The was a field army

Field army

A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....

 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...

 during 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...

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History

The Japanese North China Area Army was formed on August 21, 1937 under the control of the Imperial General Headquarters

Imperial General Headquarters

The as part of the Supreme War Council was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime...

. It was transferred to the newly formed China Expeditionary Army on September 23, 1939. Headquartered in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, it was responsible for direction and coordination of the Japanese military activity in all of north China

North China

thumb|250px|Northern [[People's Republic of China]] region.Northern China or North China is a geographical region of China. The heartland of North China is the North China Plain....

. It was demobilized in Beijing at 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...

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Commanding officers

	Name	From	To
1	General Hisaichi Terauchi	26 August 1937	9 December 1938
2	General Hajime Sugiyama	9 December 1938	12 September 1939
3	Lieutenant General Hayao Tada Hayao Tada -External links:* - Notes :...	12 September 1939	7 July 1941
4	General Yasuji Okamura Yasuji Okamura - Notes :...	7 July 1941	25 August 1944
5	General Naozaburo Okabe	25 August 1944	22 November 1944
6	Lieutenant General Sadamu Shimomura	22 November 1944	15 August 1945

Chiefs of Staff

	Name	From	To
1	Major General Naozaburo Okabe	26 August 1937	15 July 1938
2	Major General Tomoyuki Yamashita Tomoyuki Yamashita General was a general of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. He was most famous for conquering the British colonies of Malaya and Singapore, earning the nickname "The Tiger of Malaya".- Biography :...	15 July 1938	23 September 1939
3	Major General Yukio Kasahara Yukio Kasahara - Notes :...	23 September 1939	1 March 1941
4	Lieutenant General Moritake Tanabe Moritake Tanabe -Notes:...	1 March 1941	6 November 1941
5	Lieutenant General Hatazō Adachi Hatazo Adachi was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.-Early career:Adachi was born into an impoverished samurai family in Ishikawa Prefecture in 1890...	6 November 1941	9 November 1942
6	Lieutenant General Sanji Okido	9 November 1942	14 October 1944
7	Major General Gaku Takahashi	14 November 1944	15 August 1945