Seventh Area Army
General F W Messervy receives the sword of General Itagaki
ActiveMarch 19, 1944 - August 15, 1945
CountryEmpire of Japan
BranchImperial Japanese Army
TypeInfantry
RoleField Army
Garrison/HQSingapore
Nickname(s)岡 (Oka = "hill")
EngagementsBorneo campaign (1945)
Operation Tiderace

The Seventh Area Army (第7方面軍, Dai nana hōmen gun) was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army formed during final stages of the Pacific War and based in Japanese-occupied Malaya, Singapore and Borneo, Java, and Sumatra.[1]

History

The Japanese 7th Area Army was formed on March 19, 1944 under the Southern Expeditionary Army Group for the specific task of opposing landings by Allied forces in Japanese-occupied Malaya, Singapore and Borneo, Java, Sumatra and to consolidate a new defense line after the loss of the Solomon Islands, New Guinea and eastern portions of the Netherlands East Indies.[2] It had its headquarters at Singapore.

The units initially assigned to the Area Army were the 16th, 25th and 29th Army's. Units stationed in Borneo were also transferred to the Area Army's control.

The Army was demobilized at Singapore on the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II.[3]

List of Commanders

Commanding officer

NameFromTo
1General Kenji Doihara22 March 19447 April 1945
2General Seishirō Itagaki7 April 194515 August 1945

Chief of Staff

NameFromTo
1Major General Tsunenori Shimizu22 March 194427 June 1944
2Lieutenant General Kitsuju Ayabe27 June 194415 August 1945

Notes

  1. ↑ Marston, The Pacific War Companion: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima
  2. ↑ Nalty, War in the Pacific: Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay
  3. ↑ Madej, Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945

References

  • 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.
  • Nalty, Bernard (1999). War in the Pacific: Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay : The Story of the Bitter Struggle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3199-3.
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