Tomoyuki Yamashita
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General Tomoyuki Yamashita (山下 奉文 Yamashita Tomoyuki) (November 8, 1885 – February 23, 1946) was a general of the Japanese Imperial Army during the World War II era. He was most famous for conquering the British colonies of Malaya and Singapore, earning the nickname The Tiger of Malaya.
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[edit] Biography
Yamashita was born in the small village of Osugi Muraon on the Japanese island of Shikoku on 8 November 1885. After graduating from the Cadet's Academy in 1905, he attended the Army War College between 1913 and 1916. In the War Ministry, he promoted an unsuccessful military reduction plan. Between 1919 and 1921, then Captain Yamashita worked in the defense attache offices in Berlin and Bern, Switzerland.
Despite his ability, Yamashita received cold treatment in the army. He fell into disfavor with the Showa Emperor when he took compassion on the rebel officers of the February 26 Incident in 1936. He also clashed with Hideki Tojo and his reasoning. Yamashita insisted that Japan should end the conflict with China and keep peaceful relations with the United States and Great Britain, but he was ignored and subsequently assigned to an unimportant post in the Kwantung Army. From 1938 to 1940, he commanded the 4th Infantry Division and saw some action in Northern China against Chinese insurgents fighting the occupying Japanese armies. In December of 1940, Yamashita was sent on a clandestine military mission to Germany and Italy.
[edit] Malaya and Singapore
On November 6, 1941 Yamashita was placed in the command of the Twenty-Fifth Army. He became known as the "Tiger of Malaya", as the sweeping invasion from Japanese bases in Thailand, down the Malayan peninsula, to Singapore took only two months. In this Malayan campaign, lasting from December 8, 1941 to February 15, 1942, his 30,000 front line soldiers captured or killed around 130,000 Indian, Australian and British troops before and during the Fall of Singapore, the largest surrender of British military personnel in history. {See Sook Ching Massacre of Febraury 1942}
On July 17, 1942, Yamashita was sent from Singapore to far-away Manchuria, again having been given a post in commanding the Japanese First Army, and was effectively sidelined for a major part of the Pacific war. It is thought that Prime Minister Tojo was responsible for his banishment, taking advantage of Yamashita's gaffe during a speech made to Singaporean civilian leaders in early 1942, when he referred to the local populace as "citizens of the Empire of Japan". This was considered embarrassing for the Japanese government, who officially did not consider the residents of occupied territories to have the rights or privileges of Japanese citizenship.
[edit] The Philippines
In 1944, when the war situation was critical for Japan, General Yamashita assumed the command of the Fourteenth Area Army to defend the Philippines. The U.S. Army landed on Leyte on October 20, only ten days after Yamashita's arrival at Manila. On January 6, 1945 the American Sixth Army landed at Lingayen Bay in Luzon.
Yamashita commanded around 262,000 troops in three defensive groups. He tried to rebuild his army but was forced to retreat from Manila to the mountains of northern Luzon. Before they left, the Japanese garrison murdered more than 100,000 Filipino civilians, in what would be later known as the Manila Massacre, during the fierce street fighting for the capital which raged from February 4 to March 3.
Yamashita used delaying tactics to maintain his army in Kiangan, part of the Ifugao Province of the Philippines, until 2 September 1945, after the surrender of Japan. His forces, numbering less than 50,000 troops, surrendered to Allied Generals Arthur Percival and Jonathan Wainwright. Although he might have been expected to commit suicide prior to this surrender, he reportedly explained his decision not to kill himself by saying that if he did "someone else will have to take the blame."[1]
[edit] Trial and controversy
From October 29 to December 7, 1945, an American military commission tried General Yamashita for war crimes relating to the "Manila Massacre" and sentenced him to death. This case has become a precedent regarding the command responsibility for war crimes and is known as the Yamashita Standard.
The legitimacy of the hasty trial has been called into question by many, as considerable evidence pointed to the fact that Yamashita was either not aware of the atrocities that were committed, or was unable to properly control his soldiers due to communication disruption caused by the U.S. Army during their offensive. (One of the atrocities in Manila was even carried out by a unit that disobeyed his orders to retreat.) Other war crimes were said to have occurred under Yamashita's command; in Singapore when troops had bayoneted hospital patients (Yamashita promptly executed the officer directly responsible for this), and in the Philippines when Imperial Japanese Navy forces (not under Yamashita's command) holed up in Manila massacred civilians.
