The 10-12-6 Lt Inf XX, 10-12-8* Mtn XX, 9-11-6 Lt Inf XX, 9-11-6* Lt Inf XX, and 8-10-6* Lt Inf XX represent the early war Japanese divisions which were very large square, four-regiment formations. Their ratings are derived more from their size more than from any special ability or equipment. Starting about 1939 and continuing into the early 1940s, the Japanese reorganized their divisions along the triangular, three-regiment concept. The rating of these divisions is 7-9-6 Inf XX or 7-9-6* Inf XX.

The following table outlines the typical composition of the Japanese divisions.

Japanese Divisional Composition
Element	Square	Triangular
Men	21,945	15,220
Rifles & carbines	9476	6867
Light MG	541	273
Heavy MG	104	78
AT Guns	22	14
Mountain guns	36	36
70mm battalion art. guns	18	18
75mm regimental art. guns	12	12
Mortars/grenade launchers	576	310
Light/medium tanks	17	16
Tankettes	7	-
Light trucks	266	-
Horse drawn vehicles	555	?
Horses	5849	3466

Note: The above TO/E are typical. The Japanese Army employed a number of different official TO/E in various places and at various times.

The typical Japanese square division contained two infantry brigades of two regiments each, plus an artillery regiment, engineering regiment, cavalry regiment, armored company, and quartermaster's regiment. The cavalry regiments, engineering regiment, and armored company are very small, and do not show up at Europa/Glory scales. The net effect of all of the organic armored companies in China is shown by the four 1x 1-0-8 Lt Tank [ll] received by the Japanese player early in the game.

The three-tiered breakdown concept for the square divisions allows the Japanese player the flexibility to operate the divisions alternately as brigades, regiments, or battalions, depending upon the strategic situation in the game.

Some of the Japanese divisions are non-standard and have been rated accordingly.

Japanese divisional cadres and other units (such as Japanese brigades) have remnants that are essentially the cadre's cadre. This reflects the Japanese Bushido or fighting spirit. Their tendency to avoid surrender and fight beyond all hope of victory translates, in game terms, to a greater residual combat strength following a crushing defeat.

Each Japanese square division was assigned a tank company of 17 light and medium tanks and 7 tankettes. The Type 95 HA-GO light tank (37mm gun) and the Type 89B CHI-RO medium tank (57mm gun) were the principal Japanese tank types in use in China at the opening of the conflict. The Type 95, in general, proved to more useful in the difficult Chinese countryside due to its lighter weight, better maneuverable and higher speed. In addition, both the IJA and the SNLF employed wheeled armored cars that proved particularly useful for urban combat but less than satisfactory in rural areas.

Air Units. Both the IJA and IJN maintained wholly separate air forces. It is generally noted that the IJN air force was far superior to its IJA counterpart. To reflect this, the IJN has a better fighter pilot superiority modifier and a better air unit replacement rate than does the IJA.

Moreover, to further show the superiority of the IJN, I grouped IJN air units by 40 aircraft each while requiring about 50 IJA aircraft per unit. Due to the sketchy and conflicting nature of information regarding the exact quantities and types of Japanese aircraft that fought in China, I used these numbers as approximate guidelines.

Aircraft that were leftover and didn't fit into an air group have been separately grouped into the following mixed air units. The Mxd-F Japanese fighter air unit is composed of 24x A2N3 (Type 90), 6x A4N1 (Type 95), and 12x A5M2 (Type 96) fighters. The Mxd-A attack bomber air unit is composed of 19x B3Y1 (Type-92), 28x B2M2 (Type-89) and 12x B4Y1 (Type-96) attack bombers. And finally, the Mxd-D dive-bomber air unit has 18x D1A2 (Type-94) dive-bombers and 9x B4Y1 (Type-96) attack bombers.

Since the domestic production of the IJA's heavy bomber, the Ki-21-1a was behind schedule, the Japanese purchased a number of BR.20 aircraft from Italy as a stop gap to augment its bomber force until domestic production could catch up. The BR.20 were employed in both China and Manchuria against the Soviets during the Nomonhan (Khalkin Gol) Incident. The Japanese version of the BR.20 was armed somewhat differently than its Italian counterpart, and the different ratings reflect this.

Naval Units. The TFs represent the general Japanese naval assets operating in the Chinese Theater. The IJN-C shows the vessels that were moored at Shanghai before the onset of hostilities. The major ship in this task force was the old pre-WWI battleship Idzumo. IJN-3 represents the Japanese 3rd fleet that was operating off Chinese shores at the opening of hostilities.

The Japanese also operated three carriers in Chinese waters, the Kaga, Ryujo and Honjo. The Kaga is a large carrier and is represented by a separate carrier group counter while the Ryujo and Honjo are smaller and are combined into a single carrier group counter.

