Isogai Rensuke

Isogai Rensuke as Lieutenant General

Isogai Rensuke ( Japanese 磯 谷 廉 介 ; born September 3, 1886 in Hyōgo Prefecture , Japan ; † June 6, 1967 ) was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army and governor of Hong Kong from February 1942 to December 1944 during the Japanese occupation .

Life

Early career

Isogai Rensuke, born in Hyōgo Prefecture in 1886, graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1904 . In 1909 he graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army College, where he was known for his keen interest in all China-related topics.

In 1928 Isogai was transferred to the 3rd Division, where he was in command of the 7th Infantry Regiment until 1930, before becoming Chief of Staff of the prestigious 1st Division.

From 1931 to 1937 he served in various staff positions within the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff . After the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War , Isogai volunteered to be transferred to China as a military attaché , but instead received a combat command and took part in the Battle of Tai'erzhuang as commander in chief of the 10th Division .

In 1938 he was transferred to the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo , where he became chief of staff of the Kwantung Army . The Battle of Chalchin Gol , which took place shortly after and ended catastrophically for Japan , was mainly blamed on Isogai, which is why he was forced into retirement in 1939.

Commander of the occupation forces in Hong Kong

Isogai was recalled to the service shortly after the Pacific War began in 1942. On the recommendation of the Japanese Prime Minister Tōjō Hideki , who had been his superior in the Kwantung Army, Isogai was appointed Governor General of Japanese-occupied Hong Kong on February 20, 1942 .

During his tenure, he resided at the Peninsula Hotel . He refused to repeal martial law in the city and although the worst excesses during the occupation of the city were already over and the troops under his command treated the population comparatively mildly, the population suffered mainly from food shortages throughout the war. The introduction of the military arenas by the Japanese and its rapid inflation caused a collapse of local industry and trade, which further suffered most of the city's residents. The public transport was restricted by the severe lack of fuel and with the increasing turn of the war there were partly very strong Allied air raids on the city, which killed thousands and left even more civilians homeless.

The Sunday horse races, which have now become a tradition in Hong Kong, go back to Isogai Rensuke and are considered the only act of his tenure that can be viewed positively.

He resigned from his post on December 24, 1944, and went into permanent retirement. After Japan surrendered , he was arrested by the Allied occupation authorities and transferred to China, where he was tried in a military tribunal in Nanjing for war crimes during his time as governor of Hong Kong . This sentenced him to life imprisonment, but he was released in 1952 and returned to Japan.

literature

• Alvin D. Coox: Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939. Stanford University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-804-71835-0 .
• Philip Snow: The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China and the Japanese Occupation. Yale University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-300-10373-5 .

Web links

• Isogai Rensuke in the database of generals of World War II . Retrieved December 28, 2010.

Remarks

1. ↑ Ammentorp, database of the generals of World War II
2. ^ Coox, Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939
3. ^ Snow, The Fall of Hong Kong
4. ↑ Ammenthorp, database of the generals of World War II

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Isogai is the family name, Rensuke the first name.