was a

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 ...

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 ...

during

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 opposin ...

Biography

Watanabe was the second son of a former

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

retainer of the

Kishiwada Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Izumi Province in what is now the southern portion of modern-day Osaka Prefecture. It was centered around Kishiwada Castle and was controlled by the ''fudai daim ...

who became an elementary school teacher after the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

. Watanabe attended military preparatory schools in Osaka and was a graduate of 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, specializing in artillery. He graduated from the 31st 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 1919. After graduation, he held various staff positions, and from 1928 was an instructor of the Army Field Artillery School. In 1928, he was promoted to the honorific title of Senior Sixth Court Rank. He was on the staff of the Hiroshima Port Fortress, the Hōyo Strait Fortress, and commanded the Guards Field Artillery Battalion, rising to the position of

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

IJA 14th Division The was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its tsūshōgō code name was the , and its military symbol was 14D. The 14th Division was one of four new infantry divisions raised by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) in the closing ...

in 1933, overseeing its withdrawal from

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

back to Japan. Watanabe was promoted 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 a ...

in 1937 and was made Chief of Staff of the

Central District Army The was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army responsible for the defense of the Japanese home islands during the Pacific War. It was one of the regional commands in the Japanese home islands reporting to the General Defense Command The wa ...

in Japan. From 1938 to 1940 he head of the Army Armaments Factory. He was promoted to

in 1939. After a brief stint at the Army Aviation Technology Research Institute, he was given a field command as the commander of the newly-formed

IJA 56th Division The was an infantry division of the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the .It was formed on 10 July 1940 at Kurume, simultaneously with 51st, 52nd, 54th, 55th, and 57th Divisions. The formation nucleus was the headquarters of the 12 ...

from August 1940. Although initially the 56th division was slated as reinforcements for the

Japanese invasion of Malaya The Malayan campaign, referred to by Japanese sources as the , was a military campaign fought by Allied and Axis forces in Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 15 February 1942 during the Second World War. It was dominated by land battles between ...

, the rapid cessation of British resistance resulted in division been attached to IJA 25th Army and sent to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

in March 1942, landing in

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

and participating in the

Battle of Toungoo The Battle of Toungoo was one of the key battles in the Battle of Yunnan-Burma Road in the Burma Campaign of World War II and Second Sino-Japanese War. The failure of the Chinese to hold the city of Toungoo opened up the route for the Japanese ...

. The 56th Division linked with the

IJA 55th Division The was an infantry division of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Its call sign was the . It was formed on 10 July 1940 at Zentsūji, simultaneously with 51st, 52nd, 54th, 56th, and 57th divisions. The formation nucleus was t ...

Toungoo Taungoo (, ''Tauñngu myoú''; ; also spelled Toungoo) is a district-level city in the Bago Region of Myanmar, 220 km from Yangon, towards the north-eastern end of the division, with mountain ranges to the east and west. The main industr ...

on 28 March 1942. Its reconnaissance elements forced the Chinese to evacuate the city opening the way to the east. Later the 56th Division flanked the Allied line to the east, by advancing through the mountains to the Salween River in the

Karenni Karenni may refer to: * Karenni people * Karenni language * Karenni State, former name of Kayah State, Myanmar * Karenni States The Karenni States, also known as Red Karen States, was the name formerly given to the states inhabited mainly by ...

States. The Division defeated the Chinese 6th Corps in the

Karen Hills The Karen Hills, () also known as Kayah-Karen Mountains, are one of the main hill ranges in eastern Burma. They are located at the SW corner of Shan State and in Kayah State, a mountainous region where the only relatively flat area is Loikaw, t ...

area battles of

Mawchi Mawachi a region in the Bawlake district of the Kayah State (formerly called Karenni State) of Myanmar. In the 1930s, the Mawchi Mine was the most important source of tungsten in the world. Mawchi contained the world's largest granite-hosted tin- ...

on 13 April 1942,

Bawlake Bawlakhe ( my, ဘော်လခဲမြို့) is a town in the Kayah State of eastern part of Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British ...

Taunggyi Taunggyi ( ; Shan: ; Pa'O: ) is the capital and largest city of Shan State, Myanmar (Burma) and lies on the Thazi-Kyaingtong road at an elevation of , just north of Shwenyaung and Inle Lake within the Myelat region. Taunggyi is the fifth lar ...

and

Loikaw Loikaw (, ) is the capital of Kayah State in Myanmar. It is located in the Karen Hills area, near the State's northern tip, just above an embayment on the Pilu River. The inhabitants are mostly Kayah (Karenni). Myanmar's largest hydropower plant ...

on 20 April 1940, and forced their retreat eastward to

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

. Advancing north through the

Shan States The Shan States (1885–1948) were a collection of minor Shan kingdoms called ''muang'' whose rulers bore the title ''saopha'' in British Burma. They were analogous to the princely states of British India. The term "Shan States" was firs ...

the 56th Division defeated elements of the Chinese 65th Corps to take the city of

Lashio Lashio ( ; Shan: ) is the largest town in northern Shan State, Myanmar, about north-east of Mandalay. It is situated on a low mountain spur overlooking the valley of the Yaw River. Loi Leng, the highest mountain of the Shan Hills, is located ...

on the

Burma Road The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. It was built while Burma was a British colony to convey supplies to China during the Second Sino-J ...

. The fall of

to the 56th Division on 29 April 1942 cut off much of the local Chinese Army from China and compelled the Allies to evacuate Burma. The Division advanced into Yunnan in pursuit of the Chinese but were halted at the Battle of Salween River by the Chinese 36th and 88th Divisions on 31 May 1942. Following this success in combat, Watanabe was recalled to Japan, and from 1942 to 1944, was Commandant of the Army School of Science. However, with the war situation rapidly deteriorating against Japan, he was sent to the field again in March 1944 as the first commander in chief of the newly formed IJA 32nd Army, tasked with the defense of the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

. Watanabe was recalled to Tokyo in August the same year, and retired from military service. In the final stages of the war, he was recalled to duty, and assigned as commander of the Osaka region for the expected American invasion of the Japanese home islands. He was awarded with the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

, 1st class, just before the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

. He died in 1950.

Decorations

* 1945 –

Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun『官報』第5730号「叙任及辞令」February 21, 1946

References

* * * * *

External links

* *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Masao 1888 births 1950 deaths Military personnel from Osaka Prefecture Imperial Japanese Army generals of World War II Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun