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(1937 article, translated from Russian by Eugen Pinak)
Introduction by Eugen Pinak
Original version of the article below was published in Russian language on pp. 141-148 of almanac “Troops’ Mobilization” No. 3 (19) for 1937. Yes, Soviet Red Army had special secret magazine about mobilization matters.
The article was written by Mikhail Ivanovich Sirotkin, Deputy head of the 7th (Japanese) Section and secret representative of the 2nd (Eastern) Department of the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army.
In 1938 Sirotkin (already in the position of Head of the 7th Section of the 2nd Department) will be removed from the Red Army, condemned as “enemy of the people”, convicted and will serve 17 years in GULAG labor camps until mid-1950s.
The fact that Sirotkin served in the Imperial Japanese Army as an exchange officer (not to mention his knowledge of the Japanese language and professional intelligence background) gives enough grounds to assume that the article is reliable description of the mobilization system of the Imperial Japanese Army in mid-1930s.
by Mikhail Ivanovich Sirotkin
The recruitment system, categories of conscripts, mobilization resources.
Japan has adopted a territorial system of recruiting the army. The country’s territory is divided into 14 divisional districts (according to the number of divisions, with the exception of three divisions, recruited extraterritorially), from which the divisions receive their conscription contingent. Independent cavalry units and special units, that are not part of the infantry divisions, are recruited from all over the country. Each divisional district is divided into 4 regimental sections, and each regimental section, in turn, is divided into recruiting sections in the amount of 2 to 13 per regimental section.
The divisional headquarters manages the activities of the regimental sections through the department of regimental sections within it. In addition, supervision and control over the work of the regimental sections is also assigned to the brigade commanders.
Colonels are appointed as heads of regimental sections. The section chief has a staff of 5-10 people with a special officer at the head. Both the divisional headquarters and the heads of the regimental sections organize the work in close contact with local civilian administrative heads.
The general annual distribution of the conscription contingent among the divisional districts is carried out by the Army Ministry. Division commanders distribute the contingents assigned to them according to the distribution among the regimental sections, and the heads of the latter - among the recruiting sections. Within the timeframes specified by the Army Minister, the conscription, examination and drawing of lots for those assigned to regimental stations are carried out, as well as re-examination of persons who for some reason received a deferment in the previous year.
The examination and drawing of lots are carried out at the conscription station. After the dates of conscription have been approved at individual conscription stations, the local civil administrative heads (heads of cities, villages) are notified accordingly, and they send out personal summonses to the conscripts indicating the date and place of appearance. As a result of the medical examination, the conscription contingent is divided into the following categories:
· fit for active service;
· unfit for active service, but fit for service in the militia;
· not fit at all for military service;
· conditionally unfit, subject to a second re-examination in a year.
The results of the examination and subsequent drawing of lots by the heads of the recruiting sections are noted in the lists of conscripts. These lists are forwarded to the heads of the regimental sections, who make the final decision on the enrollment of those who have passed the examination for active service or in the reserve of the 1st or 2nd category, or on their complete exemption from military service. Persons, found fit, serve in the army in the following order:
· Conscript service in the units - 2 years.
· Replacement of the 1st category - 5 years 4 months. After the end of the active service period.
· Replacement of the 2nd category - 10 years. After the end of the service in the replacement of the 1st category.
· Reserve of the 1st category - 12 years 4 months. Those who were not accepted for active service due to the surplus of those called up.
· Reserve of the 2nd category - 12 years 4 months. Those who were not included in the active service or in the replacement of the 1st category due to the surplus of those called up.
Persons who have completed their service in the replacement or the reserve are enrolled in the militia of the 1st category, in which they remain until the age of 40. All other persons aged 17 to 40, not enrolled in either permanent military service or in the reserve, are enrolled in the militia of the 2nd category.
Thus, the mobilization resources of the army are made up of the following contingents of military personnel.
Those who have completed active service in the ranks of the regular army:
· Replacement of the 1st category - 5 annual conscription classes.
· Replacement of the 2nd category - 10 annual conscription classes.
Those who have completed training outside the military at special training camps:
· Reserve of the 1st category - 12 annual conscription classes.
· Reserve of the 2nd category - 12 annual conscription classes.
Some of those, who served in regular army units, some of those, who received military training in the reserves:
· Militia of the 1st category - 2 annual conscription classes.
Persons aged 17 to 40, who have not received any military training:
· Militia of the 2nd category.
The total number of conscripts who have undergone military training in the army or in the reserves, aged up to 40 years, is about 3 000 000 people. The total number of fit human contingents, both trained and untrained, aged from 17 to 40 years, reaches 6 000 000 people.
