Japanese Northern China Area Army

Japanese Northern China Area Army
Active	August 21, 1937 – August 15, 1945
Country	Empire of Japan
Branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Field Army
Garrison/HQ	Beijing

The Japanese North China Area Army (北支那方面軍, Kita Shina hōmen gun) was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

History

The Japanese North China Area Army was formed on August 21, 1937 under the control of the Imperial General Headquarters. It was transferred to the newly formed China Expeditionary Army on September 23, 1939. Headquartered in Beijing, it was responsible for direction and coordination of the Japanese military activity in all of north China. It was demobilized in Beijing at the surrender of Japan.

List of Commanders

Commanding officers

	Name	From	To
1	General Hisaichi Terauchi	26 August 1937	9 December 1938
2	General Hajime Sugiyama	9 December 1938	12 September 1939
3	Lieutenant General Hayao Tada	12 September 1939	7 July 1941
4	General Yasuji Okamura	7 July 1941	25 August 1944
5	General Naozaburo Okabe	25 August 1944	22 November 1944
6	General Sadamu Shimomura	22 November 1944	15 August 1945

Chiefs of Staff

	Name	From	To
1	Major General Naozaburo Okabe	26 August 1937	15 July 1938
2	Major General Tomoyuki Yamashita	15 July 1938	23 September 1939
3	Major General Yukio Kasahara	23 September 1939	1 March 1941
4	Lieutenant General Moritake Tanabe	1 March 1941	6 November 1941
5	Lieutenant General Hatazō Adachi	6 November 1941	9 November 1942
6	Lieutenant General Sanji Okido	9 November 1942	14 October 1944
7	Major General Gaku Takahashi	14 November 1944	15 August 1945