16th Division

The 16th Division (第16師団, Dai Jūroku Shidan) was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its tsūshōgō code name was the Wall Division (垣兵団, Kaki Heidan). The 16th Division was one of four new infantry divisions raised by the Imperial Japanese Army in the closing stages of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). With Japan's limited resources towards the end of that conflict, the entire IJA was committed to combat in Manchuria, leaving not a single division to guard the Japanese home islands from attack. The 16th Division was initially raised from men in the area surrounding Kyoto.

In July 1937, open hostilities broke out against China and the Second Sino-Japanese War commenced. The 16th Division, under the command of Lieutenant General Kesago Nakajima, was assigned to the Second Army, as part of the Northern China Area Army. The division participated in the Second Shanghai Incident(August–November 1937), Beiping–Hankou Railway Operation (August–December 1937), the Battle of Nanking (December 1937), the Battle of Xuzhou (January 1938) and the Battle of Wuhan (July–October 1938).

The 16th Division was assigned to the 14th Area Army 6 November 1941 and participated in the Philippines campaign (1941–1942). Later it was based in Manila as a garrison force. However, as the war situation deteriorated in August 1944, the Imperial General Headquarters ordered the 16th Division to Leyte Island as part of the 35th Army

After the capture of the Ormoc by US 77th division 10 December 1944, the survivors of the 16th division (about 200 men at this point) were ordered to disengage and retreat westward. 16th division commander, Lieutenant General Shiro Makino, was ordered to control all of the Japanese forces remaining on Leyte after 17 March 1945, and committed suicide during the battle, 10 August 1945. Of the approximately 13,000 men in the 16th Division, only 620 survived the Battle of Leyte.