Yasuji Okamura

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Yasuji Okamura
Northern China Area Army
  • Eleventh Army
  • 2nd Division
    • Battles/warsRusso-Japanese War

    World War I

    Jinan incident

    January 28 incident

    Actions in Inner Mongolia (1933–1936)

    Second Sino-Japanese War

    Pacific War

    Chinese Civil War

    Awards
    • Military Medal of Honor
    Other workmilitary advisor, veteran Association, author

    Yasuji Okamura (岡村 寧次, Okamura Yasuji, 15 May 1884 – 2 September 1966) was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army, commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army from November 1944 to the end of World War II, and appointed to surrender all Japanese forces involved in the China Burma India theater. He was tried but found not guilty of any war crimes by the Shanghai War Crimes Tribunal after the war. As one of the Imperial Japanese Army's top China experts, General Okamura spent his entire military career on the Asian mainland.[1]

    Biography

    Early life

    Born in

    Ando Rikichi. He was commissioned a second lieutenant
    in the IJA 1st Infantry Regiment. In 1907, he was promoted to lieutenant and was assigned to the Army Academy to assist with the training of cadets from China.

    In 1910, Okamura entered the 25th class of the

    military attache to the United States and Europe. While at Baden-Baden in Germany, he met with Tetsuzan Nagata, Toshiro Obata and Hideki Tojo, laying the foundation for the Tōseiha
    political clique within the Japanese Army. On his return to Japan, he was assigned to the 14th Infantry Regiment.

    He was assigned to China in 1923, and served as a military advisor to Chinese warlord general Sun Chuanfang, in this capacity, he gathered many vital information and war maps, which later were used in the military operations of the Second Sino-Japanese War.[2] He was promoted to colonel in July 1927 and returned to Japan to command the IJA 6th Infantry Regiment.

    From August 1929, Okamura was appointed as Assistant Director of Human Resources Bureau in the Ministry of the Army. He was involved in the

    coup d'etat attempt to establish a military dictatorship headed by General Kazushige Ugaki
    , but received no punishment.

    The same year on 31 May, he reached the conclusion of the Heiwa and Tanggu Agreement, which was the plenipotentiary of the National Government Army.

    From 1932 to 1933, Okamura was Deputy

    Nagasaki prefecture
    to serve in military brothels in Shanghai.

    He served as military attaché to Manchukuo from 1933 to 1934, and played a role in the negotiations for the Tanggu Truce between Japan and China.

    Okamura was promoted to lieutenant general in 1936, and assigned command of the IJA 2nd Division.[3]

    Second Sino-Japanese War

    In 1938, a year after the

    Japanese Eleventh Army, which participated in numerous major engagements in the Second Sino-Japanese War, notably the Battles of Wuhan, Nanchang and Changsha.[4] According to historians Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Seiya Matsuno, Okamura was authorized by Emperor Hirohito to use chemical weapons during those battles.[5]

    In April 1940, Okamura was promoted to the rank of full

    Three Alls Policy in Hebei province, aimed primarily at breaking the Chinese Red Army. According to historian Mitsuyoshi Himeta, the scorched earth campaign was responsible for the deaths of "more than 2.7 million" Chinese civilians.[6]

    In 1944, Okamura was overall commander of

    Japanese Sixth Area Army. A few months later, he was appointed the commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army. On 6 April-9 June 1945, Okamura was defeated by the Chinese in the Battle of West Hunan. Japan also lost the Second Guangxi campaign
    in April-21 August 1945 and was expelled from their last position in Guangxi province which was the last battle fought between the Chinese and Japanese.

    Okamura (fourth from right) during the surrender of Japan at Nanjing

    With the

    China Burma India Theater held at Nanjing on 9 September 1945. The Chinese representative at the surrender, in an irony of history, was General He Yingqin, Okamura's opposite during the Tanggu Truce
    negotiations.

    Post-war life

    After the war, Okamura was found not guilty of any war crimes in January 1949 by the

    Nationalist Government.[8]

    While he was questioned by the investigators, he testified about the

    Nanking massacre
    :

    "I surmised the following based on what I heard from Staff Officer Miyazaki, CCAA Special Service Department Chief Harada and Hangzhou Special Service Department Chief Hagiwara a day or two after I arrived in Shanghai. First, it is true that tens of thousands of acts of violence, such as looting and rape, took place against civilians during the assault on Nanking. Second, front-line troops indulged in the evil practice of executing POWs on the pretext of (lacking) rations."[9]

    The Nationalist regime of Chiang Kai-Shek intervened to protect Okamura from repeated American requests that he testify at the

    Tokyo war crimes trial.[10]

    Okamura remained as an advisor to the Nationalist government until he was decommissioned in January 1949 and returned to Japan. He was active in the post-war era as advisor to the National Bereaved Family Support Association and also formed a group of retired military officers with Chinese experience called the "Paidan", which continued to provide informal support for the Chinese Nationalist government until his death in 1966.

    References

    External links

    Wikiquote has quotations related to Yasuji Okamura.

    Notes

    1. ^ Sarah Paine, The Wars For Asia, 1911-1949
    2. ^ Sarah Paine, The Wars For Asia, 1911-1949
    3. ^ Ammenthorp, The Generals of World War II
    4. ^ Chen, World War II Database
    5. ^ Yoshimi and Matsuno, Dokugasusen Kankei Shiryô II (Material on Toxic Gas Warfare), Kaisetsu, 1997, p.25-29
    6. ^ Himeta, Mitsuyoshi (姫田光義) (日本軍による『三光政策・三光作戦をめぐって』) (Concerning the Three Alls Strategy/Three Alls Policy By the Japanese Forces), Iwanami Bukkuretto, 1996, Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 2000
    7. ^ 國防部審判戰犯軍事法庭判決三十八年度審字第二十八號 (in Traditional Chinese). Wikisource. 26 January 1949. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
    8. ^ Kent G. Budge. "Okamura Yasutsuga (1884-1966)". Pacific War Online Encyclopedia.
    9. ^ Akira Fujiwara, Bob Wakabayashi (2007). The Nanking Atrocity 1937-1938 : Complicating the Picture. Berghan Books.
    10. OCLC 1141442704
      .
    Military offices
    Preceded by Commander, 2nd Division
    March 1936-June 1938     		Succeeded by
    Preceded by
    post created
    		 Commander, Eleventh Army
    June 1938-March 1940     		Succeeded by
    Preceded by Military Councillor
    March 1940-July 1941     		Succeeded by
    Preceded by
    Commander, North China Area Army

    July 1941 – August 1944     		Succeeded by
    Preceded by
    post created
    Commander, Sixth Area Army

    August 1944-November 1944     		Succeeded by
    Preceded by Commander-in-Chief, China Expeditionary Army
    November 1944–August 1945     		Succeeded by
    none
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