The Kwantung Army (
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
: 関東軍, ''Kantō-gun'') was a
general army of the
Imperial Japanese Army
The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...
from 1919 to 1945.
The Kwantung Army was formed in 1906 as a security force for the
Kwantung Leased Territory
The Kwantung Leased Territory () was a Concessions in China, leased territory of the Empire of Japan in the Liaodong Peninsula from 1905 to 1945.
Japan first acquired Kwantung from the Qing dynasty, Qing Empire in perpetuity in 1895 in the Tre ...
and
South Manchurian Railway Zone
The South Manchuria Railway Zone (; ) or SMR Zone, was the area of Japanese extraterritorial rights in northeast China, in connection with the operation of the South Manchurian Railway.
History
Following the Japanese victory in 1905 over I ...
after the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...
of 1904–1905 and expanded into an army group during the
Interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
to support Japanese interests in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
,
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
, and
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
. The Kwantung Army became the most prestigious command in the Imperial Japanese Army, and many of its personnel won promotions to high positions in the Japanese military and civil government, including
Hideki Tōjō
was a Japanese general and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1941 to 1944 during the Second World War. His leadership was marked by widespread state violence and mass killings perpetrated in the name of Japanese nationalis ...
and
Seishirō Itagaki
was a Japanese military officer and politician who served as a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and War Minister from 1938 to 1939.
He was a disciple of Kanji Ishiwara and his ideas were strongly influenced by his apo ...
. The Kwantung Army was largely responsible for the establishment of the
Japanese puppet-state of
Manchukuo
Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...
in Manchuria and functioned as one of the main Japanese fighting forces during the 1937–1945
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
from 1937.
In August 1945
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
troops engaged the Kwantung Army during the
Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation
The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation or simply the Manchurian Operation () and sometimes Operation August Storm, began on 9 August 1945 with the Soviet invasion of the Empire of Japan's ...
. The Kwantung Army surrendered to the Soviets on 16 August 1945 – the day after the
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was Hirohito surrender broadcast, announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signed on 2 September 1945, End of World War II in Asia, ending ...
– and was subsequently dissolved.
The Kwantung Army perpetrated several
war crimes
A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, sponsoring
Unit 731
, short for Manchu Detachment 731 and also known as the Kamo Detachment and the Ishii Unit, was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in lethal human experimentat ...
, which both carried out acts of
biological warfare
Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or Pathogen, infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and Fungus, fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an ...
and performed
unethical human experimentation
Unethical human experimentation is human experimentation that violates the principles of medical ethics. Such practices have included denying patients the right to informed consent, using pseudoscientific frameworks such as race science, and tort ...
on civilians and Allied
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
.
History
Formation

In 1895,
Qing China
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty ...
granted the
Kwantung Leased Territory
The Kwantung Leased Territory () was a Concessions in China, leased territory of the Empire of Japan in the Liaodong Peninsula from 1905 to 1945.
Japan first acquired Kwantung from the Qing dynasty, Qing Empire in perpetuity in 1895 in the Tre ...
, a valuable
concession territory on the
Liaodong Peninsula
The Liaodong or Liaotung Peninsula ( zh, s=辽东半岛, t=遼東半島, p=Liáodōng Bàndǎo) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located ...
, to the
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...
in the
Treaty of Shimonoseki
The , also known as the Treaty of Maguan () in China or the in Japan, was signed at the hotel in Shimonoseki, Japan, on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing China. It was a treaty that ended the First Sino-Japanese War, ...
after their victory in the
First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...
. The term "Kwantung" () means "east of
Shanhaiguan
The Shanhai Pass () is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coasta ...
", a guarded pass west of
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
, which was rendered in
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
as "''Kantō''". The
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
had a particular interest in Kwantung, being one of the few areas in the region with the potential to develop
ice-free ports for its expansion in the
Far East
The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...
, and Qing authorities withdrew the lease from the Japanese following the
Triple Intervention
The Triple Intervention or was a diplomatic intervention by Russia, Germany, and France on 23 April 1895 over the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, imposed by Japan on Qing China at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War. The treaty, signed on ...
, only weeks after it had been granted. Kwantung was leased to Russia in 1898, becoming
Russian Dalian
Russian Dalian, also known as Kvantunskaya Oblast, was a leased territory ruled by the Russian Empire that existed between its establishment after the Pavlov Agreement in 1898 and its annexation by the Empire of Japan after the Russo-Japanese W ...
