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Kumao Imoto
Kumao Imoto (井本熊男; 1903 in Yamaguchi Prefecture – 2000) was a Japanese military officer and a Lieutenant General of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. Life Imoto logged fatal experiments with cyanide gas as a weapon in 1942. He delivered the evacuation orders to the Japanese Seventeenth Army in Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of the Second World War (Operation Ke). The withdrawal was largely successful. Imoto was the senior surviving staff officer in Hiroshima after the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, dropping of the atom bomb, and acted as chief of staff to Field Marshal Shunroku Hata during the immediate aftermath, though wounded. After World War II, Imoto joined a group headed by Takushiro Hattori that aspired to become the new general staff of the fledging Japan Self-Defense Force. Imoto later reached the rank of Lieutenant General in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, Ground Self-Defense Force. Imoto's book ''The Great East Asian War, written as an ...
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Yamaguchi Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). Yamaguchi Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to the north and Hiroshima Prefecture to the northeast. Yamaguchi (city), Yamaguchi is the capital and Shimonoseki is the largest city of Yamaguchi Prefecture, with other major cities including Ube, Yamaguchi, Ube, Shūnan, and Iwakuni. Yamaguchi Prefecture is located at the western tip of Honshu with coastlines on the Sea of Japan and Seto Inland Sea, and separated from the island of Kyushu by the Kanmon Straits. History Yamaguchi Prefecture was created by the merger of the provinces of Suō Province, Suō and Nagato Province, Nagato. During the rise of the samurai class during the Heian period, Heian and Kamakura period, Kamakura Periods (794–1333), the Ouchi family of Suō Province a ...
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Lieutenant General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a captain general. In modern armies, lieutenant general normally ranks immediately below general and above major general; it is equivalent to the navy rank of vice admiral, and in air forces with a separate rank structure, it is equivalent to air marshal. A lieutenant general commands an army corps, made up of typically three army divisions, and consisting of around 60 000 to 70 000 soldiers (U.S.). The seeming incongruity that a lieutenant general outranks a major general (whereas a major outranks a lieutenant) is due to the derivation of major general from sergeant major general, which was a rank subordinate to lieutenant general (as a lieutenant outranks a sergeant major). In contrast, ...
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Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force ( ja, 陸上自衛隊, Rikujō Jieitai), , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service branches. New military guidelines, announced in December 2010, direct the Japan Self-Defense Forces away from their Cold War focus on the Soviet Union to a new focus on China, especially in respect of the dispute over the Senkaku Islands. The JGSDF operates under the command of the chief of the ground staff, based in the city of Ichigaya, Shinjuku, Tokyo. The present chief of staff is General Yoshihide Yoshida. The JGSDF numbered around 150,000 soldiers in 2018.IISS Military Balance 2018, Routledge, London, 2018. p.271 History 20th century Soon after the end of the Pacific War in 1945 with Japan accepting the Potsdam Declaration, the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy were dismantled by the orders of Supreme Commander ...
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Cyanide Gas
Hydrogen cyanide, sometimes called prussic acid, is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structure . It is a colorless, extremely poisonous, and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is produced on an industrial scale and is a highly valued precursor to many chemical compounds ranging from polymers to pharmaceuticals. Large-scale applications are for the production of potassium cyanide and adiponitrile, used in mining and plastics, respectively. It is more toxic than solid cyanide compounds due to its volatile nature. Structure and general properties Hydrogen cyanide is a linear molecule, with a triple bond between carbon and nitrogen. The tautomer of HCN is HNC, hydrogen isocyanide. Hydrogen cyanide is weakly acidic with a p''K''a of 9.2. It partially ionizes in water solution to give the cyanide anion, CN−. A solution of hydrogen cyanide in water, represented as HCN, is called ''hydrocyanic acid''. The salts of the cyanide ani ...
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Japanese Seventeenth Army
The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. History The army was formed on May 18, 1942 under the Japanese Eighth Area Army of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group for the specific task of opposing landings by Allied forces in Japanese-occupied Solomon Islands. It was initially headquartered on Rabaul and participated in the Guadalcanal and New Guinea campaigns of the South West Pacific theatre of World War II. After General Hitoshi Imamura took over command of the Japanese Eighth Area Army the 17th Army was responsible primarily for the defense of Bougainville. It was trapped and cut off from reinforcements and re-supply during the Bougainville campaign (1943–45) The Bougainville campaign was a series of land and naval battles of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Allied forces and the Empire of Japan, named after the island of Bougainville. It was part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied ..., and was forced to live off the land, ...
