Hitoshi Imamura
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| Hitoshi Imamura | |
|---|---|
| 28 June 1886 - 4 October 1968 | |
 Japanese General Hitoshi Imamura |
|
| Place of birth | Miyagi Prefecture, Japan |
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
| Service/branch |  Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1907 - 1946 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands held | IJA 5th Division, 23rd Area Army, 16th Area Army, 8th Area Army |
| Battles/wars | World War II o China o New Guinea o Solomon Islands |
- In this Japanese name, the family name is Imamura.
Hitoshi Imamura (今村 均 Imamura Hitoshi?, 28 June 1886 - 4 October 1968) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early career
A native of Sendai city, Miyagi Prefecture, Imamura’s father was a judge. Imamura graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1907 and the Army War College (Japan) in 1915. He was promoted to captain in 1917, and was sent to England as a military attaché the following year. In April 1927, he was appointed as a military attaché to British India. Promoted to colonel in 1930, he held a number of staff positions in the Operations Section of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff from 1931-1932.
[edit] Wars in China
With the Shanghai Incident of 1932, he was sent to take command of the IJA 57th Infantry Regiment. On his return to Japan, he became Commandant of the Narashino Army School from 1932-1935.[1]
In March 1935, Imamura was promoted from regimental commander to brigade commander of the IJA 40th Infantry Brigade with the rank of major general. He was assigned as Deputy Chief of Staff, of the Kwangtung Army in Manchukuo in March 1936. He was recalled to Japan to assume the post of Commandant of the Toyama Army Infantry School from 1937-1938.
Promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in March 1938, Imamura was given command of the IJA 5th Division, then based in China, which he continued to command in the early stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War to 1940.
From 1940-1941, he was Deputy Inspector-General of Military Training, one of the most powerful posts in the Japanese Army. He was subsequently appointed Commander in chief of the IJA 23rd Army.
[edit] World War II
Imamura became the commander of the 16th Army in November 1941, and was directed to lead that army in the invasion of the Netherlands East Indies. As his fleet approached Java, during the invasion, his transport, the Ryujo-maru was sunk by torpedoes (most probably by friendly fire in the Battle of Sunda Strait and he was forced to swim to shore.[2]
He subsequently assumed command of the new 8th Area Army - responsible for 17th Army (in the Solomon Islands campaign) and 18th Army (New Guinea campaign) - in late 1942. Imamura was based at Rabaul, New Britain. Imamura adopted an unusually lenient policy towards the local population of the former Netherlands East Indies, often in conflict with senior staff of the Southern Army and Imperial General Headquarters. However, his policies won some support from the population and reduced the difficulties of the occupation.[3]
Imamura was promoted to full General in 1943. Along with the naval commander at Rabaul, Vice Admiral Jinichi Kusaka, Imamura surrendered the Japanese forces in New Guinea and the southern Pacific Islands to Australian forces, representing the Allies, in September 1945.
At the end of the war, Imamura was detained at Rabaul by the Australian Army, as he and troops under his command were accused of war crimes, including the execution of Allied prisoners of war, and were to be held for a military tribunal. In April 1946, Imamura wrote to the Australian commander at Rabaul, requesting that his own trial for war crimes be expedited in order to speed the prosecution of war criminals under his command.[4] Imamura was charged with "unlawfully [disregarding and failing] to discharge his duty...to control the members of his command, whereby they committed brutal atrocities and other high crimes...".[5]He was tried by an Australian military court at Rabaul on May 1-16, 1947; convicted, and sentenced to imprisonment for ten years. Imamura served his imprisonment at Sugamo Prison, in Tokyo, until he was released in 1954.
[edit] References
[edit] Books
- Gailey, Harry A. (1991). Bougainville, 1943-1945: The Forgotten Campaign. Lexington, Kentucky, USA: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-9047-9.- neutral review of this book here:[6]
- Hayashi, Saburo (1959). Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War. Marine Corps. Association. ASIN B000ID3YRK.
[edit] External links
- Ammenthorp, Steen. Imamura Hitoshi. The Generals of World War II.
- Budge, Kent. Imamura Hitoshi (1886-1968). Pacific War Online Encyclopedia.
- Chen, Peter. Imamua Hitoshi. WW2 Database.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Ammenthorp, The Generals of World War II
- ^ Chen, WW2 Database
- ^ Budge, Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
- ^ Australian War Memorial - AJRP
- ^ Trial of Tomoyuki Yamashita. Law Reports, UNWCC, 1948. Part VI
- ^ Second World War Books Review
