Iwaichi Fujiwara
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| Iwaichi Fujiwara | |
|---|---|
| 1 March 1908 - 24 February 1986 | |
 General Iwaichi Fujiwara |
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| Place of birth | Hyōgo prefecture, Japan |
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
| Service/branch |  Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1931 -1945 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Commands held | F Kikan |
| Battles/wars | Second Sino-Japanese War World War II |
- In this Japanese name, the family name is Fujiwara.
Iwaichi Fujiwara (藤原岩市 Fujiwara Iwaichi?) was an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II, and later a lieutenant general in the Japan Ground Self Defence Force.
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[edit] Biography
A native of Hyōgo prefecture, Fujiwara graduated from the 43rd class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1931 and was assigned to the IJA 37th Infantry Regiment. After serving a tour of duty in Tianjin, China, he returned to the Army Staff College and graduated from the 50th class in 1938, whereupon he was assigned to the IJA 21st Army.
In 1939, Fujiwara was transferred to the military intelligence unit within the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, tasked with planning operations in south and southeast Asia. He traveled to Bangkok in 1941, and joined the Southern Area Army as Chief of Staff the same year. In 1941 Fujiwara established the F Kikan, a Japanese special operations unit, which was tasked with developing and assisting independence movements in India, Malaya and Netherlands East Indies. In 1943, Fujiwara and his unit were transferred to the IJA 15th Army. F-Kikan greatly assisted in the establishment of the Indian National Army and the Aceh independence movement.
After his recall to Japan in 1942, Fujiwara taught at the Army Staff College for a year, and was then transferred back to the field as Chief of Staff of the IJA 2nd Army in April 1945 and IJA 57th Army in June 1945. He was in Singapore at the end of the war.
Fujiwara was one of the officers of the Imperial Japanese Army to make the transition to the postwar Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, commanding the Home Defense Force in 1955, and the 1st Division (Tokyo) in 1956, before his retirement as lieutenant general in 1964. [1]
Later in life, Fujiwara authored the book "F. Kikan : Japanese army intelligence operations in Southeast Asia during World War II," in which he described himself as the “Lawrence of Arabia of Southeast Asia”.
[edit] References
[edit] Books
- Lebra, Joyce C. (1977). Japanese trained Armies in South-East Asia. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN: 0231039956.
- Fay, Peter W. (1993). The Forgotten Army: India's Armed Struggle for Independence, 1942-1945. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN: 0472083422.
- Fujiwara, Iwaichi (1983). F. Kikan: Japanese Army Intelligence Operations in Southeast Asia During World War 11. Heinemann. ISBN: 9622250726.
[edit] External links
- Indonesian Volunteers in the Japanese Army
- (Book Review) F. Kikan: Japanese Intelligence Operations in Southeast Asia during World War II. Review author: Edward J. Drea. in Military Affairs, Vol. 49, No. 4. (Oct., 1985), p. 220.
- The Fujiwara Iwaichi Memorial, Waseda University.
