Otsuzo Yamada

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Otsuzo Yamada (1881–1965) was an Imperial Japanese Army general who served during WWII. He was commissioned into the cavalry in 1903. By 1938 he commanded the 3rd Army in Manchuria, and then went on to command the China Expeditionary Army. He was promoted to full general in 1940 and became the commander of the General Defense Command and a member of the Supreme War Council. He was directly responsible for Detachments 100 and 731 which conducted biological warfare experiments on Chinese civilians and prisoners of war. Later he authorized their executions. He lastly went on to command the Kwantung Army and was its commander during Soviet Army Operation August Storm in August 1945. Upon his surrender and subsequent war crimes trial he was sentenced to 25 years in a Russian labor camp. However he was released in 1956 and was repatriated to Japan where he died in 1965.