Japanese North China Area Army

North China Area Army was created after the Marco Polo Bridge incident from units of Kwantung Army. Like Kwantung Army, it soon became a law unto itself, to the extent that it nearly provoked a war with the British over the Tientsin Concession at the same time that Kwantung Army was sparring with the Russians at Nomonhan.

In December 1941, the North China Area Army controlled Japanese Army units in north China, where there were no active operations against the Kuomintang. However, antiguerrilla operations against Mao's Chinese Communists were ongoing. The North China Area Army also controlled the puppet Mongol Army.

Order of battle, 7 December 1941:

North China Area Army (Okamura; at Peiping)
	27 Division (Tominaga)
	35 Division (Harada)
	110 Division (Iinuma)			Still square division in 1941
	1 Independent Mixed Brigade
	7 Independent Mixed Brigade (Hayashi)
	8 Independent Mixed Brigade
	15 Brigade (Fukei)
	15 Tank Regiment
	1 Army (Iwamatsu; at Taiyuan)
		36 Division (Izeki)
		37 Division (Nagano)
		41 Division (Shimizu; at Tsingtao)
		3 Independent Mixed Brigade (Mori)
		4 Independent Mixed Brigade (Tsuda)
		9 Independent Mixed Brigade (Ikenoue)
		16 Independent Mixed Brigade (Wakamatsu)
	12 Army (Dobashi; at Peiping)
		17 Division (Hirabayashi)
		32 Division (Ide)
		5 Independent Mixed Brigade (Uchida)
		6 Independent Mixed Brigade (Iwai)
		10 Independent Mixed Brigade
	Mongol Army (Akamasu; at Kalgan)
		36 Cavalry Group Corps
			1 Mongol Cavalry Division
			2 Mongol Cavalry Division
			3 Mongol Cavalry Division
			4 Mongol Cavalry Division
			5 Mongol Cavalry Division
			6 Mongol Cavalry Division
			7 Mongol Cavalry Division
			8 Mongol Cavalry Division
			9 Mongol Cavalry Division
		26 Division (Yano)
		2 Independent Mixed Brigade (Mano)

References

Morton (1953)

Rottman (2005)

Watt (1989)

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

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