Appendix B

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.

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Unit	Estimated Strength (Japanese Only)
32d Army Hq	1,070
Infantry (a)
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

 

Unit	Estimated Strength (Japanese Only)
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

 

Unit	Estimated Strength (Japanese Only)
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

 

(a) 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.

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Unit	Estimated Strength (Japanese Only)
Air Force (Ground)
19th Air Sector Command Hq	41
44th, 50th, 56th, 158th Airfield Bns	1,487
3d, 75th Airfield Cos	458
2 d 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

 

Unit	Estimated Strength (Japanese Only)
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
32 d 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

 

Unit	Estimated Strength (Japanese Only)
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

77,199

Source: Tenth Army G-2 Intelligence Monograph, Ryukyus Campaign, Pt 1, Sec B: Order of Battle, p3

 

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page created 10 December 2001

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