The Japanese 44th Army was initially raised in July 1941 as the , an auxiliary force of the
Kwantung Army based in the
Manchukuo capital of
Xinjing for
public security and training. As the war situation on the
Pacific front grew increasingly desperate for Japan, the
Imperial Japanese Army transferred more and more experienced
divisions and their equipment out of Manchukuo to other fronts. By early 1945, the vaunted Kwantung Army was largely hollowed out, and indications of a buildup of
Soviet Red Army forces on the borders on
Mengjiang and Manchukuo were alarming. The Kwantung Defense Army was renamed the Japanese 44th Army on May 30, 1945 and assigned to the
Japanese Third Area Army, based in southern Manchukuo. It saw combat against the Soviet Army in
Soviet invasion of Manchuria, with combat operations continuing into September, even after the official
surrender of Japan. It was officially disbanded at
Mukden, with many of its surviving troops becoming
Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union. ==List of Commanders==