Japanese 60th Army

The Japanese 60th Army was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army that fought in the New Guinea Campaign of 1942-1945. It was the last army to surrender, capitulating on September 1, 1945, following a series of skirmishes with Allied soldiers.

History Edit

The 60th Army was created in 1939 before the start of World War II, and it was led by Shirozumi Zamayumi from 1939 to 1940, when Zamayumi's transport plane crashed over New Ireland. His subordinate Shikazuke Haruyama took over the 60th Army and fought a campaign of attrition against the Americans and Australians in New Guinea. The 60th Army's 100,000 troops were poorly-equipped and poorly-motivated, with many of their soldiers going missing in the jungle. The 60th Army surrendered on September 1, 1945, after seeing limited combat with Allied troops, in which Haruyama was killed in action. Sugeo Hatakeyama surrendered over the army's HQ and barracks as well as its supplies later that day.