Japanese infantry division in 1938, peacetime organization as seen by Soviet intelligence

Japanese infantry division in 1938, peacetime organization as seen by Soviet intelligence.

Japanese infantry regiment Type "A", 1940 – TO&E organization drawing

Organization of the Japanese infantry regiment Type "A", created 1940, was the product of the reorganizations in 1930s.

Unusual feature of this unit was regimental Gun (or Artillery) Battalion to command regimental gun company and anti-tank company, which were previously subordinated directly to the regimental headquarters. 

But those battalions existed but for a short time. Tables of organization for this unit were adopted in October 1940, units were probably created by Spring of 1941, and by November 1941 some of them were already disbanded.  

It is not hard to guess, why this happened: two subordinate companies had too different duties to be put under the same headquarters. So previous arrangement was found out to be the best after all and all Type "A" infantry regiments had those headquarters disbanded.

But other features of this organization were considered successful and survived until 1945.

Proposed IJA infantry regiment, 1941 – TO&E drawing

Proposed organization of the infantry regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army, as seen by US intelligence. This organization was described, as part of the new divisional organization of the IJA, in the TM 30-480 "Handbook On Japanese Military Forces", published in 1941.

One thing immediately noticeable, compared to actual organization: serious shortage of transport horses with no motor vehicles available. Regiment couldn't move even its basic supplies. Maybe author of such arrangement thought, that fully motorized transport regiment of the division could detach its trucks to carry regimental supplies?

This organization does not correspond to the real tables of organization, introduced by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1940. Though some details does show knowledge of the actual Japanese infantry organization. Probably this organization is based on some proposals, published in contemporary Japanese military literature. 

 

IJA infantry regiments, 1936 – TO&E drawings

Two overall TO&E drawings and tables to compare basic types of the IJA infantry regiments of the mobilization plan for 1937: Type “A” of active infantry divisions, Type “B” of infantry divisions formed during mobilization. This is how the IJA infantry was organized at the beginning of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War (AKA “War of Resistance” or “China Incident”).

Drawings of two types look similar, but tables show Type “A” regiment is not just better armed, it armed with more modern weapons. This Type “A” organization became the basic organization of the infantry regiment till 1945. There were changes at companies level, but the basic framework remained the same.

Type “A”

Type “B”

TO&E drawing, Japanese intermediate organization of infantry company in 1939

 

This IJA TO&E drawing based on the document, provided by IJA TO&Es researcher Leland Ness: US 1940 report of 1939 Chinese intelligence report. I can see few errors in the document, but otherwise it's very good and detailed, especially on squads' equipment. It’s showing intermediate organization of infantry company between 15-men squads, originally planned in 1936, and 13-men squads as established as standard in 1940.

Very interesting to see, how data from other TO&Es I've researched suddenly "fits" in place here like a piece of puzzle.

For example, actual number of men, rifles and pistols as counted corresponds closely with the numbers in the 1936 infantry company TO&E (you can see it in my blog here: https://vijsko.blogspot.com/2025/09/to-drawing-of-infantry-company-of-type.html).

Apparently the IJA wanted to keep old TO&E strength and armament of the company and only added more LMGs and grenade dischargers to match new "12-squad" company organization.

And new, increased company strength of 205 men, also mentioned in this document, is the same as company strength in the Soviet intelligence publication, showing 1936 draft of the new IJA infantry organization (you can see it in my blog here: https://vijsko.blogspot.com/2025/09/to-drawing-of-draft-of-new-organization.html).

TO&E drawing, Japanese machine-gun company (1945) - 12-guns

12-gun machine-gun company was usually assigned to infantry battalion of Type "A" infantry regiments and similar divisions, like Counter-attack division of 1945, as shown here.

Note, this version of TO&E has 2 NCOs, whose assignments not clear from the organization details or TO&E notes. So their assignment is my guesstimate.

TO&E drawing, Japanese machine-gun company (1940 & 1943) - 8-guns

 8-gun machine-gun company like shown here was the most widespread MG company organization of the IJA infantry.

Note, that company warrant officer commanded ammunition platoon, which put additional burden on the company master sergeant, who had to do most administrative work by himself.

Another strangeness of this TO&E is, that 4 MG platoons were served by only 3 ammunition squads of uneven strength.