2nd Division (Sendai Division)

The 2nd Division (第二師団, Dai-ni Shidan) was formed on May 14, 1888 in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, as one of the original six regional divisions. Its call sign was "Isamu" (勇兵団). Recruited from the Tohoku region, the division was known for the toughness and endurance of its soldiers.

The division's most infamous campaign was Guadalcanal. Landing in early October 1942 on the coast west of the Matanikau River, the division launched repeated frontal assaults against heavily fortified American positions around Henderson Field. The attacks were repulsed with enormous casualties. Cut off from supply, the division endured months of starvation — soldiers subsisted on grass, roots, and bark. Japanese soldiers bitterly renamed Guadalcanal (ガダルカナル) as "Starvation Island" (餓島, Ga-tō), a homophonic pun. The 2nd Division's losses on the island exceeded 7,000 men. The survivors were evacuated in Operation Ke in February 1943; the rebuilt division later garrisoned Malaya and Singapore, was sent to Burma in 1944, and ended the war at Saigon.