Anami Korechika

Korechika Anami

Anami Korechika ( Japanese 阿南 惟 幾 ; * February 21, 1887 ; † August 15, 1945 ) was a Japanese general and army minister in World War II .

Military career

Anami came from the village of Taketa ( Ōita prefecture ) on the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu . He began his military career in the Imperial Japanese Army in December 1906 as infantry - Lieutenant . Twelve years later, in November 1918, he finished his training at the military academy and in April 1919 became a member of the General Staff . From this point on, Anami went through numerous military ranks (February 1922 major , August 1923 staff officer and August 1925 lieutenant colonel) and was appointed a member of the general staff in May 1925.

In August 1927 he was sent to France as a military attaché . On his return in December of the same year, he joined the 45th Infantry Regiment . Here he was first appointed as the commandant of a component depot (August 1928) and then adjutant of the Tennō (1929), colonel (1930) and regimental commander of the second guard regiment, the Imperial Guard in 1933.

In August 1934 he was appointed as a supervisory officer in a military school in Tokyo and in March 1935 took over the rank of major general . In 1936 and 1937 Anami was appointed head of the military administration office in the Army Ministry and head of the personnel office in the Army Ministry. Shortly afterwards, in 1938, he was made lieutenant general.

After he had held the command of the 109th Division in China in November 1938 , he took up the post of Deputy Minister of War in October 1939. In 1941 and 1942 Anami became the commander of the 11th Army and the commander of the 2nd regional army in Manchuria . He received the rank of general in May 1943.

From then on, Anami led operations in Western New Guinea and Halmahera (November 1943). The increasingly difficult supply and supply situation in the course of the war meant that Anami came into conflict with the military leadership in Tokyo in May 1944, because he wanted to allow an already badly hit convoy of troops to continue to New Guinea despite the risk of total destruction, which he was prevented from doing has been. Before he was appointed Minister of the Army in April 1945, Anami was Inspector General , Military Councilor and Head of the Military Aviation Department .

Political career

Anami became Minister of the Army in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Suzuki Kantarō on April 7, 1945 and a member of the Supreme Council for War Matters , an institution with great influence on the Cabinet. He was thus one of the most powerful men in Japan at the time and influenced Hirohito's politics significantly. He wanted to prevent Japan from surrendering at all costs and had many supporters of this idea arrested.

As the Japanese army lost more and more battles and the USAAF units began large-scale bombing, some politicians saw that a rethink was necessary. At this point in time a surrender was already being considered, but Anami wanted to inflict such great losses on the Allies in extensive battles for the main Japanese land that Japan could evade the surrender and even retain some of the conquered territories.

Even the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet declaration of war could not change his mind unless the Allies had accepted the following conditions:

• The maintenance of the empire
• No occupation of mainland Japan
• Japan's self-disarmament
• Independent conviction of Japanese war crimes

Anamis end

When Hirohito personally ordered the surrender, Anami's supporters suggested that he either vote against or leave the cabinet. Both resolutions might have prevented Japan from surrendering, but Anami rejected these proposals on the grounds that he must obey his emperor. On August 14, 1945 , he and the rest of the cabinet signed the deed of surrender and then committed ritual suicide ( seppuku ).

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