The Japanese Kwantung Army, this word, has a very important position in the entire history of the War of Resistance. This unit was first established in 1905 by Japan in the northeast under the pretext of protecting the rights and interests of the South Manchuria Railway, a so-called "Manchurian Railway" garrison, and a Japanese division stationed in Southern Manchuria.
These two forces, with a strength of about 20,000 troops, were commanded by the Japanese governor of Kanto, because at that time Japan set up a "Kanto Prefecture" in the northeast-controlled area, so the two forces were collectively called the "Kwantung Army".
On September 18, 1931, Japan brazenly launched the "918" incident. After that, the Japanese army rapidly expanded the Kwantung Army, with only 3 divisions in the Kwantung Army in 1931, 6 in 1932, 5 divisions from 1933 to 1936, 7 in 1937, 9 in 1938, 11 in 1939, and 12 in 1940.
By the second half of 1941, the Japanese army once again mobilized a large number of troops to the northeast, and the total strength of the Kwantung Army reached 850,000 people in 31 divisions and regiments, claiming to be one million to the outside world. However, in the second half of 1943, the Japanese army repeatedly lost battles in the Pacific Theater and began to draw reinforcements from the Kwantung Army, and by April 1945, a total of more than 20 divisions and regiments had been drawn, and these divisions and regiments had basically become cannon fodder.
In early May 1945, with the surrender of Germany, the Japanese army again increased the strength of the Kwantung Army, and the 25 Japanese soldiers who had retired from the Northeast were recalled, and the entire strength of the Kwantung Army once again reached 24 divisions and regiments, about 700,000 people.
On August 15, 1945, the Japanese Emperor announced his unconditional surrender, and the Japanese Kwantung Army actually resisted the powerful Soviet Red Army under the pretext of not receiving an armistice order, and as a result, it was beaten very badly, killing 83,000 people and capturing 594,000 people. After the war, the remaining officers and men of the Kwantung Army were sent to Siberia as prisoners for forced labor.