Mitsunobu Tōyō

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Caricature by Mitsunobu Tōyō from Sapajou, Shanghai, 1939

Mitsunobu Tōyō ( Japanese 光 延 東洋 ; * October 9, 1897 in Takahashi ; † June 8, 1944 at the Abetone Pass) was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and Japanese fleet attaché and head of the Japanese naval mission in Italy .

Life

Mitsunobu attended secondary school in Osaka and then went to the naval academy of the Imperial Japanese Navy. After graduating from the Academy, he took up active service in the fleet in 1919. After various tasks on several warships, he was transferred to the fleet command in 1929.

In 1934 he was a member of the commission headed by Yamamoto Isoroku that worked out the Japanese positions for the Second London Naval Treaty . He then attended this conference in 1935 as an orderly officer. This made use of Mitsunobo's 1930 experience with the European mentality that he had gathered in Paris when he was working there as a naval officer at the Japanese embassy. In the following years he participated as a ship officer in the Second Sino-Japanese War, before he was sent to Rome in the early 1940s to take on the task of fleet attaché at the Japanese embassy.

According to some sources, he is said to have also performed secret service tasks and held the role of deputy secret service chief for the Mediterranean region of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Despite the general deterioration in the war situation, he was convinced of the Japanese victory. In the spring of 1943 he began to organize the gradual relocation of the Japanese naval mission from Rome to Merano . The move to Villa Burgund on the left bank of the Passer was completed on September 8, 1943 . His wife and four children, including his son Oyo, who later discovered the Mitsunobu reaction named after him , also moved to Merano.

After September 8, 1943, Mitsunobu wrote a detailed report on the collapse of Italy. He did not spare criticism of both the military and the political leadership of the country. In his analysis, he also drew attention to some weaknesses in the Italian mentality which he believed played a crucial role in the collapse. Nevertheless, Mussolini valued him for his sincerity and openness.

On June 8, 1944, he and his assistant Yamanaka returned from a business trip to Merano . Near Pianosinatico on the Abetone Pass, on the Gothic line, his car was stopped by members of the "XI Zona", which was commanded by Manrico Ducceschi ("Pippo"). He was killed trying to escape. Several important documents were found on him that fell into the hands of the Resistance .

His body was transferred to Merano on June 15 and handed over to the family after a brief memorial service at the military cemetery.

literature

  • Carlo Francovich, Relazioni sull'attività militare svolta dalle formazioni patriottiche operanti alle dipendenze del Comando XI Zona dell'Esercito di Liberazione Nazionale , in Il Movimento di Liberazione in Italia - Rassegna Bimestrale di Studi e Documenti , published by the Istituto Nazionale per la Movionale di Liberazione in Italia, nn. 44-45, Milan 1956-57.
  • Giorgio Petracchi, Al tempo che Berta filava - Alleati e patrioti sulla Linea Gotica (1943-1945) , Mursia Editore, Milan 1995.
  • Paolo Savegnago, Luca Valente: Il mistero della Missione giapponese. Valli del Pasubio, giugno 1944: la soluzione di uno degli episodi più enigmatici della guerra nell'Italia occupata dai tedeschi. Cierre, Verona 2005 ISBN 978-88-8314-305-2 .
  • Marino Viganò: Il Ministero degli affari esteri e le relazioni internazionali della Repubblica Sociale Italiana (1943-1945) , Jaca Book, Milano 1991 ISBN 978-88-16-95081-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Short biography of Mitsunobu Tōyō (Italian) accessed on March 13, 2018
  2. ↑ Paolo Savegnago, Luca Valente: Il mistero della Missione giapponese. Valli del Pasubio, giugno 1944: la soluzione di uno degli episodi più enigmatici della guerra nell'Italia occupata dai tedeschi. Pp. 65-66
  3. ↑ Paolo Savegnago, Luca Valente: Il mistero della Missione giapponese. Valli del Pasubio, giugno 1944: la soluzione di uno degli episodi più enigmatici della guerra nell'Italia occupata dai tedeschi. P. 123
  4. ↑ Paolo Savegnago, Luca Valente: Il mistero della Missione giapponese. Valli del Pasubio, giugno 1944: la soluzione di uno degli episodi più enigmatici della guerra nell'Italia occupata dai tedeschi. Pp. 119-121
  5. ^ Marino Viganò: Il Ministero degli affari esteri e le relazioni internazionali della Repubblica Sociale Italiana (1943-1945) pp. 161–163
  6. ↑ Opinione personal sulla ricostruzione dell'Italia del Cap. di Vescello Toyo Mitunobu (Personal opinion on the re-establishment of Italy, written by Lieutenant Mitunubo Toyo) (Italian) (PDF; 345 kB) accessed on March 13, 2018
  7. ↑ Paolo Savegnago, Luca Valente: Il mistero della Missione giapponese. Valli del Pasubio, giugno 1944: la soluzione di uno degli episodi più enigmatici della guerra nell'Italia occupata dai tedeschi. pp. 66
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Mitsunobu is the family name, Tōyō the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Mitsunobu Tōyō
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 光 延 東洋 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval attachè in Italy
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Takahashi
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 1944
Place of death Abetone Pass