Horii Tomitarō

Horii Tomitarō

Horii Tomitarō ( Japanese 堀 井 富 太郎 ; * November 7, 1890 in Hyōgo Prefecture , Japan ; † November 23, 1942 in New Guinea ) was a major general in the Imperial Japanese Army .

Life

Born in Hyogo Prefecture, Horii graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1911 and joined the Imperial Japanese Army as an officer.

During the fighting between January 28 and March 4, 1932 that followed the January 28 incident in Shanghai , he was transferred to the headquarters of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army.

Between 1935 and 1937 Horii served in the 12th Infantry Regiment before he took command of the 78th Infantry Regiment in 1938, after being promoted to Colonel the previous year. In 1941 he was given command of the 55th Division , which was part of the forces that took part in the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia .

During the occupation of New Guinea in 1942, Horii's troops took part in Operation MO to capture Port Moresby , but were only able to land in the area around Buna and Garara after the Battle of the Coral Sea . Therefore, Horii led the 8,500 men of the 144th Regiment over the Kokoda Track to capture Port Moresby from land. In the extremely rough terrain, however, only a small group of soldiers from the Australian Army , who were stationed in the area as part of the Kokoda Track campaign , managed to stop the Japanese and engage them in heavy fighting. After heavy losses, Horii began to withdraw with his troops in September. He drowned in the Kumusi River on November 23 when his dinghy capsized while crossing the river .

Remarks

1. ^ Dupuy, Encyclopedia of Military Biography
2. ↑ Ammenthorp, The Generals of World War II
3. ↑ Hayashi, Kogun Hirohiro's Samurai

literature

• Trevor N. Dupuy : Encyclopedia of Military Biography , IB Tauris & Co. Ltd., London 1992, ISBN 1-850-43569-3 .
• Saburō Hayashi: Kōgun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War , Marine Corps. Association, Quantico 1959.
• Bruce Gamble: Darkest Hour: The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul - Australia's Worst Military Disaster of World War II , Zenith Press, St. Paul 2001, ISBN 0-760-32349-6 .

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