The was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army

Imperial Japanese Army

-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

. Its call sign

Call sign

In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...

 was the .

History

The 6th Infantry Division was formed in Kumamoto City on 12 May 1888, as one of the new divisions to be created after the reorganization of the Imperial Japanese Army away from six regional commands and into a divisional command structure, as per the recommendations of the Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

n military advisor

Military advisor

Military advisors, or combat advisors, are soldiers sent to foreign nations to aid that nation with its military training, organization, and other various military tasks. These soldiers are often sent to aid a nation without the potential casualties and political ramifications of actually...

 Jakob Meckel

Jakob Meckel

Klemens Wilhelm Jacob Meckel was a general in the Prussian army and foreign advisor to the government of Meiji period Japan.-Biography:...

 to the Japanese government. Its troops were drawn primarily from the southern prefectures of Kyūshū

Kyushu

is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....

.

It participated in combat during the First Sino-Japanese War

First Sino-Japanese War

The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea...

 at the Battle of Weihaiwei

Battle of Weihaiwei

The Battle of Weihaiwei was a 23 day siege with a major land and naval component during the First Sino-Japanese War. It took place between 20 January and 12 February 1895 in Weihai, Shandong Province, China) between the forces of Meiji Japan and Qing China...

, and in Russo-Japanese War

Russo-Japanese War

The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...

 at the Battle of Shaho

Battle of Shaho

The Battle of Shaho was a land battle of the Russo-Japanese War fought along a front centered at the Sha River on the Mukden–Port Arthur spur of the China Far East Railway just north of Liaoyang, Manchuria.-Background:...

 and the Battle of Mukden

Battle of Mukden

One of the largest land battles to be fought before World War I, the , the last major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, was fought from 20 February to 10 March 1905 between Japan and Russia near Mukden in Manchuria...

. In 1923, it was assigned to garrison duty in Manchuria

Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...

, and from Manchuria sent detachments to participate in the Second Shandong Incident

Jinan Incident

The Jinan Incident or May 3rd Tragedy , was an armed conflict between the Japanese Army allied with Northern Chinese warlords against the Kuomintang's southern army in Jinan, the capital of Shandong in 1928 during the Kuomintang's Northern Expedition.-Background:During the Northern Expedition,...

.

During the Manchurian Incident, the 6th Infantry Division was in Operation Nekka, to secure the western flank of Manchuria north of the Great Wall.

With the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War

Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...

, the 6th Infantry Division participated in the Battle of Nanjing

Battle of Nanjing

The Battle of Nanking began after the fall of Shanghai on October 9, 1937, and ended with the fall of the capital city of Nanking on December 13, 1937 to Japanese troops, a few days after the Republic of China Government had evacuated the city and relocated to Wuhan...

, Battle of Xuzhou

Battle of Xuzhou

The Battle of Xuzhou was fought between Japanese and Chinese forces in May 1938 during Second Sino-Japanese War. In contemporary accounts in English, the event was usually referred to as the "Battle of Hsuchow", using the Chinese Postal Map Romanization....

 and Battle of Wuhan

Battle of Wuhan

The Battle of Wuhan, popularly known to the Chinese as the Defence of Wuhan, and to the Japanese as the Capture of Wuhan, was a large-scale battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War...

 before being withdrawn to Japan. It was then reassigned to the Japanese Seventeenth Army at Bougainville Island

Bougainville Island

Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons. The population of the province is 175,160 , which includes the adjacent island of Buka and assorted outlying islands...

 in the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

, and was annihilated at Battle of Bougainville in 1945.

Some of the more noteworthy commanders in the history of the 6th Infantry Division include: Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa

Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa

of Japan, was the 2nd head of a collateral branch of the Japanese imperial family.- Early life :Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa was the ninth son of Prince Fushimi Kuniye . He entered the Buddhist priesthood under the title Rinnoji-no-miya...

, Kuroki Tamemoto

Kuroki Tamemoto

Count was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army. He was the head of the Japanese First Army during the Russo-Japanese War; and his forces enjoyed a series of successes during the Manchurian fighting at the Battle of Yalu River, the Battle of Liaoyang, the Battle of Shaho and the Battle of...

, Okubo Haruno, Akashi Motojiro

Akashi Motojiro

-Notes:...

, and Sadao Araki

Sadao Araki

Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army before World War II. A charismatic leader and one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the late Japanese Empire, he was regarded as the leader of the radical faction within the politicized Japanese Army and served as...

.

Organization

Its Order of Battle included:

• 13th Infantry Regiment (Kumamoto)
• 23rd Infantry Regiment (Miyakonojo, Miyazaki
  Miyakonojo, Miyazaki
  is a city located in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan.The city was founded on April 1, 1924. On January 1, 2006 the towns of Takajō, Takazaki, Yamada and Yamanokuchi merged into the city. As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 169,384 and a population density of 259 per km²...
  
  )
• 45th Infantry Regiment (Kagoshima)

Reference and further reading

• Madej, W. Victor. Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937–1945 [2 vols] Allentown, PA: 1981