanks for Akira for his contribution.

So, OK, I can add a little, but firstly I think you have the commander of the Japanese 56th Division wrong, Lt Gen Matsuyama Yuzo was the CO from 1st December 1942, Lt Gen Watanabe Masao commanded from its formation, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masao_Watanabe and https://www.generals.dk/general/Watanab ... pan/1.html

My little input is

5th Division, 9th Infantry Group, Adjutant - Lt-Col Shigeru Hirano
5th Division, 21st Infantry Group, Adjutant - Lt-Col Fumio Sometani

Kind Regards
Fatboy Coxy

[marek O.]

Hello gentlemen,
Thank You both very much. Sorry Taki, it took me so long. I used the link, and I filled some gaps in my list. Thank You.
I have a one additional question. Not exactly about topis of co in Malaya, but connected to planning Malaya operation. About Unit 82.
Col. Hayashi was co. I know that. But in Wikipedia I found info about vice cos of Unit 82 - lt.col. Cho Isamu. Really? It was around 30 men. In Polish Armed Forces in WW2 "staff" shows up on the level of Battalion, not before. It must be a mistake. Or not and there was also a chief of staff. And there is my question. Who was it? If there were such a position?
Regards,
Marek

[Akira Takizawa]

> But in Wikipedia I found info about vice cos of Unit 82 - lt.col. Cho Isamu. Really?

No, it is a mistake. Cho did not participate in Unit 82.

> Who was it? If there were such a position?

Hayashi was in such a position. The nominal top of Unit 82 was Major General Uemura, the chief of staff of Taiwan Army.

Taki

[marek O.]

Dear Taki,

Thank You very much.
Regards,
Marek