(Дальний) and developing the territory into a thriving trade port. The
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...
was fought between Russia and Japan from 1904 to 1905 over their rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and
Korea
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
. Japanese victory led to the Qing returning the lease of Russian Dalian (re-establishing the Kwantung Leased Territory) and Japan gaining influence in the areas adjacent to the
South Manchurian Railway
The South Manchuria Railway (; ), officially , Mantetsu () or Mantie () for short, was a large of the Empire of Japan whose primary function was the operation of railways on the Dalian– Fengtian (Mukden)–Changchun (called Xinjing from ...
.
The Kwantung Garrison was established in 1906 to defend this territory and originally was composed of an
infantry division
A division is a large military unit or Formation (military), formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically mak ...
and a heavy siege artillery battalion, supplemented with six independent garrison battalions as railway guards deployed along the
South Manchurian Railway Zone
The South Manchuria Railway Zone (; ) or SMR Zone, was the area of Japanese extraterritorial rights in northeast China, in connection with the operation of the South Manchurian Railway.
History
Following the Japanese victory in 1905 over I ...
, for a total troop strength of 14,000 men. It was headquartered in
Port Arthur (known as ''Ryojun'' in Japanese) and was administered as a department by the Kwantung Government-general, and the governor-general served concurrently as its commander. In 1919 the Kwantung Government general was replaced by separate civilian and military administration, the Kwantung Agency for Civilian Operations, and the Kwantung Army command.
In the highly politicized
Imperial Japanese Army
The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...
of the 1920s and 1930s, the Kwantung Army was a stronghold of the radical "
Imperial Way Faction
The ''Kōdōha'' or was a political faction in the Imperial Japanese Army active in the 1920s and 1930s. The ''Kōdōha'' sought to establish a military government that promoted totalitarian, militaristic and aggressive imperialist ideals, an ...
" (''Kōdōha''), and many of its senior leaders overtly advocated political change in Japan through the violent overthrow of the civilian government to bring about a
Shōwa Restoration
The was promoted by Japanese author Ikki Kita in the 1930s, with the goal of restoring power to the newly enthroned Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) and abolishing the liberal Taishō Democracy. The aims of the "Shōwa Restoration" were similar to t ...
, with a reorganization of society and the economy along
state fascist lines. They also advocated a more aggressive, expansionist foreign policy regarding the Asian mainland. Members or former members of the Kwantung Army were active in numerous coup attempts against the civilian government, culminating with the
February 26 Incident of 1936, where the ''Kōdōha'' faction was dissolved.
Independent actions
Although the Kwantung Army was nominally subordinate to the
Imperial General Headquarters
The was part of the Supreme War Council (Japan), Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was approximately equi ...
and the senior staff at the
Army General Staff
An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by p ...
located in
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, its leadership often acted in direct violation of the orders from mainland Japan without suffering any consequence. Conspirators within the
junior officer
Junior officer, company officer or company grade officer refers to the lowest operational commissioned officer category of ranks in a military or paramilitary organization, ranking above non-commissioned officers and below senior officers.
D ...
corps of the Kwantung Army plotted and carried out the
assassination
Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives.
Assassinations are orde ...
of Manchurian warlord
Zhang Zuolin
Zhang Zuolin; courtesy name Yuting ( zh, c=雨亭, p=Yǔtíng, labels=no) and nicknamed Zhang Laogang ( zh, c=張老疙瘩, p=Zhāng Lǎo Gēda, labels=no) (March 19, 1875June 4, 1928) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 ...
in the
Huanggutun Incident of 1928. Afterward, the Kwantung Army leadership engineered the
Mukden Incident and the subsequent
invasion of Manchuria in 1931, in a massive act of insubordination (
''gekokujo'') against the express orders of the political and military leadership based in Tokyo.
Presented with the ''
fait accompli
Many words in the English vocabulary are of French language, French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman conquest of England, Norman ...
'', Imperial General Headquarters had little choice but to follow up on the actions of the Kwantung Army with reinforcements in the subsequent
Pacification of Manchukuo
The Pacification of Manchukuo was a Japanese counterinsurgency campaign to suppress any armed resistance to the newly established puppet state of Manchukuo from various anti-Japanese volunteer armies in occupied Manchuria and later the Co ...
. The success of the campaign meant that the insubordination of the Kwantung Army was rewarded rather than punished. In 1932, the Kwantung Army was the main force responsible for the foundation of
Manchukuo
Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...
, the
puppet state
A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its ord ...
of Japan located in
Northeast China
Northeast China () is a geographical region of China, consisting officially of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over . The regi ...
and
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...
