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The Japanese 53rd Army (第53軍 , Dai-gojyūsan gun?) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the final days of World War II.
[edit] History
The Japanese 53rd Army was formed on 8 April 1945 under the Japanese 12th Area Army as part of the last desperate defense effort by the Empire of Japan to deter possible landings of Allied forces in central Honshū during Operation Downfall. [2] The Japanese 53rd Army was based in Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture and was thus intended to guard the western approaches and beachheads to Tokyo along Sagami Bay. It consisted mostly of poorly-trained reservists, conscripted students and home guard militia. It was demobilized at the surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945 without having seen combat.
==List of Commanders== [3]
[edit] References
- Drea, Edward J. (1998). "Japanese Preparations for the Defense of the Homeland & Intelligence Forecasting for the Invasion of Japan", In the Service of the Emperor: Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-1708-0.
- Frank, Richard B (1999). Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-41424-X.
- Jowett, Bernard (1999). The Japanese Army 1931-45 (Volume 2, 1942-45). Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1841763543.
- 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 1841768820.
- Skates, John Ray (1994). The Invasion of Japan: Alternative to the Bomb Downfall. New York: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0-87249-972-3.
[edit] External links
- ^ Madej, Japanese Forces Order of Battle
- ^ Drea, Japanese Preparations for Defense of the Homeland
- ^ Wendel, Axis History Factbook
