Volunteer Fighting Corps (国民義勇戦闘隊, Kokumin Giyū Sentōtai) were armed civil defense units planned in 1945 in the Empire of Japan as a last desperate measure to defend the Japanese home islands against the projected Allied invasion during Operation Downfall (Ketsugo Sakusen) in the final stages of World War II.

[2] In March 1945, the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso passed a law establishing the creation of unarmed civil defense units, Volunteer Corps (国民義勇隊, Kokumin Giyūtai).

In June, the cabinet passed a special conscription law, and named the militia units Volunteer Fighting Corps (国民義勇戦闘隊, Kokumin Giyū Sentōtai).

Combat training sessions were held, although the corps was primarily assigned to support tasks, such as construction, transportation and rationing.

Within Japan proper, the Volunteer Fighting Corps were never used in combat, except in South Sakhalin (the Battle of Okinawa occurred before its formal inception, with local Boeitai home guard conscripts forming part of the defences there).