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| |  | | Tomoyuki Yamashita | | | context : | Japan  | | judgement place : | United States | | status : | Sentenced | | particulars : | Sentenced to death; hanged on 23 February 1946 | | position : | Army General |
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| | | | Tomoyuki Yamashita was born on 8 November 1885 in the little village of Osugi Mura on the island of Shikoku. After adopting a military career, he worked for the War Ministry and became military attaché in Germany, Hungary and Austria.
After playing a minor role in the attempted coup d’état of 26 February 1936 (during which army officers assassinated several ministers and tried to overthrow the government), he fell out of favour and was sent to Korea. From 1938 to 1940, he commanded the Army’s 4th Infantry Division in the north of China.
In December 1940, he was part of a secret military delegation which went for talks to Germany and to Italy.
On 6 November 1941, he was made Commander of the 25th Japanese Army.
After Pearl Harbour, he led a lightening campaign that seized control over Malaysia and Singapore in 70 days, capturing some 130'000 troops. However, his successes aroused the jealousy of Prime Minister Tojo (see “related cases”) and so, on 17 July 1942, he was sent to Manchuria.
Nevertheless, Yamashita was summoned back in early October 1944 to take command of the 14th Area Army in charge of defending the Philippines. American soldiers made landfall on 20 October 1944 on the island of Leyte and made rapid progress. In January 1945, Yamashita was forced to retreat into the mountains with his troops. Admiral Iwabuchi, however, who was under Yamashita's orders, remained in Manila, which Yamashita had declared an "open city" (a term used in war, when a government declares it has abandoned all efforts to defend a town, thus trying to prevent the attackers from destroying it) – together with 17'000 of his troops. These troops massacred thousands of Philippine civilians (some estimates were as high as 100'000 dead) during the battle they waged against the Americans for the control of the capital.
On 3 September 1945, Yamashita surrendered to the Americans with the remainder of his army. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | nationality : | | | Japan | | | date of birth : | | | 08.11.1885 | | | period of charges : | | | 09.10.1944 - 02.09.1945 | | | judgement period : | | | 29.10.1945 - 07.12.1945 | | | charges : | | | War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 10.02.2010 |
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