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The Southern Expeditionary Army Group was the Imperial Japanese Army formation responsible for operations in the South East Asian and South West Pacific campaigns of World War II.

The army group was formed on November 6, 1941, under General Hisaichi Terauchi, who ordered to attack and occupy Allied territories in South East Asia and the South Pacific.

Contents 1 Operational history 1.1 The Philippines 1.2 French Indochina 1.3 Netherlands East Indies 1.3.1 Western invasion group 1.3.2 Center invasion group 1.3.3 Eastern invasion group 1.4 Thailand and Burma 1.5 Malaya and Singapore 1.6 South West Pacific 2 Structure and objectives 3 See also

Plans for an invasion of the Philippines were finalized on November 13-15 at Iwakuni, Honshū, by Lt Gen. Masaharu Homma, Lt Gen. Hideyoshi Obata, V. Adm. Ibo Takahashi and V. Adm. Nishizo Tsukahara.

These plans called for air attacks against the Philippines, beginning on X-Day, by the 5th Army Air Force Division and the 11th Naval Air Fleet. At this time, army and navy units were to land on Batan Island, Luzon (at: Aparri, Vigan, and Legazpi), and at Davao, Mindanao, and there seize airfields. Following the elimination of American air support, the main body of the 14th Army was to land at Lingayen Gulf, while another force landed at Lamon Bay. These forces were then to attack Manila in a pincer attack. After this, the islands of Manila Bay were to be taken.

On July 22 1941, Japanese forces invaded Vichy French Indochina and occupied its naval and air bases.

For further detail and references, see Netherlands East Indies campaign

On January 18, 1942, the commander of 16th Army Lt.Gen. Hitoshi Imamura arrived at Takao, Formosa Island from his station at Saigon. He received an order to fasten the invasion preparation toward Java. But due to shipping shortages, he had to adjust the plans. On January 21, he arrived at Manila to inspect the 48th Division and to have discussion with the commander of the 3rd Fleet. The Netherlands East Indies would be invaded by using 3 groups, western, center and eastern group.

The 2nd Division from 16th Army, which were assembled in Formosa, was ordered on January 25 to move in to Cam Ranh Bay and became the main force of western invasion group. At Cam Ranh Bay, the army was trained for the tropical jungle warfare. On the 30th, the attack order was announced. The western group was carried aboard with 56 transport ships and left for Java on February 18. By midnight on February 28, the ships landed at Merak and Bantam Bay on Java island.

Following the surrender of Hong Kong, the 228th, 229th and 230th Infantry Regiments from the 38th Division was also deployed to Netherlands East Indies separately. On February 13, the 229th and 230th assaulted Palembang on Sumatra island and then joined the main force. On February 28 midnight the 230th Infantry Regiment landed on Eretan Wetan on Java island.

The center group was composed of 48th Division, left for Java on February 8, 1942 from Lingayen Gulf, Luzon island, the Philippines. On February 25, the convoy arrived at Balikpapan and the Sakaguchi detachment (56th Regiment Group) joined the force. They landed at Kragan on Java island by midnight February 28.

Earlier on January 11, the Sakaguchi detachment and 2nd Kure Special Naval Landing Force occupied Tarakan and farther secured Balikpapan on January 23. Both cities are located in Kalimantan island.

The Sasebo Combined Landing Force and 1st Yokosuka Special Landing Force occupied Manado and Kendari at Celebes (Sulawesi island. They left Davao on January 9 and during the early morning of January 11, arrived at Manado. Later the Sasebo Combined Special Naval Landing Force attacked and occupied Kendari on January 23.

The 1st Kure Special Naval Landing Force and 228th Infantry Regiment from 38th Army and Airplane Carrier Division 2 from Japan, reached Ambon on January 30.

• Southern Expeditionary Army Group Headquarters – General Hisaichi Terauchi, Saigon, Indochina
• Field armies:
  • The 14th Army was to take the Philippines.
  • The 16th Army was to take the Dutch East Indies, including Java.
  • The 15th Army was to take Thailand and Burma
  • The 25th Army was to take Malaya and Singapore and Sumatra island.
  • Independent corps-level units:
    • The South Seas Force (also known as the Japanese Fourth Fleet) was formed to take Pacific Islands, such as the assault on Wake Island and the Gilbert Islands. It was also later used to attack the Australian territories of Papua and New Guinea.
      • South Seas Detachment – a combined army and naval unit, the infantry/assault component of the South Seas Force.
    • Independent divisions
      • 3rd Air Division (Japan) was assigned to the Malaya and Singapore campaigns
      • 5th Air Division (Japan) was assigned to the attack on the Philippines and later to Burma.
      • Teishin Shudan ("Raiding Group", also known as the "1st Raiding Division", a parachute commando formation).

• Military history of Australia
• Military history of the United Kingdom
• Military history of Japan
• Military history of Malaysia
• Military history of the Netherlands
• Military history of the Philippines
• Military history of Singapore
• Military history of Thailand
• Military history of the United States
• World War II
• Pacific War
• American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM)