was a

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 ...

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 ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Biography

The son of a colonist/soldier in what is now

Bibai, Hokkaidō is a Cities of Japan, city located in Sorachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of 2013, the city has an estimated population of 24,768, and the population density, density of 89.2 persons per km2. The total area is 277.61 km2. History Th ...

, Sanada graduated from Sapporo South High School and the army cadet school in Sendai before being accepted into the 31st 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 ...

. He graduated in 1919 and served as a junior officer with the IJA 9th Infantry Regiment. He subsequently graduated from the 39th 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 ...

in 1927. He was assigned to the Tokyo Defense Headquarters in 1929, and held a number of administrative posts at the Army Ministry from 1931. Sanada was sent as a

military attache A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

from October 1936. After his return to Japan in March 1937, he returned to the Army Ministry and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in November of the same year. From August 1938, he was Secretary to the Army Minister Seishiro Itagaki. Promoted to colonel in August 1939, he was assigned command of the IJA 86th Infantry Regiment. In January 1940, he was made Army liaison to the Japanese China Area Fleet during 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 ...

. His subsequent career was that of a bureaucrat within the Army Ministry. From February 1941, he was head of the Military Affairs Section of the Military Service Bureau. From December 1942, he was chief of the 2nd Bureau (Planning) 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 ...

. From October 1943, he was promoted to

and head of the 1st Bureau (Operations) within the General Staff. In this role, he visited the front lines at Guadalcanal from December 17–25, 1942. Appalled at the losses suffered by the IJA 17th Army, and its lack of supplies, he reported to Imperial General Headquarters that the conditions were such that the campaign to take the island should be abandoned. He returned to Rabaul in early January armed with an Imperial decree and orders addressed to the

Japanese Eighth Area Army The was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. History The Japanese 8th Area Army was formed on November 16, 1942 under the Southern Expeditionary Army Group for the specific task of opposing landings by Allied forces i ...

to enforce the evacuation order. Sanada returned to the Army Ministry in December 1944 as head of the Military Service Bureau. In March 1945, Sanada was attached to the staff of the Western District Army and became deputy chief-of-staff of the IJA Second General Army in April 1945. After the surrender of Japan, he remained on the staff of the Military Service Bureau, overseeing demobilization, until his retirement in December 1945. A member of then ''

Tōseiha The ''Tōseiha'' or was a political faction in the Imperial Japanese Army active in the 1920s and 1930s. The ''Tōseiha'' was a grouping of moderate officers united primarily by their opposition to the radical ''Kōdōha'' (Imperial Way) faction ...

'' political faction within the Army, Sanada was a strong supporter of

Hideki Tōjō Hideki Tojo (, ', December 30, 1884 – December 23, 1948) was a Japanese politician, general of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), and convicted war criminal who served as prime minister of Japan and president of the Imperial Rule Assista ...

's rise to the position of

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

in the Japanese government,

Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ...

, "WAR RESPONSIBILITY--delving into the past (15) / Lower-ranked officers also to blame"

References

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External links

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Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanada, Joichiro Imperial Japanese Army generals of World War II Japanese military personnel of World War II Japanese military attachés Japanese generals People from Hokkaido 1897 births 1957 deaths