Puppets. The Japanese employed a number of puppet formations that were organized both before and during the war. Data regarding puppet armies formed during the war is very sketchy. Furthermore, their existence and composition was highly situational and had the war taken even a slightly different course from historical, the puppet formations might have appeared very differently. Thus, instead of trying futilely to track all of the myriad of puppet organizations, I formed a general rule which allows the Japanese player to create and tailor puppet governments and their armies to the situation he is faced with in his particular game. Ironically, I believe that it can be argued that this is a better historical simulation than trying to trace all of the actual puppet armies that existed in the event.

On the other hand, I show the actual units of puppet armies that were in existence before the war began. Their existence and composition was fixed before the start of the game.

Notes from AEG. The following paragraphs summarize and paraphrase a series of excellently detailed research noted sent to me by Arthur Goodwin during development. I have contributed my own annotations in a few cases.

11th Division: The 11th division begins the campaign broken down. The General HQ in Tokyo sent the "Ayama Detachment" to Darien in the Kwantung Territory for fear of a general uprising in that area. The detachment consisted of one infantry regiment and one mountain artillery battalion from the 11th division. No uprising ever materialized and the Ayama Detachment was ordered to rejoin the 11th division in early September 1937.

The North China Garrison Brigade: the North China Garrison Brigade (5-7-6* Lt Inf [XX] NCG) is also known as the "Kawabe Brigade." At 12,000 men, 2 infantry regiments, 1 full artillery regiment it is functionally a division in size. At the start of the campaign units of the Kawabe Brigade are dispersed throughout the Peiping-Tientsin military district. When the brigade officially becomes the 27th division (Oct I 37), it only added 1200 men.

North China Garrison Engineer Regiment: The North China Garrison Engineer unit (1-6 Eng lll NCG), that starts the campaign in Tientsin, is the only engineer unit in the Japanese Army that is really a regiment (it has 2100 men to TO/E vs. 900 in a typical engineer regiment). In game terms, other Japanese engineer regiments are functionally battalions.

North China Special Garrison Unit: The North China Special Garrison Unit (0-1-5 Pol lll 1NCG) began the campaign with 3 battalions and 2700 men in Tientsin. By May 38 the unit has 8 battalions and nearly 5000 men. Thus, the receipt of 0-1-5 Pol lll 2NCG at that time.

North China Garrison Forces: The 1-8 Tank ll NCG represents a variety of miscellaneous units operating in Tientsin including 2 medium tank company, 1 horsed cavalry company, 1 motorized infantry company, 1 tankette company, and 1 AT platoon.

The 1st Independent Mixed Brigade: The 1st Dokoritsu Konsei (Independent Mixed Brigade, 5-6-6* Lt Inf X 1DK) was also known as the Sakai Brigade. This unit was part of the Kwantung Army and began the campaign in Jehol.

6th Division: The 11th brigade of the 6th division is often sited as an independent formation and referred to as Suzuki Brigade. In actually it was detached from its parent unit only temporarily, being reabsorbed in Aug 37. It began the campaign from Chengte in Jehol. The 36th brigade of the 6th Division arrives in China in Aug 37. In Dec 40, the 6th Division was triangularized in China by splitting off the 47th Regiment which ultimately joined with the Formosa Brigade in Feb 41 (See Formosa Brigade).

Senda Mechanized Division: The Kwantung Army Armor School organized Senda (contraction of Senshadan [Tank Group]) and dispatched it as a whole unit to Inner Mongolia. Its artillery was officially the 1st Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment, but their horses and mules were exchanged for trucks, therefore it is motorized and has no mountain capability. The Senda unit was assembled into an ad-hoc division to sweep across southern Suiyuan to the end of the rail line at Paotao. In the game, Senda has a limited operational area reflecting the Kwantung Army commanders' reluctance to let the unit operate beyond Mongolia and risk losing control of it to the North China Area Army. The Kwantung Army held Manchuria, Mongolia, and the Kwantung Territory as its sphere of control and did not directly cooperate with the Japanese armies in China.

Hsingan Division: the Hsingan division (2-7* Cav XX Man/Hsi), received at the start at Changpei in Inner Mongolia, rates self-supported owing to its 24x 75mm horse-drawn guns.

Chingnan Division: The Chingnan division (2-3-5* Inf XX Man/Chi), received as a conditional reinforcement and part of the Chahar Expeditionary Force, rates self-supported owing to its 36x 75mm guns.

Square Division Substitutions: Many Japanese divisions downsized while operating in China. They did so not by splitting off whole combat units but instead they peeled men out of the existing structure and simply never made up the losses. Men extracted in this manner helped form the rear-area HC (Heitan Chikutai [line of communications sector]) units. This is shown by the Square Division Substitutions. The 5th and Guards divisions never downsized in China. Both were "elite" units on special TO/E. Thus, they are not available for the substitution. Moreover, the 11th division is not available for substitution since its HC command was never activated in China and the division was withdrawn for good in Mar 38.

