Thirtieth Army (Japan)

Japanese Thirtieth Army
Kwangtung Army HQ in Hsinking, which also housed the IJA 30th Army HQ
Active	July 30, 1945 - August 15, 1945
Country	Empire of Japan
Branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Corps
Garrison/HQ	Hsinking, Manchukuo
Nickname(s)	Hashi (敏, rapid)
Engagements	Soviet invasion of Manchuria

The Japanese 30th Army (第30軍 , Dai-sanjyū gun) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the final days of World War II.

History

The Japanese 30th Army was initially raised on July 30, 1945 in the Manchukuo capital of Hsinking. As the war situation on the Pacific front grew increasingly desperate for Japan, the Imperial Japanese Army transferred more and more experienced divisions out of Manchukuo to other fronts. By early 1945, the vaunted Kwantung Army was largely hollowed out, and indications of a buildup of Soviet Red Army forces on the borders on Mengjiang and Manchukuo were alarming. The Japanese 30th Army was assigned to the Japanese Third Area Army, and based in southern Manchukuo, but it was raised only days before the beginning of the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, and its force of under-armed and untrained raw recruits, reservists and civilian militia were no match for the experienced battle-hardened Soviet armored divisions. After a brief struggle at Hsinking (during which time the remnants of the Manchukuo Imperial Guard also defected to the Soviet side, the Japanese 30th Army surrendered. Most of its survivors became Japanese POWs in the Soviet Union, many of whom died under harsh conditions in Siberia and other parts of the Soviet Union.

List of commanders

	Name	From	To
Commanding Officer	Lieutenant General Shōjirō Iida	30 July 1945	15 August 1945
Chief of Staff	Major General Michio Kato	29 July 1945	15 August 1945

References

• 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. 
• Glantz, David (2003). The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945 (Cass Series on Soviet (Russian) Military Experience, 7). Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5279-2. 

External links

• Wendel, Marcus. "Axis History Factbook". Japanese 30th Army. http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=7681.