Teishin Shudan

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 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.

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.

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.

Some 750 men, mainly from the 2nd Raiding Brigade, of this group were assigned to attack American air bases on Luzon and Leyte on the night of 6 December 1944.