Takeichi Nishi

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Azabu, Tokyo, Japan
Died	March 22, 1945(1945-03-22) (aged 42) Iwo Jima, Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1924–1945
Rank	Colonel (posthumous)
Commands held	26th Tank Regiment, Mudanjiang
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of Iwo Jima †
Relations	Son of Nishi Tokujirō
Sports career
Country	Empire of Japan
Sport	Equestrian
Medal record Olympic Games 1932 Los Angeles Individual show jumping

during the defense of the island.

Family and early life

Nishi was born in the

.

Nishi went to

, who would be Chief Cabinet Secretary in 1945.

In September 1917, Nishi entered Hiroshima Army Cadet School, a military preparatory school established on

Setagaya, Tokyo

. In 1924, he graduated from the academy, the 13th of the 19 students in his class, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in October. He went on to the First Cavalry after graduating from Army Cavalry School. He was promoted to lieutenant in October 1927.

Uranus and Olympics competition

In 1930, Nishi encountered what would be his favorite horse, Uranus, while in Italy. As the army wouldn't pay for the horse, Nishi bought Uranus with his personal funds. Nishi and Uranus competed in competitions around Europe, doing well. In 1932, when Nishi was a first lieutenant, they participated in the

, who were ostracized by American society in this period.

During his stay in

.

After the Olympics, he was reassigned to the 16th Narashino Cavalry Regiment and promoted to be a cavalry instructor at the regimental school with the rank of captain, which he was promoted to in August 1933.

Nishi and Uranus participated in the

gold medal was won by Germany. Following this, Nishi was reposted to the Tokachi Subdivision of the department responsible for supply of military horses. He was promoted to major in March 1939.

War years to Iwo Jima

In this period, Japan was cutting its cavalry forces and forming tank regiments. Nishi was reassigned the regimental commander of the 26th Tank Regiment, based in Mudanjiang, in northern Manchukuo on defensive duties. He eventually gained the rank of lieutenant colonel in August 1943.

In 1944, the 26th Tank Regiment was reassigned to the defense of Iwo Jima under the command of Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. On July 18, 1944, while en route from Pusan to Iwo Jima, the ship Nisshu Maru transporting the regiment was struck by torpedoes fired by submarine USS Cobia (SS-245). While only two soldiers were killed, all 28 of the tanks in the regiment were lost.

Nishi briefly returned to Tokyo to obtain replacement tanks, and eventually received 22 of them. While there, he borrowed the car of

Horse Grounds, Setagaya.

Battle of Iwo Jima

On Iwo Jima in 1945, Nishi commanded the 26th Tank Regiment under the Ogasawara Corps (

.

After extensive air and naval gunfire bombardment, the

.

Death

The circumstances of Nishi's death are unknown and subject to competing theories. One theory is that he found himself in the midst of enemy forces on the morning of March 21 and was killed by

assault

and were killed in action.

John C. Shively, in his novel The Last Lieutenant, recounts a story told by his uncle in which his platoon fires upon a group of Japanese soldiers during the night. In the morning, a body resembling Nishi's was found wearing riding boots and jodhpurs. Shively's uncle was almost certain that this was the body of Nishi.

Nishi was 42 years old at the time of the battle.

Legacy

Nishi was posthumously promoted to the rank of

after the war.

Ōno Kaoru states, "Few people comprehended him and only Uranus understood him."

Uranus died one week after Nishi. In 1990, Uranus was commemorated at the War Horse Memorial in the History and Folklore Museum in

.

In popular culture

In the 2006 film

magazine is that in the final days of the battle, as the number of commanding officers who refused to put their men in caves increased, Nishi agreed that they should go out and fight together. In the 2006 movie, Nishi uses some of the scarce medical supplies on a wounded US Marine he is questioning. Ōno Kaoru's biography of Nishi gives credence to this as an actual event. The film also portrays Nishi as having taken his own life after being wounded and blinded during the battle.

References and other works

Translations of Japanese language titles are approximate.

• ISBN 978-4-10-113316-4
  (in Japanese)
• Ōno Kaoru, オリンポスの使徒「バロン西伝説はなぜ生れたか」 (Disciple of Olympus: Why was the legend of Baron Nishi born?),
  Bungei Shunju, 1984, ASIN
  B000J74FDC (in Japanese)
• Futabashi Shingo (images by Kisaki Takashi), 風と踊れ！ 時代を疾走ぬけた男 バロン西 (Dance with the Wind!　Baron Nishi, the man who raced to the end of an era), 2003 comic published by Shueisha (in Japanese)
• Zaloga, Steven J. Japanese Tanks 1939-45. (2007) Osprey.
  ISBN 978-1-84603-091-8
  .

External links

• "Baron Nishi: 1932 Olympic Gold Medalist for Japan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-08-08. Retrieved 2012-06-26. (251 KB), Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles
• Takeichi Nishi stats at DatabaseOlympics