Japanese Tank and Engineer Regiments: The Japanese tank regiments were actually battalion in size and are thus shown with the [ll] symbol. The unit ID is changed to include "r" for rentai (regiment). For example, the 5th regiment is shown with unit ID of "5r". Similarly, Japanese engineer regiments (900 men) are shown using [ll], and their unit IDs modified to include the "r".

5th Division: The 5th division (10-12-8* Mtn XX) was hurriedly rushed into action before being fully assembled in Japan, and thus the Japanese player receives its breakdown components piecemeal and can assemble it only after the entire division has entered play. It arrives in Aug 37 as a mountain division. The divisional artillery is mountain artillery and the entire division had just undergone 6 months of mountain training at Mt. Fuji just prior to the campaign in China. The division's LOC (1x 1-2-4 Static X 5HC) command was activated in Japan, and finally arrived in China in Dec 37. When the 5th Division is transferred out of China from Jul to Oct 39, its LOC command remained behind.

SNLF: The SNLF organization stops at the battalion level. However, 1 Sasebo and 2 Kure SNLF battalions were almost 3 1/2 times their standard size when they went to China in Aug 37. The extra manpower was extracted from 2 Sasebo and 1 Kure battalions plus enlisting all available men from the Sasebo and Kure depots. In game terms, the following happened in Japan prior to the transfer of the SNLF units to China:

Reorganize: 2x 1-6 SNLF ll 1Sas, 2Sas (IJN) and 1 Inf RP to:
1x 3-6 SNLF lll Sas (IJN)
Reorganize: 2x 1-6 SNLF ll 1Kur, 2Kur (IJN) and 1 Inf RP to:
1x 3-6 SNLF lll Kur (IJN)

1st and 2nd Reserves: the 100 series divisions (8-10-6* Lt. Inf XX) are reinforced square divisions, but they are Yobi-eki units (1st reserve) and thus of lower quality. The 4-5-5° Res [XX] units are Kobi-eki (2nd reserve).

Construction Units: In the Aug to Dec 37 timeframe, 61 independent engineer labor units were sent to China. These units were company sized (200 men each). 34 were sent to North China (shown by 2x 0-1-5 Cons lll 2NCG, 3NCG on Aug II 37), and the remaining 27 going to Central China (shown by 2x 0-1-5 Cons lll 1CC, 2CC on Aug II 37).

The Formosa Brigade: At 13,000 men, 2 over-strength infantry regiments, and a full mountain artillery regiment of 36 guns, this unit was functionally a division when it arrives in China in Nov 37. In Feb 41, the Formosa Brigade is combined with the 47th Regiment from the 6th Division (see 6th Division) to form the new 48th Division.

Field Replacement Units: Beginning in Jan 38, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Yasen Hojutai (Field Replacement Units) moved to China from Japan. In May 40, these units were joined by the 4th and 5th Yasen Hojutai and the Central China and North China Training Commands. A field replacement unit averaged 5000 men, while the training commands controlled all school and training assets in their areas (10 to 20,000 men each). The 3rd Yasen Hojutai transferred to North Indo-China in Sep 40.

Independent Mixed Brigades, China TO/E: The 2nd through 20th Dokoritsu Konsei (Independent Mixed Brigades), that begin appearing in Apr 38, were garrison units with limited mobility and a much lower scale of heavy weapons than the regular army independent brigades such as the 1st Independent Mixed Brigade of the Kwantung Army. Each of these brigades contained 5 reduced strength rifle battalions and the brigade as a whole had only 12x 75mm guns (and in some instances, these guns were replaced by 70mm infantry guns or even 90mm mortars). These units had no motor vehicles and only limited horse assets (they did not even have the bicycles a normal infantry battalion had). The men in these units were a mixture of Kobi-eki (2nd reserve) and Hoju-eki (replacement reserve).

1st Independent Mixed Brigade: The 1st Dokoritsu Konsei (Independent Mixed Brigades) in China has a confusing history. From Aug 37 through Jun 39, there was a 1DK Brigade in the Kwantung Army, so when the China Garrison DK Brigades were formed, they started with 2DK. In Jul 39, when a new batch of DK Brigades were formed in China, they back-filled the 1DK number.

2nd & 7th Divisions: In May 38 the Kwantung Army briefly dispatched the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Division and the 13th Brigade of the 7th Division to China. They were recalled in Jun 38. The 7th Division had been mountain trained (its home station being Sapporo, Hokkaido and its ranks drawn from mountaineers) and its guns were mountain artillery.

