The Japanese 29th Army was initially raised on January 6, 1944 in the Taiping in Perak state in Japanese-occupied Malaya as a garrison force, and in anticipation of Allied attempted to invade and retake the Malay Peninsula. Initially under command of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group, the IJA 29th Army was transferred to the Japanese Seventh Area Army on March 27, 1944. As the war situation on the Pacific front grew increasingly desperate for Japan, the Imperial Japanese Army was unable to provide reinforcements and resupply to units south of the Philippines, and the IJA 29th Army was demobilized at the surrender of Japan