18th Division (Kurume Division)

The 18th Division (第十八師団, Dai-jūhachi Shidan) was formed on November 13, 1907 at Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture. Its call sign was the "Chrysanthemum Division" (菊兵団, Kiku Heidan). It took part in the Siege of Qingdao in 1914, was dissolved in 1925 as an economy measure, and was reactivated on September 9, 1937.

The 18th Division was one of the most combat-experienced formations in the IJA. Sent to China in 1937, it took part in the Battle of Shanghai and the Battle of Nanjing, and in 1938 in the capture of Guangzhou (Canton). In December 1941, under Lt. Gen. Mutaguchi Renya, it joined the 25th Army's invasion of Malaya — its Takumi Detachment made the opening landing at Kota Bharu — and the capture of Singapore in February 1942. The division was then transferred to Burma under the 15th Army.

From late 1943, under Lt. Gen. Tanaka Shinichi, the division defended northern Burma. It did not take part in the Imphal Operation (U-Go), which was launched in March 1944 by its former commander Mutaguchi as head of the 15th Army. Instead it fought a long delaying action in the Hukawng Valley and around Mogaung against General Stilwell's American-led Chinese divisions, who were pushing the Ledo Road forward, while also contending with the British Chindits in its rear. Its 114th Infantry Regiment formed the core of the garrison of Myitkyina, which held out from May to August 1944.

In 1945 the division suffered further heavy losses in the unsuccessful attempt to retake Meiktila in central Burma, and it ended the war in southern Burma. Of the 31,444 men of the division sent to Burma, more than 20,000 died, many from disease and starvation.