Some have concluded that General Douglas MacArthur's desire to avenge the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during the war led to Yamashita's speedy trial and subsequent execution. If so, then MacArthur's vengeance was misguided as Yamashita was not in charge of, nor present at, the 1942 invasion.
During his trial, the defense attorneys who challenged Douglas MacArthur deeply impressed General Yamashita with their dedication to the case, and reaffirmed his respect for his former enemies. American lawyer George F. Guy, then a U.S. Army major, served as counsel for the defense, even going so far as to appeal the decision of the military commission to the U.S. Supreme Court, which affirmed the conviction by a vote of 7-2, with Justices Murphy and Rutledge each writing strong dissenting opinions.
Following the Supreme Court decision, an appeal for clemency was made to President Truman. The President, however, declined to act and thereby left the matter entirely in the hands of the military. In due time, General MacArthur announced that he had confirmed the sentence of the Commission and on February 23, 1946, at Los Banos Prison Camp, 30 miles south of Manila, Tomoyuki Yamashita was hanged. After climbing the steps leading to the gallows, he was asked if he had a final statement. To this Yamashita replied through a translator:
| As I said in the Manila Supreme Court that I have done with my all capacity, so I don't ashame in front of God for what I have done when I have died. But if you say to me `you do not have any ability to command the Japanese Army' I should say nothing for it, because it is my own nature. Now, our war criminal trial going on in Manila Supreme Court, so I wish to be justify under your kindness and right. I know that all your American and American military affairs always has tolerant and rightful judgment. When I have been investigated in Manila court I have had a good treatment, kindful attitude from your good natured officers who all the time protect me. I never forget for what they have done for me even if I had died. I don't blame my executioner. I'll pray God bless them. Please send my thankful word to Col. Clark and Lt. Col. Feldhaus, Lt. Col. Hendrix, Maj. Guy, Capt. Sandburg, Capt. Reel, at Manila court, and Col. Arnard. I thank you. |
Yamashita was an imposing figure, with a prominent part of his uniform being a pair of black riding boots with spurs cast from gold. On the day he was sentenced to death, General Yamashita presented them to his American attorney, Major George F. Guy, as a gift.
[edit] Personal life
Yamashita married the daughter of Japanese General Nagayama in 1916. They did not have any children. He enjoyed fishing, music and despite numerous opportunities, decided not to learn how to drive an automobile, preferring to ride instead. A deeply religious man, Yamashita was a strong believer in the Samurai code.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ General Tomoyuki Yamashita, page 3, Nat Helms, originally in World War II Magazine, February 1996, verified 2006-09-16
- CASE NO. 21; TRIAL OF GENERAL TOMOYUKI YAMASHITA; UNITED STATES MILITARY COMMISSION, MANILA, (8TH OCTOBER-7TH DECEMBER, 1945), AND THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES (JUDGMENTS DELIVERED ON 4TH FEBRUARY, 1946). Source: Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals. Selected and Prepared by the United Nations War Crimes Commission. Volume IV. London: HMSO, 1948. Document compiled by Dr S D Stein, Faculty of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences University of the West of England
- Aubrey Saint Kenworthy, The Tiger of Malaya: The story of General Tomoyuki Yamashita and "Death March" General Masaharu Homma, Exposition Press, 1951
- Reel, A. Frank. The Case of General Yamashita. The University of Chicago Press, 1949.
- Yoji, Akashi. 'General Yamashita Tomoyuki: Commander of the 25th Army', in Sixty Years On:The Fall of Singapore Revisited. Eastern Universities Press, 2002.
[edit] Further reading
- The Defense of General Yamashita by George F. Guy, one of the defenders of General Yamashita
- Last Words of the Tiger of Malaya, General Yamashita Tomoyuki by Yuki Tanaka, research professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute (Tanaka's commentary is followed by the full text of Yamashita's statement).
- Laurie Barber The Yamashita War Crimes Trial Revisited from Issue 2, Volume 1, September 1998 The Electronic Journal of Military History within the History Department at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
