16th Division (Kyoto Division)

The 16th Division (第十六師団, Dai-jūroku Shidan) was formed on July 18, 1905 in Kyoto. Its call sign was the "Wall Division" (垣兵団, Kaki Heidan — 垣 meaning a fence or wall). The division recruited from the Kinki region around Kyoto.

The 16th Division participated in the assault on Nanjing in December 1937 and was one of the Japanese units implicated in the Nanjing Massacre. Assigned to the 14th Army in November 1941, it took part in the invasion of the Philippines in 1941–42 and afterwards remained there as a garrison force based in Manila.

In 1944, the division was assigned to defend Leyte Island under Lt. Gen. Shiro Makino. It was the formation holding the east coast when the American invasion began on October 20, 1944. The Battle of Leyte (October–December 1944) proved catastrophic: American forces, supported by overwhelming naval and air superiority, systematically destroyed the Japanese garrison. The division was reduced to about 500 men by December 1944.

The 16th Division was virtually annihilated — of approximately 13,000 troops, only about 620 survived. Makino himself died on Leyte, taking his own life on August 10, 1945. It was one of the most complete destructions of a Japanese division in the entire war.