. The Kwantung Army played a controlling role in the political administration of the new state as well as in its defense. With the Kwantung Army, administering all aspects of the politics and economic development of the new state, this made the Kwantung Army's commanding officer equivalent to a
Governor-General
Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...
with the authority to approve or countermand any command from
Puyi
Puyi (7 February 190617 October 1967) was the final emperor of China, reigning as the eleventh monarch of the Qing dynasty from 1908 to 1912. When the Guangxu Emperor died without an heir, Empress Dowager Cixi picked his nephew Puyi, aged tw ...
, the nominal
Emperor of Manchukuo
Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...
. As a testament to the Kwantung Army's control over the government of Manchukuo, the Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army also served as the Japanese Ambassador of Manchukuo.
Second World War
After the campaign to secure Manchukuo, the Kwantung Army continued to fight in numerous border skirmishes with China as part of its
efforts to create a Japanese-dominated buffer zone in
Northern China
Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture.
Extent
The Qinling, Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone ...
. The Kwantung Army also fought in
Operation Nekka
The defense of the Great Wall ( zh, t=長城抗戰, s=长城抗战, p=Chángchéng Kàngzhàn) (January 1 – May 31, 1933) was a battle, campaign between the armies of Nationalist government, Republic of China and Empire of Japan, which took pla ...
during the preceding phase of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and various
actions in Inner Mongolia to extend Japanese domination over portions of northern China and Inner Mongolia. When full-scale war broke out in the
Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937, its forces participated in the
Battle of Beiping-Tianjin
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
and
Operation Chahar
Operation Chahar (), known in Chinese as the Nankou Campaign (), occurred in August 1937, following the Battle of Beiping-Tianjin at the beginning of Second Sino-Japanese War.
This was the second attack by the Kwantung Army and the Inner Mongo ...
. Later, Kwantung forces supported the war in China from time to time.
However, by the late 1930s, the Kwantung Army's vaunted reputation was severely challenged during the
Soviet–Japanese border conflicts
The Soviet–Japanese border conflicts were a series of minor and major conflicts fought between the Soviet Union (led by Stalin, Joseph Stalin), Mongolian People's Republic, Mongolia (led by Khorloogiin Choibalsan) and Empire of Japan, Japan ...
that Japan had fought against the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
in northern Manchukuo since 1932. The Japanese force stalemated with the Soviet Union's
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
in the
Battle of Lake Khasan
The Battle of Lake Khasan (), also known as the Changkufeng Incident (Chinese and Japanese: zh, s=張鼓峰事件, labels=no; Chinese pinyin: zh, hp=Zhānggǔfēng Shìjiàn, labels=no; Japanese romaji: ), was an attempted military incursion b ...
in 1938, and lost the decisive
Battle of Nomonhan in 1939, during which time it sustained heavy casualties. After the "Nomonhan incident", the Kwantung Army was purged of its more insubordinate elements, as well as proponents of the ''
Hokushin-ron
was a political doctrine of the Empire of Japan before World War II that stated that Manchuria and Siberia were Japan's sphere of interest and that the potential value to Japan for economic and territorial expansionism, expansion in those areas ...
'' ("Northward Advance") doctrine who urged that Japan concentrate its expansionist efforts on
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
rather southward towards China and
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
.
The Kwantung Army was heavily augmented over the next few years, up to a strength of 700,000 troops by 1941, and its headquarters was transferred to the new Manchukuo capital of
Xinjing. The Kwantung Army also oversaw the creation, training, and equipping of an auxiliary force, the
Manchukuo Imperial Army
The Manchukuo Imperial Army ( zh, s=滿洲國軍, p=Mǎnzhōuguó jūn) was the army of Manchukuo, a puppet state established by the Empire of Japan in Manchuria. Established in 1932, it was primarily involved in counterinsurgency operations agai ...
. During this time, Prince
Tsuneyoshi Takeda
was the second and last heir of the Takeda-no-miya ōke, collateral branch of the Imperial Household of Japan, Japanese Imperial Family.
Biography Early life
Prince Takeda Tsuneyoshi was the only son of Prince Takeda Tsunehisa and Princess ...
worked as a liaison officer between the
Imperial House and the Kwantung Army. Although a source of constant unrest during the 1930s, the Kwantung Army remained remarkably obedient during the 1940s. As combat spread south into
Central China
Central China () is a List of regions of China, region in China. It mainly includes the provinces of China, provinces of Henan, Hubei and Hunan. Jiangxi is sometimes also regarded to be part of this region. Central China is now officially par ...
and
Southern China
Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture.
Extent
The Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone between ...
in the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
, and with the outbreak of the
Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...
, Manchukuo was largely a backwater to the conflict. However, as the war situation began to deteriorate for the Imperial Japanese Army on all fronts, the large, well-trained, and well-equipped Kwantung Army could no longer be held in
strategic reserve
A strategic reserve is the reserve of a commodity or items that is held back from normal use by governments, organisations, or businesses in pursuance of a particular strategy or to cope with unexpected events.