Mobilization registration of conscripts.
The territorial system of manning the army also determines the territorial principle of registration of conscripts.
For each conscript on active service in the army, the headquarters of the military unit starts a registration-mobilization list (sheet). At the end of their active service, when military personnel are transferred to the reserve, their registration-mobilization lists are sent by the unit headquarters to the heads of the relevant regimental sections at the place of civil registration of the conscripts.
Registration-mobilization lists for persons, enrolled during the reserve upon call-up, are compiled by the heads of the regimental sections based on information reported by civil administrative bodies. At the time of the call-up of reservists for training camps, copies are sent to the commanders of the units where the camp is held.
Registration mobilization lists contain the following information:
· surname and first name, date of birth (or mark in case of death), place of civil registration, place of residence;
· arm or service, rank, grade, category, specialty, qualifications and special knowledge, when and in what capacity he joined the army, the unit in which he served, awards, penalties; last name and first name of the person responsible for timely notification of changes in the entered information in the event of the absence (departure) of the conscript himself;
· service career:
· entry into a unit, discharge from a unit, length of active military service, changes in service, service trips, participation in commissions, foreign awards, pay increases;
· mobilization call-up, demobilization, arrival to and departure from the theater of military operations (through which ports), participation in battles, injuries, illnesses, etc.
Conscripts must report any changes in their registration data that may occur after the list has been filled in no later than 14 days to the headquarters of the regimental section at the place of civilian registration. Registration-mobilization lists are documents on the basis of which the headquarters of the regimental section, having received the appropriate allocation from the department of regimental sections of the division headquarters, assigns conscripts to military units to cover the mobilization requirements. Copies of the registration-mobilization lists for the assigned personnel are sent to the commanders of the relevant units. In addition to the mobilization-registration list, for each assigned person a mobilization notice of the following form is prepared by the regimental section:
[Sample of the mobilization notice is omitted. - E.P.]
The prepared mobilization notices with attached coupons for transportation by rail (or waterways) and forms of receipts for the delivery of the mobilization notices are placed in envelopes and handed over to the heads of local administrative bodies - the heads of police departments or the heads of cities, who are responsible for sending out mobilization notices to those liable for military service when mobilization is announced.
The envelopes with mobilization notices are stored grouped by mobilization categories (and in police departments, in addition, by individual settlements and villages).
A similar system of mobilization accounting and registration of those liable for military service applies equally to both rank and file personnel and to non-commissioned officers and reserve officers.
The main military mobilization body, responsible for the registration and assignment of human mobilization resources is, thus, the headquarters of the regimental section, which carries out its work in close coordination with local civilian administrative bodies. The regimental section headquarters are equally responsible for the registration of horses, harness, train and other property of the local population, to be supplied to military units during mobilization.
Development of mobilization plans. Alert system during mobilization.
The development of mobilization plans is supervised by the General Staff. The basic guidelines for developing an army mobilization plan are determined by the 1st (operational) Department of the General Staff together with the 3rd (military communications) Department. The technical development of mobilization plans is supervised by the Military Preparations Department of the Army Ministry, consisting of three departments: mobilization, organizational and the military industry department (arsenals department). The preparation of all state resources for war and the coordination of the army’s mobilization needs with various sectors of the national economy are the responsibility of the National Resources Council with its executive body, the National Resources Bureau, and the ministries’ mobilization departments.
At the local level, mobilization work up to the level of the Army Ministry is carried out, as already indicated above, by division headquarters and regimental sections headquarters, which carry out mobilization registration and assignment to units of personnel and horses, as well as resources subject to delivery during mobilization (carts, automobiles, telephone and telegraph equipment, etc.).
On the civilian side, mobilization work on the ground is carried out by prefectural administrations (in the colonies - by provincial administrations), administrations of the governorates-general of the colonies and city administrations.
All mobilization calculations and schedules are checked and updated by 1 April of each year [1 April is also the beginning of the Fiscal year in Japan. - E.P.]. Calculations of notification and turnout of military personnel are checked at each regular assembly of reservists and retraining call-ups for reserve officers.
Notification of personnel during mobilization is entrusted mainly to local civil administrative bodies, which receive the corresponding notification through division headquarters. The order for mobilization is signed by the Emperor and immediately reported to the division headquarters, which in turn communicates it to the headquarters of the division units, the heads of regimental sections, and also to the civil authorities.
Upon receipt of the mobilization order, the commanders of the regimental sections communicate its contents to the relevant chiefs of police departments and city chiefs. The latter enter the year, month and date of appearance in the column “Time of arrival” in the mobilization notices kept by them, calculating the time of arrival by the number of days in the column “Date of appearance”, counting from the first day of mobilization.
