2nd Tank Division (Imperial Japanese Army)

2nd Tank Division
Japanese tanks moving toward Manila
Active	1942 - 1945
Country	Empire of Japan
Branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Type	Armored division
Garrison/HQ	Tokyo, Japan
Nickname(s)	撃 = Geki (Attack)
Engagements	Second Sino-Japanese War World War II

The 2nd Tank Division (戦車第2師団, Sensha Dai-ni Shidan), was one of four armored divisions of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II.

History

The 2nd Tank Division was raised in Manchukuo on June 24, 1942.

Stationed in Mudanjiang in northeastern Manchukuo, it was tasked primarily with border patrol of Manchukuo's eastern frontier with the Soviet Union under the overall command of the Japanese First Area Army.

As the situation in the Pacific War against the Allies deteriorated for Japan, in July 1944, the remaining units of the 2nd Tank Division was reassigned to the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army, and sent to the Philippines, where it was annihilated at the subsequent Battle of the Philippines in various engagements on Luzon, Leyte and Mindanao from the battles by joint Filipino and American troops.

The 2nd Tank Division was reconstituted in Japan as a training unit after the disaster in the Philippines. In February 1945, its IJA 11th Armored Regiment was transferred to the control of the Japanese Fifth Area Army and redesignated the IJA 91st Division. It was stationed in the northern Kurile islands, where it was in combat against the Soviet Red Army at Paramushir during Invasion of the Kuril Islands at the end of World War II. It was officially demobilized in September 1945 with the rest of the Imperial Japanese Army.

Commanding officer

	Name	From	To
1	Lieutenant General Tasuku Okada	20 September 1942	7 December 1943
2	Lieutenant General Yoshiharu Iwanaka	27 December 1943	30 September 1945

See also

• List of Japanese armored divisions