Kwantung Army
The Kwantung Army (Japanese: 関東軍, Kantō-gun) was a general army of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1919 to 1945.
Kwantung Army
April 1919 – August 1945
300,000 (1940)
763,000 (1941)
713,000 (1945)
Ryojun, Kwantung Leased Territory (1906–1932)
Xinjing, Manchukuo (1932–1945)
Toku (德兵團, Toku heidan), "Virtue"
關東軍
关东军
Guāndōngjūn
Guāndōngjūn
Kuan1-tung1 Chün1
Gwāan dūng gwān
Gwaan1 dung1 gwan1
관동군
關東軍
Gwandonggun
Gantogun
Gwandonggun
Gantogun
Kwandonggun
Kant'ogun
関東軍
かんとうぐん
Kantō-gun
Kantō-gun
The Kwantung Army was formed in 1906 as a security force for the Kwantung Leased Territory and South Manchurian Railway Zone after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 and expanded into an army group during the Interwar period to support Japanese interests in China, Manchuria, and Mongolia. The Kwantung Army became the most prestigious command in the Imperial Japanese Army, and many of its personnel won promotions to high positions in the Japanese military and civil government, including Hideki Tōjō and Seishirō Itagaki. The Kwantung Army was largely responsible for the establishment of the Japanese puppet-state of Manchukuo in Manchuria and functioned as one of the main Japanese fighting forces during the 1937–1945 Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937.
In August 1945 Soviet troops engaged the Kwantung Army during the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation. The Kwantung Army surrendered to the Soviets on 16 August 1945 – the day after the Surrender of Japan – and was subsequently dissolved.
The Kwantung Army perpetrated several war crimes during World War II, sponsoring Unit 731, which both carried out acts of biological warfare and performed unethical human experimentation on civilians and Allied prisoners of war.
Map of Japanese Hokushin-ron plans for a potential attack on the Soviet Union. Dates indicate the year that Japan gained control of the territory.