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Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the second by population (after Malaita). The island is mainly covered in dense tropical rainforest and has a mountainous hinterland. Guadalcanal's first charting by westerners was under the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña in 1568. The name comes from the village of Guadalcanal, in the province of Seville, in Andalusia, Spain, birthplace of Pedro de Ortega Valencia, a member of Mendaña's expedition. During 1942–43, it was the scene of the Guadalcanal Campaign and saw bitter fighting between Japanese and US troops. The Americans were ultimately victorious. At the end of World War II, Honiara, on the north coast of Guadalcanal, became the new capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Geography Guadalcanal is the lar ...
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Operation Ke
was the largely successful withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, concluding the Guadalcanal Campaign of . The operation took place between 14 January and 7 February 1943, and involved both Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) forces under the overall direction of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters (IGH). Commanders of the operation included Isoroku Yamamoto and Hitoshi Imamura. The Japanese decided to withdraw and concede Guadalcanal to Allied forces for several reasons. All attempts by the IJA to recapture Henderson Field, the airfield on Guadalcanal in use by Allied aircraft, had been repulsed with heavy losses. Japanese ground forces on the island had been reduced from 36,000 to 11,000 through starvation, disease, and battle casualties. IJN forces were also suffering heavy losses attempting to reinforce and resupply the ground forces on the island. These losses, plus the projected resources needed for further attempts to recaptu ...
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Atomic Bombings Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki
The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict so far. In the final year of World War II, the Allies prepared for a costly invasion of the Japanese mainland. This undertaking was preceded by a conventional and firebombing campaign that devastated 64 Japanese cities. The war in the European theatre concluded when Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945, and the Allies turned their full attention to the Pacific War. By July 1945, the Allies' Manhattan Project had produced two types of atomic bombs: "Fat Man", a plutonium implosion-type nuclear weapon; and "Little Boy", an enriched uranium gun-type fission weapon. The 509th Composite Group of the United States Army Air Forces was trained and equipped with the specialized Silverplate version of the ...
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Shunroku Hata
was a field marshal ('' gensui'') in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. He was the last surviving Japanese military officer with a marshal's rank. Hata was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1948, but was paroled in 1954. Biography Early years Hata was a native of Fukushima Prefecture, where his father was a samurai of the Aizu Domain. At the age of 12, the family relocated to Hakodate, Hokkaidō, but at the age of 14, he was accepted into the prestigious First Tokyo Middle School. However, his father died the same year. Unable to afford the tuition, Hata enrolled in the Army Cadet School instead, going on to graduate in the 12th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1901 as a second lieutenant in the artillery. Hata served in the Russo-Japanese War. He graduated from the 22nd class of the Army Staff College with top rankings in November 1910. Sent as a military attaché to Germany in March 1912, Hata stayed in Europe throug ...
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Takushiro Hattori
was an Imperial Japanese Army officer and government official. During World War II, he alternately served as the chief of the Army General Staff's Operations Section and secretary to Prime Minister Hideki Tojo. After the war ended, he served as an adviser on military matters to the postwar Japanese government. Early life Takushiro Hattori was born on January 2, 1901, in Tsuruoka, a city in the Japanese prefecture of Yamagata. Upon completing his education at the Imperial Military Academy in 1922, he enrolled in the Japanese Army War College from which he graduated in 1930. In 1935, he traveled to Africa, where he acted as the Japanese military's observer during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. After returning to Japan, he joined the Army General Staff Office and was placed in charge of mobilization. By the late 1930s, Hattori was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and became head of the Kwantung Army's Operations Section. In that capacity, he served as one of the driving forces beh ...
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Japan Self-Defense Force
The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, the JSDF cannot be considered a fully-fledged military force. military forces of Japan established in 1954. The self-defence forces consists of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. They are controlled by the Ministry of Defense, with the Prime Minister as commander-in-chief. In recent years, the JSDF has engaged in international peacekeeping operations with the United Nations. Tensions with North Korea have reignited debate over the status of the JSDF and its relationship to Japanese society. Since 2010, the JSDF has refocused from countering the former Soviet Union to the People's Republic of China, also since 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the JSDF also consi ...
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Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Generals
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans an archipelago of 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Tokyo is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the most densely populated and urbanized. About three-fourths of the country's terrain is mountainous, concentrating its population of 123.2 million on narrow coastal plains. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most pop ...
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