Shibazaki Keiji

Shibazaki Keiji

Shibazaki Keiji ( Japanese. 柴 崎 恵 次 ; * April 9, 1894 in Hyōgo Prefecture ; † November 21, 1943 in the Gilbert Islands ) was a rear admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II . He gained notoriety through his battle on the island of Betio , in the Tarawa Atoll , against the American landing forces on November 20-21, 1943. He was killed during the Battle of the Gilbert Islands and promoted to Vice Admiral after his death .

Life

Military career

Shibazaki was born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1894. He studied at the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1915 and served as a sergeant and lieutenant on the armored cruiser Azuma , the dreadnought Settsu , the armored cruiser Yakumo and the battleship Satsuma . He was promoted to first lieutenant at sea ( Kaigun Chūi ) and served as chief engineer on the destroyer Kaba . He later became second lieutenant on the battleship Yamashiro .

Shibazaki was raised to Kaigun Daii (lieutenant captain) in 1921 and studied navigation at the Imperial Navy Academy from 1922 to 1924 to work on warships as a navigation officer . In 1925 he served as chief navigator on the warships Tachikaze (destroyer) and Musashi (coastal defense ship). In between, he made a two-month Pacific voyage with the naval tanker Kamoi . In 1927 he was promoted from the Supreme Naval Office to Corvette Captain ( Kaigun Shosa ). He was shipped to China and made available there as an adjutant to Prince Kuni Asaakira , the weapons officer of the cruiser Kiso . He stayed on the Kiso until 1933.

In 1936 Shibazaki took command of the Ataka gunboat , with which he carried out several amphibious landing exercises in China and the Pacific Islands . He was promoted to sea captain ( Kaigun Taisa ) in 1937 , and served in various naval agencies in Kure , Tokyo and Shanghai from 1937 to 1942 .

Defense of Tarawa

Shibazaki was promoted to Rear Admiral ( Kaigun Shōshō ) in May 1943 and shortly thereafter ordered to Betio, Tarawa Atoll. He arrived there on September 17 with a convoy of ships to replace Rear Admiral Tomanari Saichirō ( 友 成 佐 市 郎 ), who had attached Tarawa . The garrison Tarawas was occupied with about 4,800 soldiers from 1,122 Marines of the 3rd Special Base Unit ( 第3特別根拠地隊 , Dai-3 Tokubetsu Konkyochitai were supplemented by 800 men of the 6th Yokosuka - Marine Special Infantry ), 1,497 Marines of the 7th Sasebo -Marine Special Infantry , 1427 ( Korean and Chinese ) auxiliary soldiers and forced laborers and a group of 970 soldiers from the 4th Fleet Construction Dispatch Unit ( 第 4 艦隊 設 営 派遣 隊 , Dai-4 Kantai Setsuei Hakentai ).

Rear Admiral Shibazaki expanded the large defenses on Betio in July 1943 to defend it against the American Marines . In particular, its strategically important airfield should not fall into the hands of the USAAF . Shibazaki told his troops the island could withstand a 100-year siege by a million enemies. He also devised a plan called the Yogaki Plan to defend the island.

death

The Marines landed on the island on November 20th. The defense system nailed the first units to the beaches, but with the massive use of flamethrowers and bulldozers , the first defensive line of the Japanese was destroyed and the US troops captured the important tarmac on the first day .

Shibazaki was believed to have been killed in the first hours of November 21: a US destroyer , believed to be the USS Ringgold (DD-500) , took heavy fire in the sector controlled by the Shibazaki bunker . An eyewitness, one of the few Japanese survivors, saw him rushing towards the bunker with his staff officers . A shell must have struck between them and Rear Admiral Shibazaki was believed to have been killed instantly.

literature

• Bernard Millot: The Pacific War . BUR, Montreuil 1967
• Ugaki Matome : Fading Victory. The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki, 1941-45 . University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh 1991, ISBN 0-8229-5462-1 . New edition: Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2008, ISBN 978-1-59114-324-6 (Editors: Katherine V. Dillon, Donald M. Goldstein, Gordon W. Prange. Translator: Masataka Chihaya).
• John Toland: The Rising Sun. Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1937-1945 . The Modern Library, New York 2003

Web links

• Biography with picture

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