Appendix B

Japanese 32d Army Units in the
Ryukyus Campaign
 
This list of 32d Army units was compiled by G-2, Tenth Army, from captured documents and prisoner of war interrogations. While information on enemy units is more complete for the Okinawa operation than for any other Pacific campaign, it is not possible to reconstruct the troop list of the 32d Army without gaps and uncertainties as to both units and their strengths. The following list may omit some units which were destroyed during the battle and others which were disbanded in order to transfer their personnel to other units depleted in combat.
 
Uncertainty with regard to the strength of the units arises chiefly from the fact that there exist only the roughest estimates of the total number of Okinawans brought into the 32d Army. These Okinawans fall into three classes, of which only the first can be estimated with reasonable accuracy: (i) the Boeitai (Okinawan Home Guard), comprising an estimated 20,000 men; (2) the Okinawans used to supplement the Japanese forces in old units, most of which had arrived at Okinawa understrength; (3) the Okinawans employed in a few instances to form new units with a Japanese nucleus. Since the full extent to which Japanese forces were augmented by Okinawans is not known, the following list gives only the estimated strength of the various units in respect to their Japanese elements.
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Unit Estimated Strength (Japanese Only)

32d Army Hq

1,070

Infantry (a)

24th Div (including 22d, 32d, 89th Inf Regts)

14,360

62d Div (including 11th-15th, 21st-23d, 272d, 273d Independent Inf Bns)

11,723

44th Ind Mixed Brig (including 2d Inf Unit of 3 Bns and 15th Independent Mixed Regt)

4,485

1st-3d, 26th-29th Independent Bns (converted from Sea Raiding Base Bns)

6,242

223d, 224th, 225th Special Garrison Cos

600

3d, 4th Commando Units

900

Total Infantry

38,310

 
Unit Estimated Strength (Japanese Only)

Armored

 

27th Tank Regt

750

Artillery and Automatic Weapons (Attached Units)  

5th Arty Command

147

1st Medium Arty Regt (2d Bn only)

856

23d Medium Arty Regt

1,143

7th Heavy Arty Regt (3 Btrys)

526

100th Heavy Arty Bn

565

1st Ind Arty Mortar Regt (1st, 4th, 5th Cos only)

613

1st Light Mortar Bn (3d-6th Independent Mortar Cos)

633

2d Light Mortar Bn (7th-10th Independent Mortar Cos)

615

3d, 7th, 22d Ind Antitank Bns

1,015

18th, 22d, 23d, 32d Independent Antitank Cos

569

27th Independent AA Arty Bn

505

21st AA Hq

71

79th, 80th, 81st Independent AA Arty Bus

1,544

103d, 104th, 105th Machine Cannon Bns

1,011

3d, 4th, 14th, 17th, 23d independent Machine Gun Bns

1,663

Total Artillery and Automatic Weapons

11,476

 
Unit Estimated Strength (Japanese Only)

Shipping and Engineers

 

23d, 26th Shipping Engr Regt (minus 1 co each)

1,600

66th independent Engr Bn

865

7th Shipping Hq, Naha Branch

300

Field Shipping Main Depot, Okinawa Branch

100

11th Shipping Group

100

101st, 102d Sea Duty Cos (Koreans)

1,500

Total Shipping and Engineers

4,465

 
(a) Strengths of the 1st and 2d Provisional Brigs (1st-6th Special Established Regts) and of the 6th and 50th Special Established Bns are omitted because the service units from which they were formed are itemized individually in this list.
[484]

Unit Estimated Strength (Japanese Only)

Air Force (Ground)

 

19th Air Sector Command Hq

41

44th, 50th, 56th, 158th Airfield Bns

1,487

3d, 75th Airfield Cos

458

2 d Air Sig Regt (elements)

500

6th Air Fixed Sig Unit

50

21st Air Sig Unit

100

25th, 26th AA Radio Units

150

3d Independent Air Maintenance Unit

120

118th Independent Maintenance Unit

130

29th Field Airfield Construction Bn

750

5th Field Air Repair Depot Bn

300

502d, 503d, 504th Special Garrison Engr Units

2,850

Total Air Force (Ground)

6,936

 
Unit Estimated Strength (Japanese Only)

Line of Communications Troops

 

36th Sig Regt (including 106th, 126th, 127th Independent Wire Cos; 100th, 109th, 113th-116th, 131st, 132d Independent Radio Plats)

1,912

49th L of C Sector Unit

1,400

32 d Army Field Freight Depot

1,167

32d Army Field Ord Depot

1,498

27th Field Water Purification Unit

244

14th, 20th Field Well Drilling Cos

400

Okinawa Mil Hosp

20 4

72d Land Duty Co

508

Total Line of Communications Troops

7,333

 
Naval Units  
3,500
 
Unit Estimated Strength (Japanese Only)

Miscellaneous Units

 

5th Sea Raiding Base Hq

42

1st-3d Sea Raiding Sqs

312

3d independent Sea Transport Unit

250

7th Field Shipping Unit

700

11th Sea Transportation Bn

400

46th Independent Airfield Co

120

2d Field Construction Duty Co

366

6th, 7th Construction Duty Cos

662

32d Army Ord Duty Unit

150

32d Army Det Construction Unit

357

Total Miscellaneous Units

3,359

 
Total Strength  
77,199 
Source: Tenth Army G-2 Intelligence Monograph, Ryukyus Campaign, Pt 1, Sec B: Order of Battle, p3
 
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page created 10 December 2001


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