The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army based in Manchukuo as a garrison force under the overall command of the Kwantung Army during World War II, but its history dates to the Russo-Japanese War.
History The Japanese 3rd Army was initially raised during the Russo-Japanese War under the command of General Nogi Maresuke. In the initial stages of the war, its primary mission was the Siege of Port Arthur. After the fall of that Russian stronghold, it was transferred north, where it played a crucial role in the subsequent Japanese drive towards Mukden in the closing stages of the war. It was disbanded at the end of the war.
The Japanese 3rd Army was raised again on January 13, 1938, in Manchukuo as a garrison force to guard the eastern borders against possible incursions by the Soviet Red Army. It afterwards came under the command of the Japanese First Area Army in July 1942. As the war situation deteriorated for the Japanese in southeast Asia, the more experienced units and much of the equipment of the IJA 3rd Army were transferred to other units.
During the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, its poorly trained and under-equipped forces were no match for the experienced battle-hardened Soviet Army, and it was forced back from various locations in Kirin province to the Korean border, surrendering at the end of the war in Yanji and Hunchun, in what is now part of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of northeast China.
List of commanders
Commanding officer Name From To1 General Nogi MaresukeAugust 1904 January 19062 General Otozō Yamada13 January 1938 10 December 19383 General Hayao Tada10 December 1938 12 September 19394 General 12 September 1939 1 March 19415 General Masakazu Kawabe1 March 1941 17 August 19426 Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama17 August 1942 7 February 19447 Lieutenant General Hiroshi Nemoto7 February 1944 22 November 19448 Lieutenant General 22 November 1944 September 1945
Chief of Staff Name From To1 Major General Ijichi KōsukeAugust 1904 January 19052 Major General February 1905 March 19053 Major General Ichinohe HyoeMarch 1905 January 19064 Lieutenant General Aketo Nakamura20 January 1938 14 April 19385 Lieutenant General Teiichi Suzuki14 April 1938 10 December 19386 Lieutenant General Masami Maeda10 December 1938 9 March 19407 Lieutenant General Toshimichi Uemura9 March 1940 1 April 19418 Lieutenant General Takezo Numata1 April 1941 1 July 19429 Major General Akio Doi1 July 1942 11 March 194310 Major General Tatsuhiko Takashima11 March 1943 16 December 194411 Major General Hanjiro Ikeya16 December 1944 September 1945
References
External links Lt. Col. David Glantz, August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, Leavenworth Paper No.7, Command and General Staff College, February 1983. Kwantung Army Order of Battle 30 July 1945