Initially assigned to the
Japanese Northern China Area Army, it was deployed to the Chinese mainland from 15 July 1938, serving as a garrison force in
Xuzhou. In February 1939, it participated in fighting in Northern Jiangsu. Under the command of Lieutenant Commander
Hisakazu Tanaka from 1940 to 1943 as part of the
Japanese 12th Army, the division participated in counter-insurgency operations in Northern China as well as the
Battle of South Shanxi in May 1941, and the subsequent
Hundred Regiments Offensive. From November 1941, the division was transferred to the control of the
Southern Expeditionary Army Group and transferred to the Philippines, landing at
Lingayen Gulf on 26 February 1942. After the completion of the
Philippines Campaign, from December 1943, the division was sent to
French Indochina under the control of the
IJA 38th Army, Assigned to a garrison role in
Hanoi, it remained in Indochina through the end of the
Pacific War except for a brief period in late 1944 when it crossed back into China to participate in
Operation Ichi-Go. The division played a critical role in the
Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina of March 1945, which resulted in the proclamation of the
Empire of Vietnam independent from French rule. It remained as a garrison force in Hanoi until the
surrender of Japan in August 1945. A number of its troops refused to return to Japan and defected to join the
Viet Minh in their struggle for independence (
First Indochina War) against the returning French colonial forces. But in 1954 they were ordered to return to Japan by the Vietnamese government. ==See also==