1st Division (Tama Division)
Open the military map第一師団
Army Division
The 1st Division, garrisoned in Tokyo, was one of the oldest and most elite infantry divisions. Known as the "Tama Division" (玉兵団), it served as a core element of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria and was redeployed to Leyte in 1944.
- Armament
- 歩兵第1連隊・歩兵第49連隊・歩兵第57連隊・野砲兵第1連隊
- Fate
- In being at the end of the war
History
The 1st Division (第一師団, Dai-ichi Shidan) was formed on May 14, 1888 in Tokyo as one of the original six regional divisions of the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was "Tama" (玉兵団). Headquartered at Minami-Aoyama in Tokyo's Akasaka ward (now Minato ward), the division drew recruits primarily from the Tokyo and South Kanto region.
The division fought in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War (Battle of Nanshan, Battle of Mukden), and was deployed to Manchuria with the Kwantung Army in the 1930s. During the Pacific War, the division was transferred from Manchuria to the Philippines in 1944 and fought in the Battle of Leyte, landing at Ormoc Bay in November 1944; it was all but destroyed there, and only about 800 men were left when the remnants crossed to Cebu in January 1945. It was one of the most battle-hardened divisions in the IJA.
Related sites (3)
- Battle11.006, 124.607
Ormoc Bay, Leyte, Philippines — the 1st Division landed here in November 1944 for the Battle of Leyte and was all but destroyed on the island; about 800 survivors crossed to Cebu in January 1945
- Headquarters35.671, 139.721
1st Division HQ, Aoyama-minamichō, Akasaka ward, Tokyo (now Minami-Aoyama, Minato ward) — the division's permanent headquarters compound
- Deployed43.800, 125.300
Hsinking (Changchun), Manchukuo — seat of the Kwantung Army, under which the 1st Division was sent to the Manchukuo–Soviet border in 1936–37 (Kanchazu Island incident, June 1937) and remained in Manchuria until 1944