In
World War I the division was strengthened by an additional infantry brigade (the IJA 29th Brigade) and, led by Lieutenant General
Kamio Mitsuomi, was given an independent command in the
Siege of Qingdao of the
German colony of
Qingdao in the
Shandong peninsula,
China in October 1914, forcing a surrender of German forces after a week-long assault. Notably, an aircraft from divisional air force has become the first airplane ever downed in the air-to-air combat. However, on 1 May 1925, the division was dissolved by Minister of War
Ugaki Kazushige as part of a cost-saving measure during the
Kato Takaaki administration, together with the
13th,
15th and
17th divisions. The 18th Division was resurrected in September 1937 as a
square division as a part of general military build-up following the start of the
Second Sino-Japanese War. As part of the
IJA 10th Army under the overall command of the
Japanese Central China Area Army it was deployed to the Chinese mainland, as an emergency reinforcement force to supplement the Japanese
Shanghai Expeditionary Army in China after the
Second Shanghai Incident. The Japanese
18th division subsequently participated in the
Battle of Nanjing and the subsequent atrocities known as the
Nanjing Massacre. From September 1938, the division came under the control of the
IJA 21st Army, and participated in the
Canton Operation and the invasion and occupation of
Guangdong Province under the command of Lieutenant General
Seiichi Kuno. The division remained in China through the
1939–40 Winter Offensive under the command of Lieutenant General
Harukichi Hyakutake. From 6 November 1941 the division came under the command of Lieutenant-General
Renya Mutaguchi and was reassigned to the
IJA 25th Army (which was under the command of General
Yamashita Tomoyuki). It participated in the
invasion of Malaya and
Singapore. The 124th Infantry Regiment and some other units of the 18th Division took part in the
Battle of Borneo from 16 December 1941 on. Following the conquest of Singapore, the division was transferred to the
IJA 15th Army for the
invasion of Burma, where it suffered over 3000 casualties, primarily from malnutrition and
malaria in securing control of the
Ledo Road. The supply situation was so bad that some elements of the division stole rations and weapons from the stores of
53rd division, in
Tanai Township earning for themselves the nickname of "thief troopers". In 1942, the division's
Kawaguchi Detachment (the 35th Infantry Brigade and 124th Infantry Regiment) was detached and sent to
Sarawak, the
Philippines and finally to
Guadalcanal. There, it took heavy losses in the battles of
Edson's Ridge and
Henderson Field. After the detachment, the main body of the division was converted to the
triangular division format in 1943, while the detachment became the
31st division. Late in 1943, Mutaguchi was promoted and replaced as commander of the division by Lieutenant-General
Shinichi Tanaka. Transferred to the
IJA 33rd Army, and operations in northern Burma, the 18th Division fought against the American-led Chinese divisions advancing on
Mogaung and
Myitkyina, and against the British
Chindits operating behind their lines. Although suffering heavy losses, the division nevertheless inflicted many casualties and imposed severe delays on the
Allies. Especially hit was the 114th Infantry Regiment which suffered about 2000 combat casualties while holding an important rail and road hub of
Myitkyina in 1944 while under command of the
56th division. The Japanese 18th Division incurred severe losses during joint Chinese-American-British operations in northern Burma. According to what are regarded as the most authoritative Japanese accounts of the campaign
Kikutsubasa no Hei: Furuihi no Tatakai (The Chrysanthemum Soldiers: The Battle of Furuhi”) and
Kikutsubasa no Hei: Kikka no Tatakai (The Chrysanthemum Soldiers: The Battle of the Chrysanthemums), both written by former 18th Division staff officer Ushiyama Saitarō. These works function as quasi-official divisional histories noted for their clarity and quality. Ushiyama states that by the end of the Battle of Hukawng Valley (
Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan), culminating in the
Siege of Myitkyina, the 18th Division had been mauled as the division’s "heroic spirit had reached ten thousand pillars". In his separate volume
Burma Vertical Operation, Ushiyama estimates that up to the opening of the India-Burma Road, Japanese forces fighting in the Hukawng direction (i.e., northern Burma) suffered roughly 20,000 combat deaths and approximately 10,000 deaths from disease and starvation in
Yunnan. Even after the India-Burma Road was reopened, the
Chinese Nationalist Army continued to fight the Japanese in northern Burma. The unit histories of the 18th Division’s three infantry regiments record additional losses-more than seven to eight thousand killed in combat against Chinese forces (whom the Japanese still habitually referred to as the “Expeditionary Force in India”). The 114th Infantry Regiment, the principal component of the Myitkyina Garrison, records in its official diaries 2,979 killed, 1,821 wounded, and 107 taken prisoner during the defense of Myitkyina from May to August 1944. In the aftermath of the disastrous
Battle of Imphal in March–July 1944, Lieutenant-General
Shinichi Tanaka was replaced by Lieutenant-General
Eitaro Naka, formerly Chief of Staff of the
Burma Area Army. In the 1945 campaigning season, the division once again lost many thousands of men in the
Battle of Central Burma, particularly at
Meiktila, south of
Mandalay. During the battle, the division was reinforced by 119th infantry regiment from the
53rd division in attempts to recapture Meiktila from the Allies. The
18th division ended the war in southern Burma. Of the 31,444 men of the division sent to Burma, more than 20,000 died. ==See also==