Following this, the mobilization notices are urgently sent by the chiefs of police departments to the chiefs of settlements, and the chiefs of cities and villages disperse them for direct delivery to those liable for military service. Pre-selected persons, members of fire departments, members of local youth unions and members of other organizations are used to send out the summonses. Local authorities are granted the right to use local means of transportation belonging to private individuals (bicycles, motorcycles, cars, horses). To facilitate the search for those called up, boards are required on houses on which the names and surnames of replacements and reserves are written.
Persons who have received a mobilization notices are required to leave home no later than 24 hours later and report to the place where travel money is issued (in the case, when moving a significant distance is required). Within the time specified in the summons, the conscript must arrive at his unit using the method of transportation indicated in the notice. When traveling to the unit on foot, by horse or cart, he is required to travel at least 45 km per day.
Special hotels are opened along the routes of the mobilized, where the mobilized person receives board and lodging and is subjected to appropriate political indoctrination.
In addition to handing out notices to those liable for military service, police officers post mobilization posters in public places to notify the local population.
The high population density and highly developed network of railways and internal communication routes, with a territorial system of registration and registration of conscripts, fully ensure the reliability of the established notification procedure and the speed of the assembly of those called up for mobilization.
Peacetime and wartime Army. Supposed mobilization scheme.
The Japanese army in peacetime consists of 17 infantry divisions, 2 independent infantry brigades, 4 security brigades, 4 cavalry brigades, artillery, tank and other special units.
The total number of the peacetime army is about 330-340 000 people. Based on the operational needs of the theater of war, the availability of trained human contingents and the capabilities of the country's military-industrial base, it can be assumed that in wartime this army can be expanded into an army of up to 1 500 000 - 1 600 000 people by bringing the regular units up to the wartime TOEs level and forming units of the 2nd and 3rd mobilization waves. Organizationally, the wartime army will presumably consist of 35 infantry divisions (17 first-wave, 18 second-wave), 18 independent infantry brigades (or 7-8 third-wave divisions), 4-5 security brigades, 8 cavalry brigades and, accordingly, a number of special arms units of the armed forces will increase (2-3 times) in comparison with peacetime level.
By carrying out a number of organizational measures during mobilization, described in detail below, the Japanese High Command envisages the creation of such second-wave divisions whose combat value, both in terms of the qualitative selection of human contingents and in terms of technical equipment, will not be inferior to the first-wave units.
Experience with partial mobilizations of Japanese units in connection with events in China shows that first- wave infantry divisions can be mobilized within 3 days. Second-wave units can complete mobilization on the 8th-10th day. The end of mobilization of third-wave units will be delayed for a period of 3 to 4 weeks.
Mobilization of units. The role of the divisional territorial district.
The implementation of the mobilization deployment of the army’s regular units requires a number of complex organizational measures. In addition to the allocation of “hidden cadres” for the formation of second-wave divisions, the infantry has to form fourth infantry companies in infantry battalions while in artillery - third batteries in light, mountain and heavy field artillery battalions.
According to available data, peacetime units allocate about 30% of the officer corps and about 25% of the non-commissioned officer corps during mobilization to form second-wave units. In turn, about 50% of officers, 60% of non-commissioned officers and 6% of soldiers are allocated from second-wave units to form third-wave units (of which a quarter goes to form replacement units).
Nevertheless, due to the high population density, which fully ensures the availability of the necessary human resources in the recruitment areas, as well as thanks to a carefully developed system of mobilization measures in peacetime, divisions, which are located in their territorial districts, complete the mobilization of first-wave units on the 3rd day (and the logistics troops of first-wave divisions - on the 5th-6th day).
The mobilization of divisions, located in Korea and Manchuria, is to be made in incomparably more difficult conditions, since no more than 25% of the required number of reservists can be obtained locally, and the arrival of mobilization reinforcements from Japan is possible no earlier than the 4th-8th day of mobilization (depending on the area of the division’s location on the mainland).
In order to ensure timely filling the wartime TOEs, the military units of the Kwantung Army (also partially the troops, located in Korea), which are essentially a covering army, are already maintained in peacetime in a reinforced strength, approaching the wartime strength, and have reinforced reserves of mobilization equipment. Replenishment of the occupation army in Manchuria and China with the necessary mobilization resources will be carried out by conducting partial covert mobilizations under the guise of collecting replacements and reservists, reinforcements, partial replacement of troops on the mainland, etc. The secrecy of such mobilizations can be achieved all the more easily because in the Japanese army, training call-ups for replacements and reservists are a perfectly normal, everyday occurrence in full accordance with the established system of military service.
