The was an army

Corps

A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...

 of 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...

 based in Manchukuo

Manchukuo

Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...

 as a garrison

Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....

 force during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 under the overall command of the Kwantung Army.

History

The Japanese 5th Army was initially raised on December 7, 1937 in Manchukuo as a garrison

Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....

 force to guard the eastern borders against possible incursions by the Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

. As it was based on the eastern frontier, it was not a participant in the Nomonhan Incident, but was temporarily disbanded on February 26, 1938. It was re-established on May 19, 1939 under the direct control of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff. It afterwards came under the command of the Japanese First Area Army

Japanese First Area Army

The was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, based in northern Manchukuo and active in combat against the Soviet Union in the closing stages of the war...

, under the overall command of the Kwantung Army, and was used primarily as a training and garrison force. Its equipment and experienced troops were siphoned off to other commands in the southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

 theatre of operations as the war situation gradually deteriorated for Japan. By the time of the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, its poorly equipped and poorly trained forces were no longer a match for the experienced battle-hardened Soviet armored divisions, and it was driven back into defensive positions in Andong Province

Andong (province)

Andong, also known as Antung , was a former province in Northeast China, located in what was once part of Liaoning and Jilin provinces...

 along the Korean border

Yalu River

The Yalu River or the Amnok River is a river on the border between North Korea and the People's Republic of China....

 by the time of the surrender of Japan

Surrender of Japan

The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...

. It was formally disbanded at Jixi

Jixi

Jixi is a city in eastern Heilongjiang Province in the People's Republic of China. At the 2010 census, 1,862,161 people resided within its administrative area of 22,351 square kilometers and 757,647 in its built up area made of 4 out of 6 urban districts...

.

Commanding officer

	Name	From	To
1	General Motoo Furusho Motoo Furusho - Notes :...	8 December 1937	26 February 1938
2	General Kenji Doihara Kenji Doihara was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. He was instrumental in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria for which he earned fame taking the nickname 'Lawrence of Manchuria', a reference to the Lawrence of Arabia....	19 May 1939	28 September 1940
3	Lieutenant General Shigeichi Hada	28 September 1940	15 October 1941
4	Lieutenant General Jo Iimura Jo Iimura - Notes :...	15 October 1941	29 October 1943
5	Lieutenant General Toshimichi Uemura	29 October 1943	27 June 1944
6	Lieutenant General Noritsune Shimizu	27 June 1944	September 1945

Chief of Staff

	Name	From	To
1	Lieutenant General Masatake Shina	8 December 1937	26 February 1938
2	Lieutenant General Shizuo Kurashige	19 May 1939	9 March 1940
3	Lieutenant General Shira Makino	9 March 1940	24 April 1941
4	Lieutenant General Senichi Tasaka	24 April 1941	1 July 1942
5	Major General Masazumi Ineda	1 July 1942	22 February 1943
6	Lieutenant General Tadasu Kataoka	22 February 1943	3 August 1944
7	Major General Shigesada Kawagoe	3 August 1944	September 1945