Sixth Army (Japan)
1939-1945 Imperial Japanese Army formation
The Japanese 6th Army (第6軍, Dai-roku gun) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army initially based in Manchukuo as a garrison force under the overall command of the Kwantung Army. At the end of World War II it was active in east China.
History
The Japanese 6th Army was initially raised on August 4, 1939 in Manchukuo as a garrison force to guard the western borders against possible incursions by the Soviet Red Army. It was a major participant in the Nomonhan Incident, during which time it took severe casualties. Afterwards, it was initially assigned to Hailar, in Inner Mongolia which was also the site of an extensive Japanese static military fortification system. During much of the Second Sino-Japanese War, it remained a reserve and training garrison force.
On January 26, 1945, the Japanese Sixth Army was reassigned to the control of the China Expeditionary Army, and was sent south to bolster Japanese forces in the strategic Wuhan-Changsha front, filling the gap left by the departure of Japanese forces in the southward Operation Ichi-Go thrust. At the surrender of Japan, it was disbanded at Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China.
List of commanders
Commanding officer
Chief of Staff
References
Jowett, Bernard (1999). The Japanese Army 1931-45 (Volume 2, 1942-45).
The public source identifies “Sixth Army (Japan)” as 1939-1945 Imperial Japanese Army formation. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sixth, Army and Japan.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 29, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q6136731. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1939, 1945, 1999 and 1931.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sixth Army (Japan)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.