Twenty-Seventh Army (Japan)

Japanese Twenty-Seventh Army
Japanese ski troops in the Chishima Islands
Active	March 16, 1944 – February 1, 1945
Country	Empire of Japan
Branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Corps
Garrison/HQ	Etorofu
Nickname(s)	Hokubu (北部, Northern)
Engagements	Soviet invasion of Manchuria

Japanese 27th Army (1945)

Parent unit	Japanese Fifth Area Army

Components	42nd Infantry Division 91st Infantry Division 3rd Marines Battalion 4th Marines Battalion

The Japanese 27th Army (第27軍, Dai-nijyūnana gun) was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the final days of World War II.

History

The Japanese 27th Army was formed on March 16, 1944 as part of the last desperate defense effort by the Empire of Japan to deter possible landings of Allied forces in the northern Chishima Islands territories from northeastern Hokkaidō to Kamchatka during Operation Downfall. It was headquartered on Etorofu.

The Japanese 27th Army consisted mostly of poorly trained reservists, conscripted students and home guard militia. It was disbanded on February 1, 1945, and its units were incorporated directly into the Japanese 5th Area Army

	Name	From	To
Commanding officer	Lieutenant General Shozo Terakura	10 March 1944	1 February 1945
Chief of Staff	Major General Keiji Suzuki	10 March 1944	1 February 1945

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Frank, Richard B (1999). Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-41424-X.
Jowett, Bernard (1999). The Japanese Army 1931-45 (Volume 2, 1942-45). Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-354-3.
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