Kawaguchi Kiyotake

Kawaguchi Kiyotake

Kawaguchi Kiyotake ( Japanese.川口 清 健; * 1892 in Kōchi Prefecture ; † 1961 ) was a major general in the Japanese Army who led troops in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War during World War II . His work as commander of the Kawaguchi detachment named after him in the Battle of Guadalcanal is particularly well known .

Life

Kawaguchi, who was born in Kōchi Prefecture in 1892 , graduated from the Military Academy in 1914 and from the Army Staff College in 1922. During the 1920s and 1930s, he served on various executive posts in Japan and China. In 1940 he received his promotion to major general .

As the commanding general of the 35th Brigade of the 18th Division , Kawaguchi landed on December 16, 1941 near Miri on Borneo . In the further course of the Japanese conquests in Southeast Asia, his stations were Cebu in the Philippines in March 1942 and Mindanao in the following month .

In August 1942, Kawaguchi's units, along with three former battalions of the "Aoba" division, came under the command of General Haruyoshi Hyakutake , the commander of the 17th Army, and were ordered to fight the American troops on Guadalcanal . Kawaguchi's units took part in the Battle of Bloody Ridge and between September 13-14, his 6,000 men launched a large-scale attack on the Americans on the ground, air and sea . Due to poor planning and preparation, the Japanese suffered heavy losses and had to retreat from the American bridgehead after two days of fierce fighting .

Two months later, Kawaguchi was dismissed from his post by the intervention of Major Tsuji Masanobu , a personal enemy since his days in the Philippines, just as he was preparing a second attack. He was placed on the reserve list in 1943 and received no further command until March 1945. Then he became the commander of the fortress island of Tsushima .

After the Japanese surrender , Kawaguchi was charged with war crimes in 1946 and served in prison until his release in 1953. Kiyotake Kawaguchi lived in Japan until his death in 1961.

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1. ↑ Biography of Major-General Kiyotake Kawaguchi ( English ) generals.dk. Retrieved October 3, 2015.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Kawaguchi is the family name, Kiyotake the first name.