Japanese Off To War – Graduates of the 20th Field Artillery Regiment Officer School – Unit Decimated at Peleliu

$775.00

The silk flag is approximately 28 inches by 32 inches, exclusive of the fringe. The flag has three leather reinforced grommets on the hoist edge. The flag has some spots, as well as small scattered holes, but the colors are bright and the flag makes an impressive appearance. The flag bears kanji which read “Congratulations Utsunomiya Field Artillery 20th Regiment Officer Cadets”, with the flag naming graduating officer cadet “Mr. Hatori Iyoji”, as well as including the names of four other officer cadets: Ikeda; Otake; Shijima; and Nara. “Utsunomiya” is located north of Tokyo in Tochigi Prefecture. The 20th Field Artillery Regiment was part of the 14th Infantry Division. In August 1942, the 14th Division was sent to Manchukuo, and assigned to garrison duty. As the situation in the Pacific War against the United States continued to deteriorate, the Supreme War Council began transferring forces out of Manchukuo to the southern operational areas. The 14th Division under the command of Lieutenant General Sadae Inoue was assigned to Palau 24 April 1944, with its 2nd regiment and 3rd battalion of 15th regiment were sent to the island of Peleliu, one battalion of its 59th Infantry Regiment stationed on the island of Angaur, and the rest of the 59th regiment and 15th regiment were sent to the Babeldaob island along with divisional headquarters. Before departure, the infantry regiments were reorganized, absorbing divisional engineers, artillery, transport and reconnaissance units. The loss of machine cannon company during transportation also has resulted in abandonment of the plans to deploy a newly created 22nd independent mixed engineer regiment to the western New Guinea. The subsequent Battle of Peleliu and Battle of Angaur were among the fiercest of the Pacific War. At Angaur, 1338 of the 1400 defenders were killed, and at Peleliu, 10,695 of the 11,000 defenders perished from 15 September 1944 to 24 November 1944. As the troops on Peleliu were wiped out, the transfer of the 2nd battalion of 15th regiment to Peleliu was cancelled. The Babeldaob was never invaded, but the units stationed there suffered severe casualties due to airstrikes and starvation nonetheless.

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Item Number: 64115 Category: