47th Infantry Regiment (Imperial Japanese Army)

The 47th Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Imperial Japanese Army, and was active during the Second-Sino Japanese War and the Pacific theatre of World War II. The unit was raised in Ōita and was a part of the Kumamoto Divisional District, which was a component of the Western Army District of Japan.[1] It drew recruits from Nagasaki, Ōita, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima prefectures. It was composed of three infantry battalions armed with machine guns and 70mm infantry guns, one signal company, a gun battalion armed with 75mm guns, and an anti-tank unit with 37mm guns, which would be superseded by 47mm guns in 1943.

Combat History

The unit is first known to have served in combat as part of the 6th Division starting in 1932, where the unit took part in the Battle for the Great Wall. It would then see action in the Beiping–Hankou Railway Operation in 1937 once war broke out with China.[2] After the Japanese victory in the operation, the unit would become part of the 10th Army and began to attack Chinese troops in Shandong province starting in October 1937. However, by November it, along with the rest of the parent division, would advance west along the Yangtze River and attack the city of Nanking; the unit would eventually enter the city in December and was one of the main regiments that participated in the Rape of Nanking.[3][4] Starting in 1938, the regiment would be attached to the Central China Expeditionary Force and participate in the Battle of Xuzhou; later, it would see action in the Battle of Wuhan before returning to Japan in late 1939. Soon, however, the regiment was transferred to garrison in Shenzhen in January 1940 and would soon become a part of the 48th Brigade, a component of the short lived 22nd Army. It would participate in the Southern Guangxi offensive and was responsible for fighting Chinese forces east of Nanning. However, the unit would withdraw in November 1940 and return to garrison in Shenzhen and, later, Canton. The unit would become a part of the new 48th Division in November 1940 and would garrison in Guangdong, then in Taihoku, Formosa, until December 1941, where it would be transferred to Kaohsiung to arm for the Invasion of the Philippines.[5] It shipped out from Kaohsiung on December 18, where it would land outside of Agoo as part of the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf on December 22, 1941.[6] It would see action against the 26th Philippine Cavalry on December 24, 1941, at Binalonan,[7] facing off against mounted horsemen; it would require the assistance of the 4th Armored Regiment, which was equipped with Ha-Go tanks, to repel the defenders. Eventually, the unit would enter Manila in January 1942 and garrison in the province of Cavite, with troops stationed in the towns of Silang and Tagaytay. However, it would soon move out along with the rest of the 48th Division in the Invasion of Java. The 47th would land on the eastern side of the island and move towards Surabaya along the coast as part of the Abe Unit under the command of Major-General Koichi Abe. The unit faced resistance from the British 3rd Hussars and scattered Dutch units and, after battling the Allied Forces in Surabaya, would capture the city.[8] It would then garrison the island for a few months before being transferred to East Timor to mop up Australian and Dutch commandos, where it would stay for the rest of the war. The unit was disbanded in September 1945.

References

  1. ^ Handbook on Japanese Military Forces. Washington D.C.: U.S. War Department. 1944.
  2. ^ Chang, Ming-kai; Hsu, Long-hsuen (1971). History of The Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). Translated by Ha-hsiung, Wen (2nd ed.). Chung Wu Publishing.
  3. ^ Japanese Forces Operating along the Northern Sector of Peiping-Hankow Railway (PDF).
  4. ^ Drea, Edward J (2009). Japan's Imperial Army: Its Rise and Fall, 1853-1945. University Press of Kansas.
  5. ^ Dull, Paul S (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941- 1945. Naval Institute Press.
  6. ^ "New Thrust By Foe Made In Luzon". The New York Times. December 24, 1941. pp. 1, 4.
  7. ^ Rottman, Gordan (2011). World War II US Cavalry Units: Pacific Theater. Osprey Publishing.
  8. ^ Klemen, L (1999). Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942.
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