Sakaguchi Shizuo

Lieutenant General Sakaguchi Shizuo, 1944

Sakaguchi Shizuo ( Japanese坂 口 静 夫; born January 17, 1887 in Kumamoto Prefecture , Japan ; † March 23, 1947 ) was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army .

After attending middle school, Sakaguchi entered the Imperial Japanese Army Academy (class 22), which he graduated in May 1910. In December of the same year he was promoted to lieutenant in the infantry . In August 1920 he became company commander in the 48th Infantry Regiment . From April 1921 he served in the main arsenal of the army. In April 1925 he was transferred to the 3rd Guards Infantry Regiment. This was followed by uses in the 27th Infantry Regiment and in the headquarters of the 1st Division . In August 1928 he was assigned to the headquarters of the 7th Division . Two years later he became adjutant of the 7th Division and in August 1932 he was assigned to the 24th Infantry Regiment. At this point, Sakaguchi was also promoted to lieutenant colonel . From August 1935 he led the 9th independent garrison battalion .

In August 1937 he was promoted to colonel , and in November 1937 the army command transferred Sakaguchi to the headquarters of the 16th Division. After serving as commander of the 109th Infantry Regiment, he was promoted to major general in August 1939 . In September of the following year he became commander of the 12th Infantry Brigade . From August 1940 Sakaguchi held the rank of commanding general of the infantry brigade group in the 56th Infantry Division ( Kurume Division ).

From November 1941 Sakaguchi led to the joint 56th Infantry Brigade, an existing in the core of the 146th Infantry Regiment and the 1st Battalion of the 56th Field Artillery Regiment Association ( battle group Sakaguchi ), with which he participated in the invasion of the Philippines and the invasion of Java , the at that time belonged to the Dutch East Indies , participated. From the attack base in Palau , the troop transports ran in mid-December 1941 to Mindanao in the southern Philippines , where the unit took Davao on December 20 . From there she crossed over to Jolo in the Sulu Archipelago , which fell into her hands on December 24th.

Sakaguchi then led his combat group to Tarakan (→ Battle of Tarakan ) on January 11th and to Balikpapan on January 24th . From there she crossed to Java and landed at Kragan on March 1st , with the aim of taking Tjilatjap , which fell on March 8th. The next day, the KNIL troops surrendered under Major General Pierre Antoine Cox .

After his promotion to Lieutenant General in June 1943, Sakaguchi commanded the 55th Division ( Zentsūji Division ) and from August 1944 he was the commander of the 65th Infantry Division . In March 1945 he was assigned to the Army Command West.

Sakaguchi Shizuo was on the army's reserve list from April 1945.

Web links

• Short biography of Sakaguchi Shizuo (English)
• Saburo, 1904- Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War . First published in Tokyo, 1951, as Taiheiyo senso rikusen gaishi . Reprint of the ed. Published by Marine Corps Association, Quantico, Va. (English)

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