Imperial General Headquarters
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The Imperial General Headquarters (大本営, Daihon'ei) was part of the Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime.[1] In terms of function, it was approximately equivalent to the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff and the British Chiefs of Staff Committee.
History
The Imperial General Headquarters was established by Imperial Decree 52 on 22 May 1893 under the auspices of creating a central command for both the
The Imperial General Staff Headquarters was completely independent of the civilian government of the
After the
In November 1937, to bring the chiefs of Army and Navy into closer consultation with his government,
Imperial Japanese Armed Forces |
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Administration |
Imperial Japanese Army (Dai Nippon Teikoku Rikugun) |
Imperial Japanese Navy (Dai Nippon Teikoku Kaigun) |
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Rank insignia |
History |
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The final decisions of Liaison Conferences were formally disclosed and approved at Imperial Conferences over which
During the
With the
Organization of the Imperial General Headquarters
Imperial General Headquarters comprised Army and Navy Sections. The Army Section comprised the Chief of Army General Staff and his chief of Army Operations, and the
Middle-ranking officers of Army and Navy General Staff, and Army and Navy Ministry, met from time to time at middle-level liaison or study conferences to discuss Japan's strategic war plans, and especially, plans requiring cooperation between the two armed services, outside of the formal meeting in the presence of the Emperor.
Relations between the Japanese Army and Navy were never cordial, and often marked by deep hostility. The Army saw the Soviet Union as Japan's greatest threat and for the most part supported the Hokushin-ron (Strike North concept) that Japan's strategic interests were on the Asian continent. The Navy looked across the Pacific Ocean and saw the United States as the greatest threat, and for the most part supported the Nanshin-ron (Strike South concept) that Japan's strategic interests were in Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands.
Organization during World War II
Hirohito, the Emperor of Japan, was defined as the Head of State and the Generalissimo of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces according to the constitution of 1889. During World War II, the leadership of the Imperial General Headquarters consisting of the following:
- Chief of the Army General Staff
- Kotohito Kan'in (1931–1940)
- Hajime Sugiyama (1940–1944)
- Hideki Tōjō(1944)
- Yoshijirō Umezu (1944–1945)
- Chief of the Navy General Staff
- Hiroyasu Fushimi(1932–1941)
- Osami Nagano (1941–1944)
- Shigetarō Shimada (1944)
- Koshirō Oikawa (1944–1945)
- Soemu Toyoda (1945)
- Minister of the Army
- Hajime Sugiyama (1937–1938, 1944–1945)
- Seishirō Itagaki (1938–1939)
- Shunroku Hata (1939–1940)
- Hideki Tōjō(1940–1944)
- Korechika Anami (1945)
- Minister of the Navy
- Mitsumasa Yonai (1937–1939, 1944–1945)
- Zengo Yoshida (1939–1940)
- Koshirō Oikawa (1940–1941)
- Shigetarō Shimada (1941–1944)
Organization of the Imperial Japanese Army – December 8, 1941
The majority of these troops were stationed in China,
- Imperial General Headquarters
- IJA General Staff
- General Affairs Bureau
- Organization and Mobilization Department
- Training Department
- 1st (Operations) Bureau
- Operations Department
- Defence Department
- 2nd (Intelligence) Bureau
- Europe and the Americas Department
- China Department
- Russia/Soviet Union Department
- Intelligence Department
- 3rd (Transport and Communications) Bureau
- Transport Department
- Communications Department
- 4th (Historical) Bureau
- Military History Department
- Strategy and Tactics Department
- General Staff College
- Land Survey Department
- General Affairs Bureau
- Ministry Of War
- General Defense Command
- China Expeditionary Army
- Kwantung Army
- Southern Expeditionary Army Group
- Units under direct General Staff control
- Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
- 4th Infantry Division
- South Seas Detachment
- 1st Army Hospital
- 2nd Army Hospital
- 3rd Army Hospital
- Korean Remount Department
- Army Air Service Transport Department
- IGHQ Communications Department
- IJA General Staff
Daihon'ei Happyou
In November 1937, the headquarters started radioing news on the war to the public. They were fairly accurate at first, but their accuracy quickly deteriorated after the severe defeat at Midway and became worse and worse toward the end of the war. As a result, after the war, the phrase "daihon'ei happyou" (大本営発表, the General Headquarters' announcement) came to mean "dubious official announcements by authorities" in general to this day.[2]
See also
- List of Japanese government and military commanders of World War II
- Military history of Japan
- Imperial Japanese Army
- Imperial Japanese Navy
References
Citations
- ^ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Daihon'ei" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 139, at Google Books.
- ^ Japanese Wikipedia has a lengthy article on the expression with its history and some recent examples of usage.
Sources
- OCLC 247018161
- ISBN 9780674003347; OCLC 44090600
- Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.