The Cavalry Group: The Kihei Shudan (Cavalry Group, 5-4-8* Cav [XX]) was composed of two cavalry brigades, the 1st and the 4th. This unit operated as a composite unit for only a short period. By and large, the brigades operated independently. For game purposes, I leave the method of deployment of this unit at Japanese player's option.

15th, 17th, 20th and 22nd Divisions: These divisions, which begin appearing in Aug 38, were reactivations of divisions that had been stood down in the 1922-25 timeframe. They were regular (not reserve) units and had a triangular organization.

The 15th was formed by joining the re-raised 51st Regiment to the independent 17th Brigade.

The 17th was formed by joining the re-raised 81st Regiment to the independent 34th Brigade.

The 21st was formed by joining the re-raised 83rd Regiment to the independent 20th Brigade.

The 22nd was formed by re-raising the 84th, 85th, and 86th Regiments.

Independent Infantry Units: The 1st through 10th, and 14th and 15th Dokoritsu Hohetai (independent infantry unit, later re-designated as regiments) were raised and dispatched to China beginning in 1939. Each of these units was formed from three independent infantry battalions and, by and large, the units were used for garrison duty. The 11th, 12th, and 13th Dokoritsu Hohetai were re-designations of the three regiments that were part of the 26th Division, formed in Oct 37.

Imperial Guards: The Imperial Guards Division had a unique reinforced TO/E. Each infantry regiment had 4500 men (versus the normal 3850). Also the division had 36x 75mm guns and 12x 105mm howitzers and thus was fully supported (12-14-6 Lt Inf XX). In Dec 39 the division was officially disbanded into the 1st and 2nd Guards Brigades. The 1st Guards were dispatched to China while the 2nd Guards and all of the artillery remained in Japan. In Jul 40, the 2nd Guards and the divisional artillery went to China. In Sep 40, the 1st Guards (still without artillery) went to northern Indo-China. In Jun 41, 2nd Guards, the divisional artillery (less 12x 75mm guns) and the new 5th Guards Regiment (formed from reserve elements) became the Guards Division. Remaining reserve elements became the 1-2-4 Static X Gds HC. At the same time, the 1st Guards Brigade was given the 12x 75mm guns from the divisional artillery and re-designated the Guards Mixed Brigade (6-7-6* Lt Inf X Gds) and was returned to Japan.

4th Division: The 4th Division was reinforced to Kwantung Army standards and took its heavy artillery to China when it was transferred there in Jul 40. The division was assigned to the China Strategic Reserve. In Oct 41, the division was reassigned to the Southern Army as their General Reserve. The division moved then to Shanghai and remained there until it was sent to the Philippines.

104th Division: The best elements of the 104th Division were split off to form the 21st Dokoritsu Konsei (Independent Mixed Brigade) in Jan 41. After the conversion the 104th Division had the same TO/E as the 32nd to 41st series of divisions.

32nd to 41st Divisions: These divisions formed from new draftees with lower levels of equipment than the regular divisions. More importantly, none of these divisions got any specialized (mountain, jungle, or bicycle) training, thus they are shown as pure infantry units (and not light infantry).

Kwantung Replacements: In Apr 41, the Kwantung army transferred 4 replacement draft battalions to China. These are shown as Inf RP and not combat units.

Parachute Training: In Jan 41, the Japanese began training airborne formations; the IJA in Hopei Province and the IJN on Hainan Island. The IJA used their training units at least twice during 1941, once in a crossing of the Hwang Ho (Yellow River) and once at the Battle of Changsha. It is not clear whether they were air dropped or used as additional infantry at the Hwang Ho, but they were definitely dropped at Changsha.

14th Tank Regiment: The 14th Tank Regiment, which arrives in China in Jul 41, is equipped with light (not medium) tanks. Hence its rating (1-8 Lt Tank [ll] 14r).

23rd Antiaircraft Regiment: The 23rd Antiaircraft Regiment has 1100 men, 16x 75mm guns, 8x HMG just barely rating 1 point of AA.

3rd Division: The 3rd Division is triangularized in Aug 41 by splitting off the 18th Regiment which is transferred to the Kwantung Army (and becomes part of the new 29th Division).

Line of Communications Commands: From Sep 41 to Nov 41, the 41st through 80th Heitan Chikutai (line of communications sector unit) are raised. Most are raised in Manchukuo and some in Japan. Only the 42nd, 50th, 51st, 52nd, and 53rd are sent to China.

5th and 18th Reserve Units: The 5th and 18th Reserve Units were disbanded in Nov 41 to bring their parent units and the 33rd Division up to full strength.

More War of Resistance

War of Resistance: Introduction
War of Resistance: Japanese Order of Battle
War of Resistance: Chinese Order of Battle
War of Resistance: Japanese and Chinese Equipment
War of Resistance: Bibliography

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