was a general in the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

in the Pacific War.

Biography

A native of

Ibaraki prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefecture ...

, Iimura graduated from the 21st class of the

Imperial Japanese Army Academy The was the principal officer's training school for the Imperial Japanese Army. The programme consisted of a junior course for graduates of local army cadet schools and for those who had completed four years of middle school, and a senior course f ...

in 1909, and was assigned to the Imperial Guards 3rd Regiment. Simultaneously, he also attended class work at the

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies , often referred to as TUFS, is a specialist research university in Fuchū, Tokyo, Japan. TUFS is primarily devoted to foreign language, international affairs and foreign studies. It also features an Asia-African institution. History The Uni ...

, graduating in March 1917 with a degree in French. He then entered the 33rd class of the

Army Staff College Staff colleges (also command and staff colleges and War colleges) train military officers in the administrative, military staff and policy aspects of their profession. It is usual for such training to occur at several levels in a career. For exa ...

, emerging in 1919 as a captain in the

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

. After a short assignment with the

Chosen Army The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army that formed a garrison force in Korea under Japanese rule. The Korean Army consisted of roughly 350,000 troops in 1914. History Japanese forces occupied large portions of the Empire of Korea dur ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

and as an instructor at the Army Staff College, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assigned as military attaché to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. during his time as military attache in Turkey he criticized Turkish General staff's lectures on Russo-Japanese War and sent a memo about inaccuracies in their published works. In return Turkish General Staff requested him to hold lectures about Russo-Japanese war in Ankara EpIOEL9XYAE-tqt

After Iimura returned to Japan, he was promoted to

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

in August 1932 and served in various staff positions within the

Imperial Japanese Army General Staff The , also called the Army General Staff, was one of the two principal agencies charged with overseeing the Imperial Japanese Army. Role The was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry, to replace the Ministry of Military Affairs ...

. He was given a field position as commander of the IJA 61st Infantry Regiment in March 1935. With the start of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, Iimura was promoted in March 1937 to

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

. He was Commandant of the Army Staff College from 1938–1939, and transferred to Manchukuo to become Chief of Staff of the

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...

from 1939-1940. He subsequently became commander in chief of the IJA 5th Army in Manchukuo from 1941-1943. Iijuma was recalled to Japan in 1943 to resume his position as Commandant of the Army Staff College, but with the situation continuing to deteriorate for the Japanese in the southern front of the Pacific War, he was reassigned to a combat command as Chief of Staff of the Southern Army in 1944, and Commander in Chief of the depleted 2nd Area Army, based in Manchukuo from 1944-1945./Wendel, Axis History Database He returned to Japan shortly before the end of the war to assume command of the Tokyo Defense Army and Tokyo Divisional District in anticipation of the American invasion of the Japanese home islands. He was appointed Provost Marshal immediately before the end of the war in 1945.

References

Books

External links

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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iimura, Jo 1888 births 1976 deaths Military personnel from Ibaraki Prefecture Japanese generals Japanese military personnel of World War II