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Thirty-First Army (Japan)

Field	Value
unit_name	Japanese Thirty First Army
image	Japanese Prisoners of War at Guam - 15 August 1945.jpg
image_size	250px
caption	Japanese POWs at Guam at time of the surrender of Japan
dates	February 18, 1944 - August 15, 1945
country	Empire of Japan
branch	Imperial Japanese Army
type	Infantry
role	Corps
garrison	Truk
battles	Operation Hailstone
Battle of Saipan
Battle of Guam

Battle of Saipan Battle of Guam

Southern Marianas Force

29th division
IJA 48th Independent Infantry Brigade Northern Marianas Force
43rd division
IJA 47th Independent Infantry Brigade
9th armored regiment of 1st tank division Truk Garrison Force
52nd division
IJA 50th Independent Infantry Brigade
IJA 51st Independent Infantry Brigade
IJA 52nd Independent Infantry Brigade

The Japanese 31st Army was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

History

The Japanese 31st Army was formed on February 18, 1944 under the Imperial General Headquarters as a garrison force to contest landings by Allied forces in the Japanese South Seas Mandate island-by-island, and to inflict such losses in a war of attrition that it would deter an American invasion of the Japanese home islands. The South Seas Mandate was divided into three sections (Northern Mariana Islands, southern Mariana Islands, and Truk). The 80,000 man Japanese 31st Army was initially headquartered on Truk.

After Operation Hailstone, the Japanese garrison on Truk was isolated as American forces continued their advance towards Japan by invading other Pacific islands. Cut off, the Japanese forces on Truk and other central Pacific islands ran low on food and faced starvation before Japan surrendered in August 1945. (Stewart, 1986)

The garrisons in the Marianas were largely annihilated at the Battle of Saipan and Battle of Guam.

Structure

;Thirty-First Army

Southern Marianas Force
- 29th Infantry Division
- 48th Independent Infantry Brigade
Northern Marianas Force
- 43rd Infantry Division
- 47th Independent Infantry Brigade
Truk Garrison Force
- 52nd Infantry Division
- 50th Independent Infantry Brigade
- 51st Independent Infantry Brigade
- 52nd Independent Infantry Brigade

List of commanders

Commanding officer

		Name		From		To
1
2
3

Chief of Staff

		Name		From		To
1
2

References

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Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

japanese-armies military-units-and-formations-established-in-1944 military-units-and-formations-disestablished-in-1945

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