Appendix B
Japanese 32d Army Units In the
Ryukyus Campaign
This list of 32d Army units was compiled by G-2, Tenth Army, from captured documents and prisoner of war interrogations. While information on enemy units is more complete for the Okinawa operation than for any other Pacific campaign, it is not possible to reconstruct the troop list of the 32d Army without gaps and uncertainties as to both units and their strengths. The following list may omit some units which were destroyed during the battle and others which were disbanded in order to transfer their personnel to other units depleted in combat.Uncertainty with regard to the strength of the units arises chiefly from the fact that there exist only the roughest estimates of the total number of Okinawans brought into the 32d Army. These Okinawans fall into three classes, of which only the first can be estimated with reasonable accuracy: (i) the Boeitai (Okinawan Home Guard), comprising an estimated 20,000 men; (2) the Okinawans used to supplement the Japanese forces in old units, most of which had arrived at Okinawa understrength; (3) the Okinawans employed in a few instances to form new units with a Japanese nucleus. Since the full extent to which Japanese forces were augmented by Okinawans is not known, the following list gives only the estimated strength of the various units in respect to their Japanese elements.
Unit Estimated
Strength
(Japanese
Only32d Army Hq 1,070 Infantry1 24th Div (including 22d, 32d, 89th Inf Regts) 14,360 62d Div (including 11th-15th, 21st-23d, 272d, 273d Independent Inf Bns) 11,723 44th Ind Mixed Brig (including 2d Inf Unit of 3 Bns and 15th Independent Mixed Regt) 4,485 1st-3d, 26th-29th Independent Bns (converted from Sea Raiding Base Bns) 6,242 223d, 224th, 225th Special Garrison Cos 600 3d, 4th Commando Units 900 Total Infantry 38,310 Armored 27th Tank Regt 750 Artillery and Automatic Weapons (Attached Units) 5th Arty Command 147 1st Medium Arty Regt (2d Bn only) 856 23d Medium Arty Regt 1,143 7th Heavy Arty Regt (3 Btrys) 526 100th Heavy Arty Bn 565 1st Ind Arty Mortar Regt (1st, 4th, 5th Cos only) 613 1st Light Mortar Bn (3d-6th Independent Mortar Cos) 633 2d Light Mortar Bn (7th-10th Independent Mortar Cos) 615 3d, 7th, 22d Ind Antitank Bns 1,015 18th, 22d, 23d, 32d Independent Antitank Cos 569 27th Independent AA Arty Bn 505 21st AA Hq 71 79th, 80th, 81st Independent AA Arty Bus 1,544 103d, 104th, 105th Machine Cannon Bns 1,011 3d, 4th, 14th, 17th, 23d independent Machine Gun Bns 1,663 Total Artillery and Automatic Weapons 11,476 Shipping and Engineers 23d, 26th Shipping Engr Regt (minus 1 co each) 1,600 66th independent Engr Bn 865 7th Shipping Hq, Naha Branch 300 Field Shipping Main Depot, Okinawa Branch 100 11th Shipping Group 100 101st, 102d Sea Duty Cos (Koreans) 1,500 Total Shipping and Engineers 4,465
Unit Estimated
Strength
(Japanese
OnlyAir Force (Ground) 19th Air Sector Command Hq 41 44th, 50th, 56th, 158th Airfield Bns 1,487 3d, 75th Airfield Cos 458 2d Air Sig Regt (elements) 500 6th Air Fixed Sig Unit 50 21st Air Sig Unit 100 25th, 26th AA Radio Units 150 3d Independent Air Maintenance Unit 120 118th Independent Maintenance Unit 130 29th Field Airfield Construction Bn 750 5th Field Air Repair Depot Bn 300 502d, 503d, 504th Special Garrison Engr Units 2,850 Total Air Force (Ground) 6,936 Line of Communications Troops 36th Sig Regt (including 106th, 126th, 127th Independent Wire Cos; 100th, 109th, 113th-116th, 131st, 132d Independent Radio Plats) 1,912 49th L of C Sector Unit 1,400 32d Army Field Freight Depot 1,167 32d Army Field Ord Depot 1,498 27th Field Water Purification Unit 244 14th, 20th Field Well Drilling Cos 400 Okinawa Mil Hosp 20 4 72d Land Duty Co 508 Total Line of Communications Troops 7,333 Naval Units 3,500 Miscellaneous Units 5th Sea Raiding Base Hq 42 1st-3d Sea Raiding Sqs 312 3d independent Sea Transport Unit 250 7th Field Shipping Unit 700 11th Sea Transportation Bn 400 46th Independent Airfield Co 120 2d Field Construction Duty Co 366 6th, 7th Construction Duty Cos 662 32d Army Ord Duty Unit 150 32d Army Det Construction Unit 357 Total Miscellaneous Units 3,359 Total Strength 77,199Ý Source: Tenth Army G-2 Intelligence Monograph, Ryukyus Campaign, Pt 1, Sec B: Order of Battle, p. 3.
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1. Strengths of the 1st and 2d Provisional Brigs (1st-6th Special Established Regts) and of the 6th and 50th Special Established Bns are omitted because the service units from which they were formed are itemized individually in this list. Footnotes