Thirtieth Army (Japan)

The Japanese 30th Army was initially raised on July 30, 1945 in the Manchukuo capital of Xinjing.As the war situation on the Pacific front grew increasingly desperate for Japan, the Imperial Japanese Army transferred more and more experienced divisions out of Manchukuo to other fronts.By early 1945, the vaunted Kwantung Army was largely hollowed out, and indications of a buildup of Soviet Red Army forces on the borders on Mengjiang and Manchukuo were alarming.The Japanese 30th Army was assigned to the Japanese Third Area Army, and based in southern Manchukuo, but it was raised only days before the beginning of the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, and its force of under-armed and untrained raw recruits, reservists and civilian militia were absolutely no match for the experienced battle-hardened Soviet armored divisions.After a brief struggle at Xinjing (during which time the remnants of the Manchukuo Imperial Guard also defected to the Soviet side, the Japanese 30th Army surrendered.
Empire of JapanImperial Japanese ArmyInfantryXinjingManchukuoSoviet invasion of ManchuriaJapanese Third Area Army39th Infantry Division125th Infantry Division138th Infantry Division148th Infantry DivisionWorld War IIPacific frontdivisionsSovietRed ArmyMengjiangmilitiaarmored divisionsManchukuo Imperial GuardJapanese POWs in the Soviet UnionSiberiaShōjirō Iida