Yoshijirō Umezu

(January 4, 1882 – January 8, 1949) was a Japanese general in World War II and Chief of the Army General Staff during the final years of the conflict. He was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Biography

Early life and career

Umezu was born in Nakatsu, Ōita, Japan, where his family ran a bookstore since the 18th century. During his years at the Kumamoto Prefectural Seiseikou High School in Kumamoto, he decided to pursue a military career. He graduated from the 15th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy on November 30, 1903, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry the following February 12, 1904. Promoted to lieutenant on June 30, 1905, he entered the 23rd class of the Army Staff College, graduating first in 1911. Following his promotion to captain on March 25, 1912, he was sent to Europe for further studies in Germany and Denmark. While in Denmark, he was also a military observer from Japan, during the course of World War I, and was promoted to major on June 1, 1918. From 1919 to 1921, he was appointed as a military attaché to Switzerland.

Umezu was promoted to lieutenant colonel on February 8, 1922 and to colonel on December 15, 1925. During the 1920s, he was a member of the ''Tōseiha'', led by General Kazushige Ugaki along with Gen Sugiyama, Koiso Kuniaki, Tetsuzan Nagata and Hideki Tōjō. They represented a politically moderate line within the armed forces, in opposition to the radical ''Kōdōha'' movement, guided by Sadao Araki. Umezu served as an instructor at the Army Staff College from 1923 to 1924, and was commander of the IJA 3rd Infantry Regiment from 1924 to 1926.

Umezu was promoted to major general in August 1930 and commander of the IJA 1st Infantry Brigade. He worked at the General Staff from August 1933, and was sent as a military attaché to Switzerland from November 1933. After his return to Japan in March 1934, he was appointed commander of the Japanese China Garrison Army and in November repelled a large-scale Chinese incursion into Rehe Province. In June 1935 he signed the He–Umezu Agreement, which was an attempt to defuse tensions between the Republic of China and Japan, and which gave Japan control over ten provinces of Hebei. Umezu was promoted to lieutenant general in August. In August 1935, he became commander of the Sendai-based IJA 2nd Division. He strongly opposed the February 26 incident attempted coup-de-etat in 1936. Umezu was appointed Vice Minister of War from March 1936 and working under Army Minister Terauchi Hisaichi, purged many of the radical ''kōdōha'' members from the Army ranks.

World War II

Umezu returned to China in May 1938 as commander-in-chief of the IJA 1st Army. By this time, the IJA 1st Army had completed its combat operations, and was serving as a garrison force in Japanese-occupied Northern China. From September 1939. he was commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, which was likewise acting as a garrison force in Manchukuo. He was promoted to full general on August 1, 1940.

In July 1944, Umezu was appointed as the final Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, and a member of the Supreme War Council, following the resignation of Hideki Tojo. Along with Army Minister Korechika Anami and the Chief of Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, Soemu Toyoda, Umezu opposed surrender in August 1945 and believed that the military should fight on and that by forcing the Allies to sustain heavy losses in an invasion, Japan could negotiate for peace under better terms. He was aware of the planned coup d'état by junior officers opposed to the surrender but did nothing to aid or to hinder it. He was personally ordered by Emperor Hirohito to sign the instrument of surrender on behalf of the armed forces on September 2, 1945 and was thus the Army's senior representative during the surrender ceremonies on the battleship , officially ending World War II. He entered the reserves on November 30.

After the war, he was arrested by the SCAP authorities and tried as a war criminal at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo. He was found guilty of Counts 1, 27, 29, 31 and 32 of waging a war of aggression and sentenced to life imprisonment on November 12, 1948.

Umezu died from rectal cancer in 1949 while he was still incarcerated. He converted to Catholicism one day before his death, and his last rites were performed at his bedside by a Catholic priest. Although Umezu had followed the militaristic State Shinto religion, his family favored Catholicism, and his daughter became a Catholic nun.

Decorations

* 1906 – Order of the Rising Sun, 6th class
* 1906 – Order of the Golden Kite, 5th class
* 1913 – Order of the Sacred Treasure, 5th class『官報』第251号「叙任及辞令」June 2, 1913
* 1915 – Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class
* 1922 – Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd class
* 1933 – Order of the Sacred Treasure, 2nd class
* 1936 – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure
* 1939 – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun
* 1940 – Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd class

References

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* Kase, Toshikazu (1950). ''Journey to the Missouri''.
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Notes

External links

USS Missouri

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Umezu, Yoshijiro
1882 births
1949 deaths
People from Nakatsu, Ōita
Military personnel from Ōita Prefecture
Imperial Japanese Army generals of World War II
Japanese military attachés
Japanese colonial governors and administrators
Members of the Kwantung Army
People of the Kwantung Leased Territory
Japanese people convicted of war crimes
Japanese people convicted of the international crime of aggression
People convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
Japanese prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by international courts and tribunals
Japanese people who died in prison custody
Japanese Roman Catholics
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Shinto
Deaths from colorectal cancer in Japan
Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun
Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st class
Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd class