Sadamu Shimomura
Sadamu Shimomura | |
|---|---|
| 下村 定 | |
Emperor Hirohito | |
| Prime Minister | Kijūrō Shidehara |
| Preceded by | Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 23 September 1887 Northern China Area Army |
| Battles/wars | Second Sino-Japanese War World War II |
Sadamu Shimomura (下村 定, Shimomura Sadamu, 23 September 1887 – 25 March 1968) was a general in the
Minister of War of the Empire of Japan
.
Biography
Early career
Shimomura was born in
Prince Kitashirakawa Naruhisa, Mitsuru Ushijima, Heitarō Kimura, Takashi Sakai, and Shōjirō Iida. His speciality was artillery. He subsequently graduated at the head of his class from the 28th class of the Army Staff College
in 1916.
After serving in a number of staff and administrative positions within the
Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, Shimomura was posted to France as a military attaché in 1919. He returned to the Strategy and Planning bureau of the General Staff in 1921 and was promoted to major in 1922. He was assigned as the Army observer to the Japanese delegation at the Geneva Naval Conference negotiations from 1928 to 1929, during which time he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He returned to Geneva in April 1931 as part of the Japanese delegation to the League of Nations and was promoted to colonel in August. The Geneva Conference on Disarmament occurred in December. From December 1933 Shimomura was commander of the IJA 1st Heavy Field Artillery Regiment.[1]
World War II
In March 1935, Shimomura was assigned to the staff of the
Japanese Tenth Army at the start of the Battle of Shanghai.[2] he was assigned command of Tokyo Bay Fortress
in September 1938.
Shimomura was promoted to
Yangtze River area of east central China
.
In March 1944, Shimomura was withdrawn to the
North China Area Army.[3]
In May 1945, Shimomura was promoted to full
general, and on 23 August (just after the surrender of Japan), was appointed final Army Minister under the Shidehara cabinet. One of the reasons for his selection was that he had never been involved in hostilities against the United States at any point in his military career.[4] Shimomura was also concurrently the final Inspector-General for Military Training.[5]
His primary task was to oversee the demobilization of the Imperial Japanese Army.
As with all other members of the former Japanese government, Shimomura was briefly taken into custody by the
American occupation authorities
from 1946 to 1947, but was released without charges filed.
In 1955, Shimomura was asked to help create the post-war
traffic accident[citation needed
] on 25 March 1968.
Decorations
- 1940 –
Order of the Golden Kite, 3rd class[6] - 1940 –
Order of the Sacred Treasure, 2nd class [7] - 1944 –
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure 『官報』第1850号「叙任及辞令」October 2, 1918</ref> - 1958 –
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun
References
- Fuller, Richard (1992). Shokan: Hirohito's Samurai. London: Arms and Armor. ISBN 1-85409-151-4.
- Shillony, Ben Ami (1981). Politics and Culture in Wartime Japan. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-820260-1.
- Yamamoto, Masahiro (2000). Nanking: Anatomy of an Atrocity. London: Greenwood Publishing Company. ISBN 0-275-96904-5.
External links
- Ammenthorp, Steen. "Shimomura Sadamu". The Generals of World War II.
- Budge, Kent. "Shimomura Sadamu". Pacific War Online Encyclopedia.
- Wendel, Marcus. "Army Ministers of State". Axis History Factbook.
Footnotes
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sadamu Shimomura.
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