Kumao Imoto (井本熊男; 1903 in

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). Y ...

– 2000) was a Japanese military officer and 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 ...

of the

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force ( ja, 陸上自衛隊, Rikujō Jieitai), , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service b ...

Life

Imoto logged fatal experiments with

cyanide gas Hydrogen cyanide, sometimes called prussic acid, is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structure . It is a colorless, extremely poisonous, and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is produced on an ...

as a weapon in 1942. He delivered the evacuation orders to the

Japanese Seventeenth Army The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. History The army was formed on May 18, 1942 under the Japanese Eighth Area Army of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group for the specific task of opposing landings by Allied fo ...

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

in the Pacific theatre of the Second World War (

Operation Ke was the largely successful withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, concluding the Guadalcanal Campaign of . The operation took place between 14 January and 7 February 1943, and involved both Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial ...

). The withdrawal was largely successful. Imoto was the senior surviving staff officer in Hiroshima after the dropping of the atom bomb, and acted as chief of staff to Field Marshal

Shunroku Hata was a field marshal ('' gensui'') in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. He was the last surviving Japanese military officer with a marshal's rank. Hata was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1948, but was ...

during the immediate aftermath, though wounded. After World War II, Imoto joined a group headed by

Takushiro Hattori was an Imperial Japanese Army officer and government official. During World War II, he alternately served as the chief of the Army General Staff's Operations Section and secretary to Prime Minister Hideki Tojo. After the war ended, he served as an ...

that aspired to become the new general staff of the fledging

Japan Self-Defense Force The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, th ...

. Imoto later reached the rank of Lieutenant General in the

Ground Self-Defense Force The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force ( ja, 陸上自衛隊, Rikujō Jieitai), , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service b ...

. Imoto's book ''The Great East Asian War, written as an Operations Diary'' (''Dai Toa Senso Sakusen Nisshi'') was published in 1979.''Hell's Islands: The Untold Story of Guadalcanal'', p. 387

References

* Saaler, Sven & Schwentker, Wolfgang (ed.): ''The Power of Memory in Modern Japan'', Global Oriental, 2008

Footnotes

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force generals Imperial Japanese Army personnel of World War II Imperial Japanese Army officers 1903 births 2000 deaths {{Japan-mil-bio-stub