Teishin Shudan

Teishin Shudan (挺進集団, Raiding Group) was a Japanese special forces/airborne unit during World War II. The unit was a division-level force, and was part of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF). The Teishin units were therefore distinct from the marine parachute units of the Special Naval Landing Forces.

The Imperial Japanese Army developed an airborne paratroop force in the late 1930s, but the program did not receive much attention by the Imperial General Headquarters until review of the success of similar German paratroop units during the Blitzkrieg of 1940.

Army paratroops were first deployed in combat during the Battle of Palembang, on Sumatra in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) on 14 February 1942. The operation was well-planned, with 425 men of the 1st Parachute Raiding Regiment seizing Palembang airfield, while the paratroopers of the 2nd Parachute Raiding Regiment seized the town and its important oil refinery. However, after the 1st Raiding Regiment departed Japan aboard the transport ship, Meiko Maru bound for Indochina, it suddenly caught fire in the South China Sea sinking near Hainan Island January 3, 1942. All the paratroopers were rescued by the Japanese cruiser Kashii but lost all their equipment and were exhausted and therefore did not partake leaving the operation to the 2nd Parachute Raiding Regiment. The IJA paratroopers were subsequently deployed in the Burma campaign only to have the operation aborted.

Following this success, in July 1943, the 1st Glider Tank Troop was formed, with four Type 95 Ha-Go light tanks. This unit was eventually expanded to battalion size, with a tank company using 14 Type 2 Ke-To light tanks, an infantry company, and a motorized transport company.

The paratroop brigades were organized into the Teishin Shudan as the first division-level raiding unit, at the main Japanese airborne base, Karasehara Airfield, Kyūshū, Japan. It was commanded by a major general, and was organized as follows:

The unit had an estimated 5,575 personnel.

However, as with similar airborne units created by the Allies and other Axis powers, the Japanese paratroops suffered from a disproportionately high casualty rate, and the loss of men who required such extensive and expensive training limited their operations to only the most critical ones. For the most part, the Teishin Shudan was deployed as elite light infantry.

Two regiments of Teishin Shudan were formed into the 1st Raiding Group, commanded by Major General Rikichi Tsukada under the control of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group, during the Philippines campaign. Although structured as a division, its capabilities were much lower, as its six regiments had manpower equivalent to a standard infantry battalion, and it lacked any form of artillery, and had to rely on other units for logistical support. Its men were no longer parachute-trained, but relied on aircraft for transport.