Sixteenth Army (Japan)


The Japanese 16th Army was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

History

The Japanese 16th Army was formed on November 5, 1941, under the Southern Expeditionary Army Group to coordinate the infantry divisions and other Japanese ground forces in the Battle of [Java (1942)|Invasion of Java] in the Netherlands East Indies. It remained based on Java throughout the Pacific War as a garrison force.
On March 27, 1944, with the threat of possible landings of Allies of [World War II|Allied forces] to retake the Dutch East Indies increasing, the organizational structure of the Southern Expeditionary Army changed and the IJA 16th Army was reassigned to the Japanese Seventh Area Army. It remained headquartered in Jakarta as a garrison force as before. The Japanese 16th Army was demobilized at the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945.

List of commanders

Chief of Staff

NameFromTo
1Lieutenant General Seizaburo Okazaki6 November 194110 June 1943
2Lieutenant General Shinshichiro Kokubu10 June 194314 November 1944
3Major General Shigeichi Yamamoto14 November 1944September 1945

Books

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