Masashi Kobayashi
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was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. His name was sometimes misspelled as "Marasmi Kobayashi" or "Marashi Kobayashi" by contemporary United States Navy sources. He was an outspoken proponent of the Treaty Faction within the Imperial Japanese Navy.


Biography

Kobayashi was a native of Yonezawa, Yamagata, where his father was a farmer. With the assistance of a clique of admirals within the Imperial Japanese Navy from former Yonezawa Domain (including
Yamashita Gentarō Baron was an admiral in the early Imperial Japanese Navy. Biography Early career Yamashita was the second son of a samurai in the service of the Yonezawa Domain and was born in the castle town of Yonezawa, Dewa Province (present day Yamagata pr ...
and Chūichi Nagumo), he entered military preparatory schools and graduated 4th out of 149 cadets from the 38th class of the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy. His classmates included Michitaro Totsuka, Takeo Kurita, Rokuzō Sugiyama, Gunichi Mikawa and Aritomo Gotō. After serving on the
cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
and
battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
, Kobayashi was sent to the United Kingdom as part of the crew bringing the new
battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...
to Japan. After attending the naval artillery and torpedo warfare schools, he served on the destroyer before attending the Naval Staff College in 1916, where he specialized in navigation. On graduation and promotion to lieutenant, Kobayashi served as chief navigator on the survey vessel and the aging cruiser . He then returned to shore duty from 1919-1921 with the IJN 3rd Fleet and served as an instructor at the Navy Academy. He returned to the Naval War College in 1921 and was promoted to lieutenant commander on graduation in 1922. His first command was from 1923-1925 of the river gunboat , which operated on the Yangtze River in Shanghai. From December 1925 to April 1928, Kobayashi served as a naval attaché to the United States. He was promoted to commander on 1 December 1927. After his return to Japan, Kobayashi served as
executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, o ...
on the submarine tender . He was promoted to captain on December 1, 1931. A week later, he was sent to Geneva as an attendant to the
Geneva Conference Geneva Conference may refer to: * Geneva Naval Conference (1927), on naval arms limitation * World Economic Conference (423 May 1927), on international trade * World Population Conference (29 August3 September 1927), on demography * Geneva Confer ...
. In November 1932, he returned to the United States as a naval attaché, remaining until June 1934. In December 1936, Kobayashi was appointed captain of the battleship . With the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Kobayashi became
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 IJN 4th Fleet and was based at Tsingtao as an assistant to Rear Admiral Soemu Toyoda. On 1 December 1937, Kobayashi was promoted to
rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
. From September 1938 to November 1939, he served as Chief of Staff of the
Sasebo Naval District was the third of five main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included the western and southern coastline of Kyūshū, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan and Korea, as well as patrols in the East China Sea and t ...
. He returned to the China front in November 1939 as Commander of the Naval Base Forces in Wuhan, and from November 1940 in Shanghai. He returned to Japan in May 1941. On 15 October 1941, Kobayashi was promoted to vice admiral.


World War II

Shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Kobayashi was the commander of the Osaka Guard District. He remained in that position until March 1943 and despite having more combat experience than many of his colleagues, was assigned to personnel recruitment, munitions production, and general bureaucratic duties. It was not until after the tide of the war started to change that Kobayashi was permitted to return to combat status with his appointment to command the IJN 4th Fleet on 1 April 1943. The IJN 4th Fleet was responsible for the defense of the South Pacific, although its responsibilities overlapped, and often conflicted with the IJN 2nd Fleet,
IJN 6th Fleet The was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) that during World War II, had primary responsibility for the command of submarine operations. History The 6th Fleet was formed on 15 November 1940, and was assigned general control of all IJN ...
, and the Combined Fleet. In November 1943, the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
were victorious at the
Battle of Tarawa The Battle of Tarawa was fought on 20–23 November 1943 between the United States and Japan at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, and was part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. invasion of the Gilberts. Nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans, an ...
and Battle of Makin in the
Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...
, and in early February 1944 seized critically strategic positions in the Marshall Islands with the Battle of Kwajalein and the capture of Roi-Namur. Realizing that the major Japanese naval base in the South Pacific at Truk was endangered, Kobayashi ordered the naval assets there transferred to Palau. However, before the transfer could be complete, the United States launched Operation Hailstone, sinking a large number of Japanese warships and transports. The Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff blamed Kobayashi for the defeat and relieved him of his command two days later. On 30 May 1944, Kobayashi was forced from active service and on 31 May 1944, he went into the reserves. After 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 ...
, Kobayashi was detained at
Sugamo Prison Sugamo Prison (''Sugamo Kōchi-sho'', Kyūjitai: , Shinjitai: ) was a prison in Tokyo, Japan. It was located in the district of Ikebukuro, which is now part of the Toshima ward of Tokyo, Japan. History Sugamo Prison was originally built in 1 ...
in Tokyo by the
SCAP SCAP may refer to: * S.C.A.P., an early French manufacturer of cars and engines * Security Content Automation Protocol * ''The Shackled City Adventure Path'', a role-playing game * SREBP cleavage activating protein * Supervisory Capital Assessment ...
authorities, and charged with command responsibility for the war crimes perpetrated by Admiral
Shigematsu Sakaibara was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Japanese garrison commander on Wake Island during World War II, and a convicted war criminal. He was responsible for ordering the Wake Island massacre, in which 98 American civilians were murdere ...
in the "Wake Island Massacre". His case never came to trial, and he was released from Sugamo Prison in 1952. In the post-war period, Kobayashi served as an advisor and instructor for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.


Notes


References

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Further reading

* * * * * *''The Marshall Islands'' by Gordon L. Rottman (2004) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kobayashi, Masami Japanese admirals of World War II 1977 deaths 1890 births Imperial Japanese Navy admirals People from Yamagata Prefecture Japanese naval attachés