31. divize [1943-1945]

31st Division


58th Infantry Regiment
124th Infantry Regiment
158th Infantry Regiment
31st Mountain Artillery Regiment (36x 75mm mountain guns)
31st Engineer Regiment
31st Signal Unit
31st Transport Regiment

The 31st Division was formed on 22 March 1943 in Bangkok, from reservists of Fukuoka Prefecture.


The newly formed unit is immediately assigned to the 15th Army.


In 1944, following the launch of Operation U-GO, the 31st Division is ordered to cross the Burma-British India border and engage in the Battle of Imphal.


The Division is tasked to capture Kohima, cut it off from Imphal and then proceed to Dimapur. The commander of the 31st Division, Lt. Gen. Kotoku Sato was not very happy with his role in this operation. The first reason was that he himself was not personally involved in the planning of this operation and as the second reason, he doubted its success.


Sato and Mutaguchi had previously stood on opposite sides, namely in the early 1930s, during the clash between the Toseiha and Kodoha factions within the army.


Sato Sato as well as many other, mainly senior, commanders in Burma considered Mutaguchi stubborn and limited.


On March 5, 1944, the 31st Division crosses the Homalin River near Chindwin and advances northwest over beaten paths and jungle tracks on a front some 100 km wide.


The division's left flank, 58th Regiment, under the command of Maj. Gen. Shigesaburo Miyazaki, clashes with Indian troops of the Indian 50th Airborne Brigade, under Brigadier Hope-Thompson in the north near Imphal on 20 March at Sangshak. The fighting goes on for 6 days, with Miyazaki not having enough artillery. After the 15th Division joins the fight, Hope-Thompson retreats. This clash costs the Japanese 400 men and delays the attack into Kohima by a week.


Miyazaki's troops were in Kohima on 3 April reconnoitering and on 6 April completing preparations for the siege. In the following days the Japanese launched a series of attacks on the north-eastern part of the defences on 8.4. and 9.4. British and Indian troops are forced to retreat to a smaller perimeter, this battle is known as the Battle of the Tennis Court. On the night of 17.4. the situation of the defenders is desperate. But despite this, British artillery carries out artillery shelling of the Japanese positions and this stops the attacks.


In support of the Bristish counter-attack they assemble 38 pieces of 3.7 inch mountain howitzers, 48 pieces of 25 pounder field guns and 2 pieces of 5.5 inch medium guns. The RAF also joined in the action and also began bombing the Japanese positions.


This artillery force could only be opposed by the Japanese with 17 light mountain guns, with a shortage of ammunition.


Subsequently, after a counter-offensive, communication between Dimapur and Kohima is reopened.


The Japanese did not immediately retreat after this defeat, but persisted in their position and peppered the fight for several more weeks.


By the morning of 13.5, most of the Kohima region was once again under British control. Around 15.5 the 31st Division began to retreat under pressure from units of the British 14th Army.


In early July 1944, the command is replaced by Lt. Gen. Sato, after ignoring orders from the command for some time. Around the same time, the entire Imphal offensive is rushed.


The remnants of the 31st Division participated in the fighting against the British throughout Burma, but the 31st Division ceased to exist as a fighting force after the Battle of Kohima as a fighting force.



source
en.wikipedia.org
ja.wikipedia.org

The composition of the division in the final phase of its extinction





Commanders





Infantry Group Commander Maj. Gen. Miyazaki Shigesaburo
Chief of Staff Col. Kuniharu Kato



source
en.wikipedia.org
ja.wikipedia.org