Eastern District Army (Japan)

The Eastern District Army (東部軍, Tōbugun) was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army responsible for the defense of the Kantō region and northern Honshū during the Pacific War. It was one of the regional commands in the Japanese home islands reporting to the General Defense Command.

Eastern District Army
ActiveNovember 16, 1923 - November 30, 1945
CountryEmpire of Japan
BranchImperial Japanese Army
TypeInfantry
RoleField Army
EngagementsOperation Downfall

History

The Eastern District Army was established on 16 November 1923 in the aftermath of the Great Kantō earthquake as the Tokyo Defense Headquarters (東京警備司令部, Tokyo Keibi Shireibu). It was essentially a home guard and garrison, responsible for recruitment and civil defense training to ensure the security of Tokyo, Yokohama, and the surrounding areas.

On 1 August 1935, the Tokyo Defense Headquarters was renamed the Eastern Defense Command. On 1 August 1940, it was renamed again as the Eastern Army, which became the Eastern District Army on 1 February 1945.

The Eastern District Army existed concurrently with the Japanese 12th Area Army, which was tasked with organizing the final defenses of Tokyo against the expected American invasion of the Japanese home islands.

The Eastern District Army played an especially significant role in combating the 15 August 1945 attempted coup d'etat of Major Kenji Hatanaka, who sought to prevent the Emperor's announcement of Japan's surrender from being broadcast. At the time, the commander of the Eastern District Army was Lieutenant General Shizuichi Tanaka.

Support of the Eastern District Army was essential to Hatanaka's plan to take over the Imperial Palace, and so Hatanaka exhorted General Tanaka to aid him. Tanaka refused, and later told his men to ignore Strategic Order 584, forged by Hatanaka and ordering the Eastern District Army to seize and defend the Imperial Palace; in short, to aid in the coup. Rather than send in his men to defeat the rebels by force, Tanaka traveled to the Imperial Palace and spoke to Hatanaka and the other rebel leaders personally, haranguing them, and putting an end to the rebellion.

The Eastern District Army remained active for several months after the surrender of Japan to help maintain public order until the arrival of the American occupation forces, and to oversee the final demobilization and dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Army.

Commanders

Commanding officer
NameFromTo
1General Hanzo Yamanashi16 November 192320 August 1924
2General Shinnosuke Kikuchi20 August 19242 March 1926
3Field Marshal Nobuyoshi Muto2 March 192628 July 1926
4General Nen Isomura28 July 192610 August 1928
5General Shikitaro Kishimoto10 August 19281 August 1929
6Lieutenant General Naotoshi Hasegawa1 August 192922 December 1930
7Lieutenant General Yasakichi Hayashi22 December 193029 February 1932
8Lieutenant General Kiyoshi Kihara29 February 193218 March 1933
9Lieutenant General Noriyuki Hayashi18 March 19335 March 1934
10General Giichi Nishi5 March 19342 December 1935
11Lieutenant General Kohei Kashii2 December 19352 April 1936
12Lieutenant General Koichi Iwakoshi2 April 19362 August 1937
13General Kotaro Nakamura2 August 193723 June 1938
14Lieutenant General Bunzaburo Kawagishi23 June 19381 December 1939
15Lieutenant General Shiro Inaba1 December 193915 October 1941
16General Shizuichi Tanaka15 October 194124 December 1941
17General Kotaro Nakamura24 December 19411 May 1943
18General Kenji Doihara1 May 194322 March 1944
19General Keisuke Fujie22 March 19449 March 1945
20General Shizuichi Tanaka9 March 194522 August 1945
21General Kenji Doihara22 August 194523 September 1945
22General Kenzo Kitano23 September 194530 November 1945

Chief of Staff
NameFromTo
1Lieutenant General Shinji Hata17 November 19232 March 1926
2Lieutenant General Yataka Nakaoka2 March 192620 May 1928
3Lieutenant General Okiie Usami30 May 19281 August 1929
4Lieutenant General Toranosuke Hashimoto1 August 19291 August 1931
5Major General Shozo Shima1 August 193118 March 1933
6Lieutenant General Kamezo Odaka18 March 19331 August 1935
7Lieutenant General Touji Yasui1 August 19352 August 1937
8General Teiichi Yoshimoto2 August 193720 June 1938
9Lieutenant General Ryotaro Nakai15 July 19389 March 1939
10Lieutenant General Takuma Nishimura9 March 19395 September 1940
11Lieutenant General Haruki Isayama5 September 194028 June 1941
12Major General Suguru Kitajima28 June 194129 September 1942
13Lieutenant General Eiichi Tatsumi30 September 19421 March 1945
14Major General Tatsuhiko Takashima1 March 194530 November 1945

See also

Further reading
  • Brooks, Lester (1968). Behind Japan's Surrender: The Secret Struggle That Ended an Empire. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
  • Drea, Edward J. (1998). "Japanese Preparations for the Defense of the Homeland & Intelligence Forecasting for the Invasion of Japan". In the Service of the Emperor: Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-1708-0.
  • Frank, Richard B (1999). Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-41424-X.
  • Jowett, Bernard (1999). The Japanese Army 1931-45 (Volume 2, 1942-45). Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-354-3.
  • Madej, Victor (1981). Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. Game Publishing Company. ASIN: B000L4CYWW.
  • Marston, Daniel (2005). The Pacific War Companion: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-882-0.
  • Skates, John Ray (1994). The Invasion of Japan: Alternative to the Bomb Downfall. New York: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0-87249-972-3.
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