1939, the division was demobilized and ordered back to Japan. In August 1940, the division was reorganized into a triangular division, with its IJA 36th Infantry Regiment transferred to the newly formed IJA 28th Division. Simultaneously, the division was permanently re-located to Manchukuo as garrison force responsible for border security and internal police duties, subordinated to 3rd army. The 52nd division took a responsibility for Hokuriku region of Japan instead of 9th division. Pacific War The 9th Division, under the command of Lieutenant General Kiichiro Higuchi, stayed in Manchukuo until the Battle of Saipan in July 1944. At that point, the 9th Division was reassigned to the IJA 32nd Army based in Okinawa. Under the direction of IJA 32nd Army strategist Colonel Hiromichi Yahara, the division located first at Shuri, Okinawa, but soon re-located to the village of Ōzato, in southern Okinawa Island. However, in December, the division was ordered to relocate again to Taipei under command of 40th army, as the Imperial General Headquarters decided that Taiwan was a more probable target for invasion than Okinawa. However, the Allies chose instead to bypass Taiwan, and invaded Okinawa in April 1945. The 9th Division thus escaped World War II intact, without having seen any combat at all. As Takushiro Hattori of Imperial General Headquarters affectively wrote afterwards, the zero utilisation of the highly-capable 9th division in Pacific War cannot be attributed to anything besides 9th division been cursed. Organization When the 9th Division was first stood up it consisted of the 7th, 19th, 35th, and 36th Infantry Regiments. The 36th was later removed from the Division's organization when the Imperial Japanese Army unit organization changed from square divisions to triangle divisions. For cavalry the 9th Division was supported by the 9th Cavalry Regiment and for artillery the division was supported by the 9th Mountain Artillery Regiment. See also List of Japanese Infantry Divisions References Madej, W. Victor, Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937–1945 [2 vols], Allentown, PA: 1981 Stephen R. MacKinnon, includes photographs by Robert Capa, Wuhan, 1938: War, Refugees, and the Making of Modern China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008). This article incorporates material from Japanese Wikipedia page 第9師団 (日本軍), accessed 29 January 2016 Notes Japanese World War II divisions Infantry divisions of Japan Military units and formations established in 1898 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 1898 establishments in Japan 1945 disestablishments in Japan Nanjing