Satō Kenryō

Satō Kenryō during the Tokyo trials

Satō Kenryō ( Japanese : 佐藤 賢 了 ; * June 1, 1895 in Ishikawa Prefecture ; † February 6, 1975 in Tokyo ) was a Lieutenant General of the Imperial Japanese Army , who was, among other things, commander of the 37th Division in 1945 . He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Tokyo Trials on November 12, 1948 for numerous war crimes , from which he was released in 1956.

Life

Officer training and time until World War II

Satō Kenryō completed an officer training at the Army Officer School , which he completed on May 25, 1917. He was then taken over as a lieutenant on December 25, 1917 in the Imperial Japanese Army and was initially an officer in the fortress artillery. In November 1920 he completed an apprenticeship at the Army's Weapons Technical School and was promoted to first lieutenant in April 1921 . After he graduated from the Army University in November 1925 , he was promoted to captain in March 1926 . After various assignments, he was promoted to major in the 6th Artillery Regiment in August 1932 and an instructor at the Army University in August 1935 and to the General Staff of the Army in August 1936, where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1937 .

After his promotion to colonel on July 15, 1938, Satō Kenryō was from July 15 to December 10, 1938 both chief of the press department of the Army Ministry and chief of the army's press section at the Imperial Headquarters. He then completed an aeronautical training course at the school of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Forces in Hamamatsu between December 10, 1938 and March 9, 1939 and was then deputy chief of staff of the 21st Army from March 9, 1939 to February 10, 1940 .

Second World War, Lieutenant General and convicted as a war criminal

The defendants in the Tokyo trial for war crimes in World War II

At the beginning of the Second World War Satō Kenryō was on February 10, 1940 deputy chief of the Regional Army South China and held this position until February 5, 1941. He then served between March 1, 1941 and April 20, 1942 head of the military services in the Department of Military Services of the Army Ministry and received in this position on October 15, 1941 his promotion to major general . He was then from April 20, 1942 to December 14, 1944 head of the Military Services Department of the Army Ministry and then between December 14, 1944 and April 7, 1945, Deputy Chief of Staff of the China Expedition Army under Supreme Command General Okamura Yasuji . In this role he was promoted to lieutenant general on March 1, 1945 . Most recently, he replaced Lieutenant General Nagano Yūichirō as commanding general of the 37th Division deployed in Thailand on April 7, 1945 and remained at this post until Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945.

After Satō was retired in December 1945, he was arrested on April 26, 1946 and was a class A war criminal in the Tokyo trials, among the main defendants for numerous war crimes . He was charged for involvement as a leader, organizer, instigator or accomplice in planning or executing a joint plan or conspiracy to wage wars of aggression and war or wars in violation of international law, for waging an unprovoked war against China , for waging of a war of aggression against the United States , of waging a war of aggression against the British Commonwealth , of waging a war of aggression against the Netherlands , and thus found guilty on five of the ten counts. He was acquitted of the charges of ordering, authorizing, and allowing inhuman treatment of prisoners of war and others, as well as the willful and reckless neglect of the duty to take appropriate steps to prevent atrocities. On November 12, 1948, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for this. On March 31, 1956, he was released early from prison.

Web link

• Entry in generals.dk

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