was a general in the
Imperial Japanese Army and very briefly
Army Minister in the 1930s.
Biography
Nakamura was a native of
Ishikawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island. Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,140,573 (31 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,186 km2 (1,616 sq mi). Ishikawa Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to ...
. He was educated in military preparatory schools from early youth, and graduated from the 13th class of the
Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1901, and from the 21st class of the
Army Staff College in 1909, where his classmates included
Hisaichi Terauchi and
Yoshijirō Umezu.
Nakamura served in various administrative and staff positions within the
Imperial Japanese Army General Staff for almost his entire career. He was sent as a
military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...
to
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
from 1920 to 1921.
After his promotion to
lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
, Nakamura was assigned command of the IJA 67th Infantry Regiment from 1922 to 1923. He returned to the General Staff from 1923 to 1927. In 1927, Nakamura was promoted to
major general and commanded the IJA 39th Infantry Brigade. From 1929 to 1930, he was the
Chief of Staff
The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...
of the
Chosen Army in
Korea.
[Ammenthorp, The Generals of World War II]
Nakamura served as Chief of the Personnel Bureau in the General Staff from 1930 to 1932. He returned to the field as the commander of the
Japanese China Garrison Army in 1932, and was shortly thereafter promoted to
lieutenant general. In 1934, Nakamura became commander of the 8th Army. He was recalled to Tokyo in December 1935 to serve as Deputy
Inspector-General of Military Training.
From 2 to 7 February 1937, Nakamura became
Army Minister for a brief seven-day stint under
Prime Minister Senjūrō Hayashi.
Afterwards, Nakamura was appointed commander of the
Eastern District Army, and was promoted to full
general in 1938. Nakamura then became commander of the Chosen Army from 1938 to 1941.
From 1941 until his retirement due to poor health in 1943, Nakamura served as a member of the
Supreme War Council
The Supreme War Council was a central command based in Versailles that coordinated the military strategy of the principal Allies of World War I: Britain, France, Italy, the US and Japan. It was founded in 1917 after the Russian revolution and w ...
. Nakamura died shortly after the end of
World War II on 29 August 1947.
References
Books
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External links
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Notes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakamura, Kotaro
1881 births
1947 deaths
Military personnel from Ishikawa Prefecture
Japanese generals
Ministers of the Imperial Japanese Army