The IJA 34th Army was formed in Hebei province, in Japanese-occupied China on 3 July 1944 from the Wuhan Defense Army (武漢防衛軍, Bukan Bōei-gun), a force created out of reserve elements of the IJA 11th Army to protect Japanese rear lines when the IJA 11th Army moved south to participate in the Battle of Guilin–Liuzhou during Operation Ichi-Go. Afterwards, it was transferred to the operational control of the Japanese Sixth Area Army, and continued in its role as a garrison force for Wuhan and the surrounding region. In March 1945, it participated in counter-insurgency operations with the IJA 12th Army and in June was transferred to the operational control of the Kwantung Army. The following month, it completed a transfer from China to Hamhung, in northern Korea, where it was assigned border patrol during against possible incursions by the Soviet Union into Korea and part of southern Manchukuo. It was overrun by the Soviet Red Army during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria at the end of World War II.
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