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 ...

and 19th and final Japanese

Governor-General of Taiwan The governor-general of Taiwan ( ja, 臺灣總督, Taiwan Sōtoku) was the head of the Government-General of Taiwan in the Japanese era (including Formosa and the Pescadores) when they were part of the Empire of Japan, from 1895 to 1945. The Jap ...

from 30 December 1944 to October 1945.

Biography

Early career

Andō was a native of

Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the nort ...

. He served as an instructor at the Army War College from 1924-1925. From 1925-1927, he was sent to

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

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 ...

, and on his return to Japan, served in a number of staff assignments under 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 returned to the field in 1928 as commander of the 13th Infantry Regiment, and was promoted to

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 5th Division The was an infantry division of the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the . The 5th Division was formed in Hiroshima in January 1871 as the , one of six regional commands created in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army. Its personnel we ...

in 1930. From 1931-1932, Andō returned to the General Staff, where he was Chief of Military Administration Section, Military Affairs Bureau. He was appointed military attaché to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

from 1932-1934. After his return to Japan, he became Commandant of the Toyoma Army Infantry School, and subsequently commander of the 5th Independent Garrison Unit. From 1937-1938, he was Deputy Inspector-General of Military Training.

The man who started the Pacific War

With the outbreak 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 ...

, Andō was given a field assignment as commander of his old unit, the IJA 5th Division in 1938. Later that year, he was promoted to commander in chief of the IJA 21st Army in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, which became part of the

Japanese Southern China Area Army Field armies of Japan, S Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1941 ...

in 1939. The Japanese Southern China Area Army was largely a

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

force controlling Japanese-occupied

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

and

Guangxi Province Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ( ...

s. In the midst of diplomatic negotiations between Japan and its ally,

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

over access to air strips and seaports in

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

, Andō took independent initiative and ordered his forces across the border, without prior authorization from the government in Tokyo. Japanese military and political leaders were outraged; however, as the invasion had already occurred, military and political considerations meant that the Japanese government had no choice but to follow through. The unauthorized

invasion of French Indochina The was a short undeclared military confrontation between Japan and France in northern French Indochina. Fighting lasted from 22 to 26 September 1940; the same time as the Battle of South Guangxi in the Sino-Japanese War, which was the main ...

created a diplomatic confrontation with the West and the imposition of an American oil embargo against Japan. Andō was recalled to Tokyo on 9 February 1941 and forced into retirement as punishment.

Taiwan

In the fall of 1941, Andō was recalled to service, promoted to full general, and given command of the Japanese Tenth Area Army in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. The 10th Area Army was essentially the "Taiwan Army", as it had no additional combat forces assigned to it, and served as a garrison force for the island. Ando became the final Japanese

on 30 December 1944. After the end of the war, the 10th Area Army was disbanded in September 1945.
Wendel, Axis History.com Arrested by Chinese authorities and charged with war crimes from his tenure in China, Andō committed suicide by taking poison while in prison in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

before he could go to trial.

References

Books

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Notes

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ando, Rikichi 1884 births 1946 suicides Military personnel from Miyagi Prefecture Japanese generals Governors-General of Taiwan Imperial Japanese Army generals of World War II Imperial Japanese Army personnel of World War II Japanese military personnel who committed suicide Suicides in the Republic of China Suicides by poison People who committed suicide in prison custody Drug-related suicides in China Prisoners who died in Chinese detention