Hitoshi Imamura
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hitoshi Imamura | |
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| June 28, 1886 - October 4, 1968 | |
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| Place of birth | Miyagi Prefecture, Japan |
| Allegiance | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1907 - 1946 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands | Eighth Area Army |
| Battles/wars | World War II o China o New Guinea o Solomon Islands |
Hitoshi Imamura, June 28, 1886 - October 4, 1968, was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
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[edit] Early career
Imamura was chief of the Army General Staff's operations section during 1931-32 and after that a liaison to the 9th Division in Shanghai Incident, fighting early 1932. He was promoted from regimental commander to brigade commander with the rank of major general in 1935. He became a deputy chief-of-staff, Kantogun, Manchuria 1936 and Commandant of the Infantry School in 1937. Soon promoted to the rank of Lt-General, Imamura was given command of the 5th Division in China and held that command from 1938-40.
He was Inspector General of Military Education - an extremely powerful position in the Army hierarchy because this office approved all officer postings, up to and including choice of Army Minister - during 1940-1941
[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, it was attacked near Sunda Strait and Imamura survived the sinking of the transport ship on which he was travelling.
After that he 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. He 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.
He was detained at Rabaul, as he and troops under his command were accused of war crimes, including the execution of Allied prisoners of war. 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 prosection of war criminals under his command.[1] 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...".[2] He was tried by an Australian military court at Rabaul on May 1-16, 1947; he was 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] Notes
[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:[3]
- Hayashi, Saburo (1959). Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War. Marine Corps. Association. ASIN B000ID3YRK.
