History
The 15th Division was one of the four divisions raised in the closing stages of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). With Japan's resources strained to the breaking point towards the end of that conflict, the entire Imperial Japanese Army was committed to combat in Manchuria, leaving not a single division to guard the Japanese main islands in case of attack. The 15th Division was raised from men in the Nagoya area, and was originally based in Toyohashi, Aichi prefecture. After the conclusion of the Treaty of Portsmouth, it was dispatched to Korea as a garrison force.
It was later one of the divisions disbanded by War Minister Ugaki Kazushige as part of a cost-saving measure during the Kato Takaaki administration.
With the outbreak of hostilities against China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, the 15th Division was resurrected in Kyoto on 4 April 1938 and assigned to the central China command.
The division was ordered to join the IJA 15th Army in Burma on 17 June 1943, but was delayed with road-building in Thailand for several months. Arriving in Burma, the division took part in the attack on Imphal, (Operation U-Go) along with the IJA 31st and 33rd Divisions.
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