Ueda Kenkichi

Ueda Kenkichi

Ueda Kenkichi ( Japanese 植 田 謙 吉 ; * March 8, 1875 in Osaka Prefecture , Empire of Japan ; † September 11, 1962 ) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army .

Life

Born in Osaka Prefecture, Ueda graduated from the 10th year of the Army Officer School in 1898 and the 21st year of the Army College in 1908 . Following this, he joined the 9th Cavalry Brigade of the 18th Division and was later transferred to the 16th Division . In 1918 he took part in the Siberian Intervention , the following year he was promoted to colonel.

In 1923 he was first given command of a regiment and the following year he was promoted to major general and was given command of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade. After his promotion to lieutenant general in 1928, Ueda became commander in chief of the garrison army of China and remained so until 1930. Following this command, he commanded the 9th Division until 1932 and took part in the fighting during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria .

On April 29, 1932, he lost a leg in a bomb attack by the Korean nationalist Yoon Bong-Gil in Shanghai , and his superior Shirakawa Yoshinori later died as a result of the attack. After this injury, Ueda returned to Japan and after his recovery served in the General Staff, where he was promoted to Vice Chief of Staff between 1933 and 1934. He then became commander in chief of the Chosen Army in Korea, Japan and was promoted to full general in 1935. From 1936 to 1939 he served as Commander in Chief of the Kwantung Army in Manchukuo , while at the same time he was Japanese Ambassador there, Governor General of the Kwantung Lease Area and a member of the Supreme War Council .

Ueda was a strong advocate of the Hokushin-Ron policy, which stated that Japan's main enemy was communism and that it should therefore prepare to attack the Soviet Union . He supported the aggressive actions of the Japanese army on the Soviet-Manchurian border, which led to border battles in May and August 1939 .

Despite the disastrous performance of Japanese troops in both skirmishes, Ueda continued to defend his views on the Soviet Union, which is why he was recalled to Japan in late 1936 and sent into retirement. He was also not reactivated during the Pacific War and was not imprisoned after the surrender of Japan . He died in 1962.

literature

• Alvin Coox: Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939. Stanford University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-8047-1835-0 .
• Trevor N. Dupuy : Encyclopedia of Military Biography. IB Tauris, 1992, ISBN 1-85043-569-3 .

Web links

Commons : Kenkichi Ueda  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ueda Kenkichi in the World War II Generals Database. Retrieved June 17, 2011.

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