IJA 18th Division

18th Division
IJA 18th Division Memorial, Kurume, Fukuoka
Active	13 November 1907 – 1 May 1925 9 September 1937 - 1945
Country	Empire of Japan
Branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Garrison/HQ	Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan
Nickname(s)	Chrysanthemum Division
Engagements	World War I Second Sino-Japanese War World War II

The 18th Division (第18師団, Dai-jūhachi Shidan^?) was an infantry division of the Imperial Japanese Army. Its tsūshōgō code name was the Chrysanthemum Division (菊兵團, Kiku heidan^?). The 18th Division was one of two infantry divisions newly raised by the Imperial Japanese Army immediately after the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) as part of the post war expansion of the standing Japanese military. The division received its colors on 13 November 1907. Its original headquarters was in a suburb of the city of Kurume in Fukuoka Prefecture.

In World War I the division was strengthened by an additional infantry brigade (the IJA 29th Brigade) and, led by Lieutenant General Kamio Mitsuomi, was given an independent command in the Siege of Tsingtao of the German colony of Tsingtao in the Shandong peninsula, China in October 1914, forcing a surrender of German forces after a week-long assault. Notably, an aircraft from divisional air force has become the first airplane ever downed in the air-to-air combat.

However, on 1 May 1925, the division was dissolved by Minister of War Ugaki Kazushige as part of a cost-saving measure during the Kato Takaaki administration, together with the 13th, 15th and 17th divisions.