The Philippines Plans for an invasion of the
Philippines were finalized on November 13–15, by Lt General
Masaharu Homma, Lt General
Hideyoshi Obata, Vice Admiral
Ibō Takahashi and Vice Admiral
Nishizo Tsukahara. These plans called for air attacks against the Philippines, beginning on
X-Day, by the 5th Army Air Force Division and the
11th Naval Air Fleet. At this time,
Imperial Japanese Army and
Imperial Japanese Navy units were to land on
Batan Island,
Luzon (at
Aparri, Cagayan,
Vigan, and
Legazpi City), and at
Davao,
Mindanao, and to seize airfields. Following the elimination of American air support, the main body of the
IJA 14th Army was to land at
Lingayen Gulf, while another force landed at
Lamon Bay. These forces were then to attack
Manila in a
pincer attack. After this, the islands of
Manila Bay were to be taken. In the resulting
Battle of the Philippines (1942), Japanese forces accomplished their primary objectives.
French Indochina On July 22, 1941, Japanese forces, called
Indochina Expeditionary Army invaded
Vichy French Indochina and occupied its naval and air bases.
Netherlands East Indies On January 18, 1942, the commander of
16th Army Lt. General
Hitoshi Imamura arrived at
Takao,
Taiwan from his base at
Saigon. He received an order to hasten the invasion preparation toward
Java. But due to shipping shortages, he had to adjust the plans. On January 21, he arrived at
Manila to inspect the
Imperial Japanese Army 48th Division and to have discussion with the commander of the
Imperial Japanese Navy 3rd Fleet. The
Netherlands East Indies was invaded in a three-prong attack by using 3 groups: western, center and eastern group.
Western invasion group The
IJA 2nd Division of the
IJA 16th Army, which was assembled in
Taiwan, was ordered on January 25 to move in to
Cam Ranh Bay and became the main force of western invasion group. At Cam Ranh Bay, the troops were trained for the tropical
jungle warfare. On the 30th, the attack order was announced. The western group was carried aboard 56 transport ships and left for Java on February 18. By midnight on February 28, the ships landed at
Merak and
Bantam Bay on Java island. Following the
surrender of Hong Kong, the 228th, 229th and 230th Infantry Regiments from the
IJA 38th Division were also deployed to
Netherlands East Indies separately. On February 13, the 229th and 230th assaulted
Palembang on
Sumatra and then joined the main force. On February 28 midnight the 230th Infantry Regiment landed on
Eretan Wetan on Java.
Center invasion group The center group was composed of
IJA 48th Division, left for Java on February 8, 1942 from Lingayen Gulf, in the Philippines. On February 25, the convoy arrived at
Balikpapan and the
Sakaguchi detachment (56th Regiment Group) joined the force. They landed at
Kragan on Java by midnight February 28. Earlier on January 11, the Sakaguchi detachment and 2nd Kure
Special Naval Landing Force occupied
Tarakan. They secured Balikpapan on January 23. On 10 February
Bandjermasin, the capital of
Dutch Borneo was occupied.
Eastern invasion group The Eastern invasion group included the Sasebo Combined Naval Landing Force and 1st Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Force. They left
Davao on January 9 and during the early morning of January 11, arrived at and occupied
Menado. The Sasebo Combined Special Naval Landing Force then attacked and occupied
Kendari on January 23. Makassar was captured on 9 February by the Sasebo Combined Special Naval Landing Force. All these are on
Celebes island. The 1st Kure Special Naval Landing Force and 228th Infantry Regiment from 38th Army and Airplane Carrier Division 2 from Japan, reached
Ambon on January 30.
Thailand and Burma Malaya and Singapore South West Pacific ==List of commanders==