General Defense Command
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The General Defense Command or General Defense Headquarters (Japanese, Boei Soshireibu), as part of the Imperial Japanese Army, was formed to control all units of the Japan Defense Army, located in Japan, and the Korean Army and the Formosa Army. It was created in 1941 and was responsible to the Emperor via the Imperial General Headquarters. There were four army districts in Japan:
- Eastern Army - HQ in Tokyo and responsible for Northeast Honshū with the Guards Division (1) and three other divisions.
- Western Army - HQ in Fukuoka and responsible for Southwestern Honshū, Shikoku and the Ryukyu Islands with four divisions.
- Northern Army - HQ in Sapporo and covered Hokkaidō and Northern Honshū with two divisions.
- Central Army - HQ in Osaka and responsible for central Honshū with four divisions.
Below these army districts were the divisional districts which were then divided into regiment districts which were responsible for the raising of recruits for the arms and services.
- Chosen Army - HQ in Keijo and responsible for Korea with two divisions
- Formosan Army - Hq in Taihoku and responsible for Formosa with three regimental areas.
(1) the Guards Divisional District Headquarters was located in Tokyo but it drew recruits form all over Japan.
