The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia

Japanese China Expeditionary Army

China Expeditionary Army was activated on 23 September 1939 with orders to end the China Incident as quickly as possible so the forces involved could prepare for hostilities against another (unspecified) power. The new headquarters superceded Central China Expeditionary Army and absorbed its units. At the same time, operational limits on field armies in China were relaxed.

In December 1941, China Expeditionary Army controlled all Army units in central and southern China. These were the areas of active operations against the Kuomintang. At the time war broke out in the Pacific, China Expeditionary Army was preparing to attack Changsha with 11 Army supported by 1 Air Brigade as a diversion from operations against Hong Kong.

Order of battle, 7 December 1941:

China Expeditionary Army (Hata; at Nanking)
	11 Army (Anami; at Hankow)			120,000 men and 600 artillery pieces. Preparing to open operations against Changsha with support from 1 Air Brigade.
		3 Division (Teshima?)		Still a square division in 1941
		6 Division (Kanda)
		13 Division (Uchiyama; at I'chang)
		34 Division (Oga; at Nanchang)
		39 Division (Sumida; at I'chang)
		40 Division (Aoki)
		14 Independent Mixed Brigade (Nakayama)
		18 Independent Mixed Brigade (Tsutsumi)
		13 Tank Regiment
		2 Engineer Regiment
		8 Engineer Regiment
	13 Army (Sawada; at Shanghai)
		15 Division (Sakai; at Wuhu)
		22 Division (Ohta; at Hangchow)
		116 Division (Takeuchi)
		2 Independent Mixed Brigade (Mano)
		11 Independent Mixed Brigade (Tsutsumi)
		12 Independent Mixed Brigade (Nanbu)
		13 Independent Mixed Brigade (Akashika)
		17 Independent Mixed Brigade (Tagami)
		20 Independent Mixed Brigade (Nozoe; at Nanchang)
	23 Army (Sakai; at Canton)
		51 Division (Nakano)
		104 Division (Komoda)
		1 Independent Mixed Brigade (Suzuki)
		19 Independent Mixed Brigade (Matsui)
		45 Air Regiment (at Tien Flo)
			36 Ki-36 Ida
	1 Air Brigade (Akiyama; at Hankow)			Preparing to support 11 Army against Changsha
		44 Air Regiment (at Tien Flo))
			24 Ki-51 Sonia
		18 Squadron (at Hankow)
			11 Ki-15 Babs
		54 Air Regiment
			12 Ki-27 Nate (at Nanking) 24 Ki-27 Nate (at Hankow)
		10 Squadron (at Hankow)
			10 Ki-27 Nate
		18 Squadron (at Hankow)
			9 Ki-15 Babs
		8 Air Regiment (at Nanchang)
			12 Ki-51 Sonia
		83 Squadron (Taiyuan)
			10 Ki-15 Babs
	66 Squadron (Hankow)
		12 Ki-30 Ann

References

Bradley et al. (1992)

Drea (2009)

Generals.dk (accessed 2008-4-3)

Morton (1953)

Hsiung and Levine (1992)

Prados (1995)

Rottman (2005)

Willmott (1982)

http://www.freeport-tech.com/WWII (accessed 2002; now defunct)

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