was a general 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 ...

during the Nomonhan Incident.

Biography

A native of

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

, where his father was a naval engineer, Komatsubara graduated from the 18th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1905. He served as a

military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

from 1909–1910, and became fluent in the

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

. After his return to Japan, he was assigned to a number of staff positions within the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff and

Supreme War Council (Japan) The was an advisory body to the Emperor of Japan on military matters, established in 1903 and abolished in 1945. The council was created during the development of Government of Meiji Japan, representative government in Meiji-era Japan to further ...

. In 1914, he was part of the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Japanese Expeditionary Force at the Battle of Tsingtao. On Komatsubara's return to Japan in 1915, he graduated from the 27th class of the Army Staff College and was assigned as commander of the IJA 34th Infantry Regiment. From 1919, Komatsubara was assigned to the Soviet Branch of the 4th Section (European & American

Military Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

), 2nd Bureau, of the Army General Staff. After spending 1926–1927 as an instructor at the War College, he returned to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

again as a military attache from 1927–1929. After Komatsubara returned again to Japan, he became commander of the IJA 57th Infantry Regiment from 1930–1932. Two years later, he became Chief of the Harbin Special Agency in

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

. He was promoted to major general in 1934 and returned to Japan to take command of the IJA 8th Infantry Brigade. Subsequently, from 1936–1937, he was commander of the 1st Imperial Guards Brigade. Promoted to

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 1936, he was reassigned to Manchukuo as commander of the IJA 23rd Division, and served on the staff 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 ...

. He retired from the army on 31 January 1940, after more than 35 years of military service. While in retirement he joined the ''National Policy Research Association'' attending meetings, and sharing his knowledge and experience of both the

ns and the Battle of Khalkhin Gol ( Nomonhan). Although General Komatsubara had an air of gentleness about him, he carried a sense of gloom. He was admitted to the

Tokyo University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

hospital, where he was diagnosed with

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...

. Transferred to the army medical school, the general died on 6 October 1940 at age 55, less than eight months after retiring from the army.Coox, 1981, pp. 957–958

Footnotes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Komatsubara, Michitaro 1885 births 1940 deaths People from Yokohama Japanese generals Japanese military personnel of World War I Deaths from cancer in Japan