Shozo Sakurai

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Shozo Sakurai, (桜井省三), (1889 – 1985) Japanese Lieutenant General in World War II. He was born in Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan. He graduated from the Military Academy in 1911 and the Army Staff College in 1919. He was initially an infantry officer, but became a specialist in military transport. In the early 1930's he was an an instructor at the War College, then from 1934 to 1936 commanded the 77th Regiment. He then served as an investigator for the Cabinet and was in charge of harbor facilities and then attached to Naval Transport Headquarters. In 1938 he became Inspector of Central China Harbor Facilities.

In 1938 he was given command of the Infantry group of 22nd Division and in 1939 was attached to Central China Expeditionary Army headquarters before becoming Chief of Staff of the 13th Army in China. In 1941 he was made commander of 33rd Division in China under 11th Army, then participated in the invasion of Thailand and of Burma in the Burma Campaign. In 1943 he returned to Japan as head of the Armored Warfare Department of the Ministry of War. In 1944 he returned to Burma as Commander of Twenty-Eighth Army until the end of the war. He retired in 1947.

[edit] Sources

Dupuy, Trevor N.; Johnson, Curt; and Bongard, David L. 1992. The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography. HarperCollins Publishers.
Fuller, Richard. 1992. Shokan: Hirohito's Samurai. London: Arms and Armor. ISBN 1-85409-151-4