There are several national and inte ...
. Many of its front-line units were systematically stripped of their best units and equipment, which were sent south to fight in the Pacific War against the forces of the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in the
Pacific Islands
The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...
or the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. Other units were sent south into China for
Operation Ichi-Go
Operation Ichi-Go () was a campaign of a series of major battles between the Imperial Japanese Army forces and the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China, fought from April to December 1944. It consisted of three separate battles in ...
.
File:The Kwantung Army in Mongolia 1939.png, Kwantung Army in Mongolia during the Battle of Khalkhyn Gol, July 1939
File:Hokushin-ron-Map.svg, Map of Japanese ''Hokushin-ron'' plans for a potential attack on the Soviet Union. Dates indicate the year that Japan gained control of the territory.
Surrender of the Kwantung Army

By 1945, the Kwantung Army consisted of 713,000 personnel, divided into 31 infantry divisions, nine infantry brigades, two tank brigades, and one special purpose brigade. It possessed 1,155 light tanks, 5,360 guns, and 1,800 aircraft. The quality of troops had fallen drastically, as all the best men and materiel were siphoned off for use in other theaters. These forces were replaced by militia, draft levies, reservists, and cannibalized smaller units, all equipped with woefully outdated equipment. The Kwantung Army was also equipped with bacteriological weapons, prepared for use against Soviet troops (see
Unit 731
, short for Manchu Detachment 731 and also known as the Kamo Detachment and the Ishii Unit, was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in lethal human experimentat ...
). The bulk of military equipment (artillery, tanks, aircraft) was developed in the 1930s, and very few of the soldiers had sufficient training or any real experience.
The Kwantung Army was outclassed and swiftly defeated in the
Soviet invasion of Manchuria
The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation or simply the Manchurian Operation () and sometimes Operation August Storm, began on 9 August 1945 with the Soviet Union, Soviet invasion of the Emp ...
which began on 9 August 1945.
The final commanding officer of the Kwantung Army, General
Otozō Yamada
was a career officer, convicted war criminal and general in the Imperial Japanese Army, serving from the Russo-Japanese War to the end of World War II.
Biography Early career
Yamada was born in Nagano Prefecture as the third son of Ichikawa Kat ...
, ordered a surrender on August 16, 1945, one day after Emperor Hirohito announced the
surrender of Japan
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was Hirohito surrender broadcast, announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signed on 2 September 1945, End of World War II in Asia, ending ...
in a radio announcement. Some Japanese divisions refused to surrender, and combat continued for the next few days.
Marshal Hata received the "ultimatum to surrender" from Soviet General
Georgii Shelakhov in
Harbin
Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...
on August 18, 1945.
He was one of the senior generals who agreed with the decision to surrender, and on August 19, 1945, Hata met with Marshal
Aleksandr Vasilevsky
Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky ( 1895 – 5 December 1977) was a Soviet general who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, he served as the Chief of the General ...
, but asked that he be stripped of his rank of Field Marshal in atonement for the Army's failures in the war.
The remnants of the Kwantung Army were either dead or on their way to Soviet
prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...
s. Over 500,000
Japanese prisoners of war
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
were sent to work in Soviet
labor camp
A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...
s in Siberia,
Russian Far East
The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...
, and
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
. They were largely repatriated, in stages, over the next five years, though some continued to be held well into the 1950s.
War crimes and trials
After the surrender of Japan, the Soviet Red Army discovered secret installations for experimenting with and producing
chemical weapons
A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as ...
and
biological
Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...
weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a Biological agent, biological, chemical weapon, chemical, Radiological weapon, radiological, nuclear weapon, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great dam ...
centered around Secret Army Unit 731 and its subsidiaries.
At these locations, the Kwantung Army was also responsible for some of the most infamous
Japanese war crimes
During its imperial era, Empire of Japan, Japan committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity across various Asian-Pacific nations, notably during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Second Sino-Japanese and Pacific Wars. These incidents ...
, including the operation of several human experimentation programs using live Chinese, American, and Russian civilians, and POWs, directed by Dr.
Shirō Ishii
Surgeon General was a Japanese microbiologist and Military medicine, army medical officer, who served as the director of Unit 731, a biological warfare unit of the Imperial Japanese Army. Ishii led the development and application of biological ...
.
