was a
lieutenant general
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank 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 battlefield, who was norma ...
in the
Imperial Japanese Army
The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...
in the early
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
. He was noted as the commander in many of the operations of the
invasion of Manchuria.
Biography
The second son of a doctor in
Shizuoka prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,555,818 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Pref ...
, Tamon graduated from the 11th 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 1898, and served in the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...
as a junior officer with the IJA 4th Infantry Regiment .
After the end of the war, he graduated from the 21st class of the
Army Staff College in 1909. He served as an instructor at the Army Academy, on the staff of the
IJA 6th Division, and as a battalion commander of the IJA 62nd Infantry Regiment and as an instructor at the Staff College. He also published the field diary which he had kept during the Russo-Japanese War under the title ''Yo no Sanka Shitaru Nichiro Sen'eki'' (My Participation in the Russo-Japanese War). The book was aimed at new recruits to provide them with a glimpse of what they might expect in the event that they were called up in a future conflict, and proved to not only be a best-seller, but was also a model for future war diaries.
After spending six months on tour in Europe, Tamon was assigned to the IJA 27th Infantry Regiment based in
Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...
in 1920 as part of Japan's
Siberian Intervention during the
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
. During the conflict, he was assigned an independent command (the “Tamon Task Force”), which was part of the relief force for
Nikolayevsk-on-Amur after the
Nikolayevsk Incident. Later, he was attached to the staff of the Sakhalin Expeditionary Force. Tamon commanded the IJA 2nd Infantry Regiment from 1921 to 1922. He was then Chief of Staff of the
IJA 4th Division form 1922 to 1924, at which time he was promoted to major general and was given command of IJA 6th Infantry Brigade.
Tamon was Chief of the 4th Bureau of the
Imperial Japanese Army General Staff from 1925 to 1927, and then returned to the Army War College, first as Director, then as Commandant in 1929.
From 1930 to 1933, as
lieutenant general
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank 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 battlefield, who was norma ...
, Tamon commanded
IJA 2nd Division. In 1931, the division came under the control of the
Kwantung Army
The Kwantung Army (Japanese language, Japanese: 関東軍, ''Kantō-gun'') was a Armies of the Imperial Japanese Army, general army of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1919 to 1945.
The Kwantung Army was formed in 1906 as a security force for th ...
in
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
, and took the lead in the initial operations of the
invasion of Manchuria, then in the
Jiangqiao Campaign,
Jinzhou Operation, and in overcoming the
defense of Harbin, following the
Mukden Incident. During interviews with western press following the successful completion of the campaign, he spoke out against criticism by the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
, stating that European gentlemen were unaware of the need to restore peace and order in Manchuria.
He returned to Japan in January 1933, and in August went into reserves. He died the next year.
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
Japanese Army General StaffJapanese Army War College
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamon, Jiro
1878 births
1934 deaths
Military personnel from Shizuoka Prefecture
Imperial Japanese Army generals of World War II
Japanese generals
Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War
Members of the Kwantung Army
People of the Second Sino-Japanese War