IJA 23rd Infantry Division

Liutenant General Komatsubara.

After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese war in 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) underwent an expansion process that included the formation of new infantry divisions 15th, 17th 21st, 22nd and 23rd on 4 April 1938 in Kumamoto, on the island of Kyushu.

23rd division, nicknamed as "Sunrise Division" and commanded by Lieutenant General Michitarō Komatsubara, was assigned to Kwantung Army and based in Hailar, Manchukuo, with the duty of controlling the border between Manchukuo and the Mongolian People´s Republic. 

It was a triangular division, meaning that its infantry was grouped in three regiments. At the time of its creation, it consisted on:

- 23rd. Infantry brigade

      64th. Infantry regiment (Kumamoto), led by Colonel Takemitsu Yamagata.

      71st. Infantry regiment (Kagoshima)

      72nd. Infantry regiment (Miyokonojo), led by Colonel Mikio Sakai.

- 23rd. Reconnaissance regiment, led by Lieutenant Colonel Yaozo Azuma.

- 13th. Field artillery regiment

- 23rd. Engineer Regiment, led by Colonel Numazaki.

- 23rd. Transport regiment

- 23rd. Sanitation company

- 23rd. Signals company

- 23rd. Chemical warfare company

- 23rd. Ordnance company

- 23rd. Veterinary department

- 23rd. Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department, which included the horrible Unit 731,   committed to chemical and biological warfare development and human experimentation.

Japan's 72nd Infantry Regiment, 23rd Infantry Division approaches Nomonhan.

Due to the high demand of equipment in the Chinese front, 23rd division was poorly and shortly equipped. Every infantry regiment was divided in three infantry battalions, each with four infantry rifle companies, 12 heavy machine guns and two Type 92 70-mm battalion guns. In addition, each regiment had a battery of four Type 94 rapid-fire 37-mm guns and four Type 41 75-mm mountain guns. The artillery regiment consisted on sixty pieces, twenty-four of them being Type 38 short range 75-mm guns and twelve 120-mm howitzers. The recon regiment was formed by 220 men, a tankette (probably Type 94), 2 sedans and 12 trucks. The division lacked anti-tank weapons other than the low-effective rapid-fire guns and had to rely on "human bullet" (suicidal) tactics.

Type 94 Te-Ke Tankette

At the time of the Nomonhan battle, the division was about one year old. Its officers lacked real combat experience and its troops were poorly trained. For centuries, Kyushu had been known for its men being exceptionally strong and resilient fighters. As most of the 23rd division men were originally from this area, all this deficiencies in training and equipment were countered by the courage, stiffness, loyalty and honor of its soldiers.

23rd Division played a major combat role in the Nomonhan incident. It was present in all the battles of the conflict and by the end of it, it had been annihilated, with a casualty ratio of about 80% of its original strength (almost 12.000 of its men were killed).

Japanese soldiers with a captured Soviet gun in Nomonhan.

After Nomonhan, the remainders of 23rd division were returned to Japan to undertake border control duties. By November 1944 it was sent to the Philippines, where it fought at the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf and in the Battle of Luzon, in which the division suffered multiple casualties that led to its extinction.

Sources:

- wikipedia

- Nomonhan, 1939 The Red Army's Victory That Shaped WWII, Stuart D. Goldman.