Arrested by the
American occupation authorities, Ishii and the 20,000 members of Unit 731 received
immunity from prosecution
Legal immunity, or immunity from prosecution, is a legal status wherein an individual or entity cannot be held liable for a violation of the law, in order to facilitate societal aims that outweigh the value of imposing liability in such cases. S ...
of
war crime
A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
s before the
Tokyo tribunal
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on 29 April 1946 to try leaders of the Empire of Japan for their crimes against peace ...
of 1948, in exchange for germ warfare data based on
human experimentation
Human subject research is systematic, scientific investigation that can be either interventional (a "trial") or observational (no "test article") and involves human beings as research subjects, commonly known as test subjects. Human subject r ...
. On May 6, 1947, General
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...
wrote to Washington that "additional data, possibly some statements from Ishii probably can be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as 'War Crimes' evidence".
[Hal Gold, ''Unit 731 Testimony'', 2003, p. 109] The deal was concluded in 1948. However, twelve members of Unit 731 and some members of the World War II leadership of the Kwantung Army were sentenced as
war criminals
A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostag ...
by the
Khabarovsk War Crime Trials
The Khabarovsk war crimes trials were the Soviet hearings of twelve Japanese Kwantung Army officers and medical staff charged with the manufacture and use of biological weapons, and human experimentation, during World War II. The war crimes tri ...
, while others were taken into custody by the United States, and sentenced at the 1948
International Military Tribunal for the Far East
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on 29 April 1946 to Criminal procedure, try leaders of the Empire of Japan for their cri ...
in Tokyo. Among those sentenced to death were former generals
Seishirō Itagaki
was a Japanese military officer and politician who served as a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and War Minister from 1938 to 1939.
He was a disciple of Kanji Ishiwara and his ideas were strongly influenced by his apo ...
,
Iwane Matsui
was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, the commander of the expeditionary force sent to China in 1937, and convicted war criminal executed by the Allies for his involvement in the Nanjing Massacre.
Born in Nagoya, Matsui chose a military ...
,
Kenji Doihara
was a Japanese general and intelligence officer. He was instrumental in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the establishment of Manchukuo.
Born in Okayama Prefecture, Doihara became an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army and was involved ...
,
Hideki Tōjō
was a Japanese general and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1941 to 1944 during the Second World War. His leadership was marked by widespread state violence and mass killings perpetrated in the name of Japanese nationalis ...
, and
Akira Mutō
was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. He was convicted of war crimes and was executed by hanging. Mutō was implicated in both the Nanjing Massacre and the Manila massacre.
Biography
Mutō was a native of Hakusui, K ...
.
List of commanders
Kwantung Army
Commanding officer
Chief of Staff
See also
*
Armies of the Imperial Japanese Army
was a term in the Imperial Japanese Army used in different ways to designate a variety of large military formations that corresponded to the army group, field army, and corps in the militaries of Western nations.
General Armies
The was the hi ...
*
Japanese settlers in Manchuria
The Japanese settlers in Manchuria were the Japanese immigrants who came to Manchuria after the Russo-Japanese War and settled in zones of Japanese interests (mostly in larger cities).
After the Japanese occupation (1931) and establishment of ...
*
Kantokuen
Kantokuen (, from , , "Kwantung Army Special Maneuvers") was an operational plan created by the General Staff of the Imperial Japanese Army for an invasion and occupation of the Russian Far East, capitalizing on the outbreak of the Soviet� ...
– cancelled Japanese invasion of the Soviet Far East
*
Yoshiko Kawashima
, born Aisin Gioro Xianyu, was a Qing dynasty princess of the Aisin-Gioro clan. She was raised in Japan and served as a spy for the Japanese Kwantung Army and Manchukuo during the Second Sino-Japanese War. She is sometimes known in fiction under ...
– Chinese princess turned Japanese spy
*
Military history of Japan
The military history of Japan covers a vast time-period of over three millennia - from the Jōmon ( 1000 BC) to the present day. After a long period of clan warfare until the 12th century, there followed feudal wars that culminated in military ...
*
Organization of the Kwantung Army
*
Zhongma Fortress – site of chemical and biological warfare research
*
Senbu
References
Citations
General and cited sources
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*
*
* Glantz, LTC David M.
"August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria" Leavenworth Papers No. 7, Combat Studies Institute, February 1983,
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
.
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* Young, C. Walter (1931)
''The International Legal Status of the Kwantung Leased Territory''*
External links
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{{Authority control
Army groups of Japan
Armies of Manchukuo
20th century in Manchuria
Kwantung Leased Territory
Military of Manchukuo
Military units and formations of the Imperial Japanese Army
Military units and formations established in 1906
Military units and formations disestablished in 1945
1906 establishments in the Japanese colonial empire
1945 disestablishments in the Japanese colonial empire
Japanese war crimes in China