was a Japanese general, considered to be one of 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 ...

's most successful and ablest strategists during 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 ...

, who commanded the

Japanese Second Army The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army. It was raised and demobilized on four occasions. History The Japanese 2nd Army was initially raised during the First Sino-Japanese War from September 27, 1894, to May 14, 1895, under the command o ...

during the first years after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.

Early life and career

Nishio was born in

Tottori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the least populous prefecture of Japan at 570,569 (2016) and has a geographic area of . Tottori Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to the west, Hiro ...

, and was a graduate of the 14th 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 1902, and the 22nd class of the

Army War College (Japan) :''This article deals with the Empire of Japan's Army War College. For other war colleges, see: War college.'' The ; Short form: of the Empire of Japan was founded in 1882 in Minato, Tokyo to modernize and Westernize the Imperial Japanese Army. ...

. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in June 1903 and served during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, seeing combat at the Battle of Sandepu. He was promoted to lieutenant in February 1905, to captain in December 1909, to major in November 1916 and to lieutenant colonel in August 1920. Nishio was first attached to the 10th Regiment/ 10th Division from 1921 to 1923; he was promoted to colonel on 6 August 1923. Afterward, he was an instructor at the Army War College until 1925 when he became commanding officer of the 40th Regiment/10th Division. From 1926 to 1929 he was Chief of the 1st Section,

Inspectorate General of Military Training The was a section of the Imperial Japanese Army charged with military education and training in the army, except military aviation training. It was headed by an inspector general who was responsible for overseeing technical and tactical training, a ...

. Promoted to major general on 1 August 1929, he was assigned to command the 39th Brigade of the IJA 20th Division, stationed in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. From 1930 to 1932 he was Chairman of Military Investigation in the

Ministry of War Ministry of War may refer to: * Ministry of War (imperial China) (c.600–1912) * Chinese Republic Ministry of War (1912–1946) * Ministry of War (Kingdom of Bavaria) (1808–1919) * Ministry of War (Brazil) (1815–1999) * Ministry of War (Estoni ...

. He was promoted to lieutenant general on 1 August 1933, becoming the Head of the 4th Bureau of the General Staff in 1934.

China

On 5 March 1934, Nishio was appointed Chief of Staff of the

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...

in Manchukuo, where he oversaw the establishment of the reorganization of the

Manchukuo Imperial Army The Manchukuo Imperial Army ( zh, s=滿洲國軍, p=Mǎnzhōuguó jūn) was the ground force of the military of the Empire of Manchukuo, a puppet state established by Imperial Japan in Manchuria, a region of northeastern China. The force was pri ...

and the

pacification of Manchukuo The Pacification of Manchukuo was a Japanese counterinsurgency campaign to suppress any armed resistance to the newly established puppet state of Manchukuo from various anti-Japanese volunteer armies in occupied Manchuria and later the Communis ...

. In March 1936 he became Vice Chief of the General Staff and Acting Head of the General Affairs Bureau, of the General Staff. In early 1937, he briefly commanded the

Imperial Guards Division In Japan, the Imperial Guard is the name for two separate organizations dedicated to the protection of the Emperor of Japan and the Imperial Family, palaces and other imperial properties. The first was the , a quasi-independent elite branch of the ...

, before being transferred to China at the beginning of the

. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident Nishio was sent to North China, and took command of the Second Army on 26 August 1937. He oversaw the

Tianjin–Pukou Railway Operation The Tientsin–Pukow Railway Operation ( ja, 津浦線作戦; early August to mid November, 1937) was a follow up operation to the Battle of Beiping-Tianjin of the Japanese army in North China at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, foug ...

that took the Japanese to the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...

. He was at the

Battle of Xuzhou The Battle of Xuzhou was a military conflict between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China forces in May 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. History In 1937 the North China Area Army had chased Song Zheyuan's 29th Army to the ...

, crossing the Yellow River and overrunning Shandong until 30 April 1938. Shortly after the defeat his army suffered in the Battle of Taierzhuang, he was replaced and returned to Tokyo to be Inspector-General of Military Training. Promoted to general on 1 August 1939, Nishio returned to China again to take command of the Thirteenth Army on 12 September for a month and then took command of all the forces in China as Commander in Chief of the

China Expeditionary Army The was a general army of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1939 to 1945. The China Expeditionary Army was established in September 1939 from the merger of the Central China Expeditionary Army and Japanese Northern China Area Army, and was headq ...

on 22 September. He oversaw the Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang and the First Battle of Changsha. His force withstood the Chinese 1939-40 Winter Offensive and rolled back their gains in the spring with many operations including the Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang. His forces were again struck in North China by the

Hundred Regiments Offensive The Hundred Regiments Offensive also known as the Hundred Regiments Campaign () (20 August – 5 December 1940) was a major campaign of the Chinese Communist Party's National Revolutionary Army divisions. It was commanded by Peng Dehuai against ...

, while he continued attacks in the Yangtze valley in the

Central Hopei Operation The Central Hubei Operation was one of the engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was ...

and Western Hopei Operation. On 1 March 1941 he was replaced and returned to Japan to become a member of the Supreme War Council until he retired in 1943.

Return to Japan

Nishio took up the governorship of the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Metropolis from 1944 to the end of

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 opposing ...

. Although arrested after World War II by the American occupation authorities, who accused him of unnamed war crimes, formal charges were never brought to trial and he was later released.

References

Books

* *

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Nishio, Toshizo 1881 births 1960 deaths Military personnel from Tottori Prefecture Japanese generals Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Japanese military personnel of World War II Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun