Japan sent tropps to westfront?

First World War 1914-1918 from the German perspective.

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Henrik Andersson
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Japan sent tropps to westfront?

Post by Henrik Andersson »

I read Japan lost three man, all officers in west front during wwI.
How many soldier from Japan was in west?
ghp95134
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Re: Japan sent tropps to westfront?

Post by ghp95134 »

Japan did participate on the Allied side during WWI -- but they operated mostly in the South Pacific & Indian Ocean region against German holdings (some in China as well). Their participation in the Western side of the world was entirely naval -- in South Africa and the Mediterranian. More at Wikipedia. Because of their participation, Japan received possession of the German holdings in Asia.

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phylo_roadking
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Re: Japan sent tropps to westfront?

Post by phylo_roadking »

Guy, are you sure? The Crown Prince visited the Western Front during the war...and I wish I could find my way back to the source, but IIRC it was to visit two battalions of Japanese sent to Europe as a token.
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ghp95134
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Re: Japan sent tropps to westfront?

Post by ghp95134 »

Phylo,

I'm not sure -- but all I've ever heard about was Japan's naval participation. Looks like a case of: "...more research required." @{

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Re: Japan sent tropps to westfront?

Post by ghp95134 »

[Apply more research here ...]

Siberian Intervention During WWI
...more than 70,000 Japanese troops joined the much smaller units of the Allied Expeditionary Force sent to Siberia in 1918....

Source
Also called the Archangel Expedition

Aha! The smoking gun .... kinda:
Japan War dead figure of 415 is from a 1991 history of the Japanese Army[19,111]. However, Michael Clodfelter reported the official toll was put at 300 KIA and noted that "A more reliable count of total Japanese military deaths from all causes lists 1,344 fatalities."[21] Casualties reported by the US War Dept in 1924 were 300 killed and died [25]

[ :!: The Wiki table states 907 Japanese military were wounded in WWI.]
Source

Now ... if we can discover where the casualties occured!!
--Guy
phylo_roadking
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Re: Japan sent tropps to westfront?

Post by phylo_roadking »

The smoke gets thicker!!!

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forum ... 46804.html

Japanese-Canadians (but born in Japan) in the CEF??? :shock: :shock: :shock:
"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." - Malcolm Reynolds
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Re: Japan sent tropps to westfront?

Post by ghp95134 »

That was a good find, Phylo. I'll keep my nose to the grindstone and see if I can find something just as intersting.

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Re: Japan sent tropps to westfront?

Post by ghp95134 »

World War I: Encyclopaedia, Spencer C. Tucker, ed.

Casualties mentioned bottom of p. 607 through top of 608.
Japan mobilised 800,000 men during World War I, of whom the Japanese reported approximately 300 were killed and 907 wounded, while 3 were captured or went missing, a casualty rate of only 0.2 percent. These figures do not include the 1,445 Japanese killed and 4,200 wounded at the siege of Qingdao [Tsingtao]. They may, however, have taken into account the 59 men lost when the Japanese destroyer Sakai was torpedoed while on excort duty in the Mediterranean. [ghp: I believe it was an Austro-Hungarian U-boat] The Siberian Expedition claimed another 3,116 dead, of whom 1,717 were from injuries and sickness, the rest from combat. Undoubtedly omitted are the 50,000 Japanese settlers abandoned in Eastern Siberia in 1922, many of whom died at the hands of the vengeful Bolsheviks....
Page 608:
Japan rejected French and Russian requests for troops to participate in land fighting against the Central Powers. Indeed, in January 1917, when Japan's allies again requested troops, Japanese diplomats at these talks demanded in compensation the northern half of Sakhalin Island, more control over railways in central Manchuria, and the demilitarization of Vladivostok, Russia's chief port....
Page 609: Photo of "Japanese troops advancing on Bolshevik forces in Siberia, August 1918." It's a Google Book, so I can't pirate the photo.

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Your turn :wink:

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--Guy
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Re: Japan sent tropps to westfront?

Post by phylo_roadking »

Japan mobilised 800,000 men during World War I, of whom the Japanese reported approximately 300 were killed and 907 wounded, while 3 were captured or went missing, a casualty rate of only 0.2 percent. These figures do not include the 1,445 Japanese killed and 4,200 wounded at the siege of Qingdao [Tsingtao]. They may, however, have taken into account the 59 men lost when the Japanese destroyer Sakai was torpedoed while on excort duty in the Mediterranean. [ghp: I believe it was an Austro-Hungarian U-boat] The Siberian Expedition claimed another 3,116 dead, of whom 1,717 were from injuries and sickness, the rest from combat. Undoubtedly omitted are the 50,000 Japanese settlers abandoned in Eastern Siberia in 1922, many of whom died at the hands of the vengeful Bolsheviks....
Looking at that I can see a strange gap...

The "900 dead" doesn't DON'T include the losses at Tsingtao, though they DO possibly include the Med naval casualties. NOR does it include the 3116 dead in Siberia...which leaves 300 - 59...

...or around 240 deaths we don't know what happened to...except they DIDN'T die in the engagements exerpted out by the author :wink:
Japan rejected French and Russian requests for troops to participate in land fighting against the Central Powers. Indeed, in January 1917, when Japan's allies again requested troops, Japanese diplomats at these talks demanded in compensation the northern half of Sakhalin Island, more control over railways in central Manchuria, and the demilitarization of Vladivostok, Russia's chief port....
I don't doubt this refusal occured in 1917..but does that exerpt say when the OTHER request, the first one, was made???

P.S. If I can ever find my way back to what I saw - IIRC the numbers we're talking about as a token were exactly that, only 1500 men. If I could find that royal visit again that would probably clinch it, the detail would accompany that.
"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." - Malcolm Reynolds
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