The activities of the divisional territorial district during the general mobilization require a significant amount of work. A wartime division consists of about 20 000 people. The composition of a peacetime division, minus personnel of the “hidden cadres” for new formations, only slightly exceeds 10 000 people. Thus, the first-wave division will require the addition of about 10 000 people. In addition, the divisional territorial district must provide reinforcements for the first-wave divisions, that do not have their own districts, as well as for the special units, recruited from all over the country. All this in total will amount to at least 15 000 people. The formation of a second-wave division will require 16 000 people. In addition, personnel will be required to form logistics and army replacement units, rear area units, army logistics units, etc. In total, mobilization should require, on average, a divisional district to call up about 90 000 people. In addition to personnel, mobilization should also cover all able-bodied horses, carts, cars and other property, supplied to the troops from local sources.
Sequence of conscription of annual conscription classes during mobilization.
Special attention during mobilization is paid to the fulfilling of the requirement, that second-wave divisions would be not inferior in combat qualities to the first-wave divisions (despite the presence in the second-wave divisions of five times less cadre personnel, compared to first-wave divisions). In addition to providing a selected cadre of commanders (battalion and company commanders, company first sergeants and the majority of professional non-commissioned officers are kept in the “hidden cadres” for the second-wave division - in total over 1500 people), the second-wave division is provided with younger annual conscription classes than the first-wave division. The economy of younger classes of replacements is expressed in the fact that the class, that has just completed active service, is not assigned to either the first-wave or second-wave divisions, but is retained as the backbone for replacement units. This measure is also explained by the fact that this class, left at the disposal of the Army Ministry, can be partially used up already in peacetime (for example, to replenish divisions located on the Asian mainland), as a result of which it cannot be reliably counted on as a mobilization contingent. In general, the following distribution of thirteen younger annual conscription classes is planned (classes 1 and 2 - active service, classes 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 - replacement of the 1st category and classes 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 - the younger part of the replacement of the 2nd category).
Number of those called up (replacements only):
· Mobilized units of the first wave (1st call-up of mobilization) - 1, 2, 6, 8 and 10 annual conscription classes: 210 000.
· Mobilized units of the second line (2nd call-up of mobilization) - 4, 5, 7 and 9 annual conscription classes: 295 000.
· Replacement units and new formations remaining in peace-time garrisons (3rd call-up of mobilization) - 3, 11, 12 and 13 annual conscription classes: 295 000.
For each call-up there will be 100 000 trained non-combatants and 120-130 000 reservists who have received short-term reserve training; this will bring the total number of the 1st call-up to 440 000, of the 2nd call-up to 524 000, of the 3rd call-up to 515 000 people (the 3rd call-up, containing significant surpluses of personnel, will not be mobilized immediately, but as needed, to compensate for losses in the theater of military operations). In addition, each call-up will include about 50 000 of officers, non-commissioned officers and administrative personnel.
The remaining older classes of the replacement of the 2nd category and the militia of the 1st category (a total of six annual conscription classes) will, in the event of a protracted war, be called up sequentially, starting with the younger classes. The large number of classes, mobilized for first-wave divisions, is explained by the fact that part of the 1 and 2 conscription classes are included in the second-wave divisions in the form of “hidden cadres”.
Economy in the expenditure of young age conscription classes will be achieved by including in all call-ups a certain portion of the reservists of the 1st category, who have received paramilitary training outside of the army. In rear replacement units reservists will represent a very significant portion of their strength.
CONCLUSIONS
The lack of sufficient materials on the mobilization of the Japanese army forces us to limit ourselves to the above limited assessments and calculations, which provide only general, starting points for the character of the mobilization system of the Japanese army.
An examination of these assessments allows us to draw the following brief conclusions:
1. The number of military-trained human resources (replacements and reserves) fully satisfies the mobilization needs of the army, allowing the peacetime army to be increased in size 2-3 times during the mobilization.
2. By appropriately selecting annual conscription classes and personnel, allocated from first-wave units for second-wave units during mobilization, a sufficiently high level of combat readiness of second-wave units is achieved, almost equal to first-wave units.
3. The territorial system of recruitment and registration of military personnel, with a high population density and a well-developed railway network, ensures the speed of assembly of the assigned personnel and the corresponding short terms of mobilization of units.
4. The mobilization registration of military personnel is based on the system of registration of military personnel to military units in peacetime. The main military mobilization body directly responsible for the issues of registration and collection of military personnel and local mobilization resources is the headquarters of the regimental section.
[Point 5 is missing in the original article. - E.P.]
6. The mobilization system as a whole is quite flexible. Mobilization preparation and mobilization planning in peacetime are at a fairly good level.
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