Umezu Yoshijirō

Umezu Yoshijirō

Umezu Yoshijirō ( Japanese 梅 津 美 治郎 ; * January 4, 1882 , † January 8, 1949 ) was a Japanese general and commander in chief of the Japanese army in World War II .

Umezu comes from Nakatsu in northeast Kyushu (Oita Prefecture), where his ancestors ran a bookstore for generations. After attending the Seisei High School in Kumamoto, he switched to the cadet school and then completed a degree at the Army University , which he graduated from the top of his class in November 1911.

In April 1913 Umezu was posted to Germany and Denmark, after which he was an attaché in Switzerland. In the 1920s he joined the Tōsei-ha ( steering group ), which was led by General Ugaki Kazushige together with Sugiyama Gen , Koiso Kuniaki , Nagata Tetsuzan and Tōjō Hideki . This represented a moderate current in the armed forces in contrast to the radical movement of the Kōdō-ha ( action group ) under the leadership of Sadao Araki .

From March 1934 to August 1935 he was Commander-in-Chief of the China Garrison Army in Tianjin . From 1939 to 1944 he was the commander of the Kwantung Army .

Together with the Army Minister Anami Korechika and the chief of staff of the Japanese Navy , Toyoda Soemu , he spoke out against the surrender of Japan in August 1945 . He believed that by continuing the fighting on Japanese territory he could inflict heavy losses on the Allies, which he hoped would lead to more favorable peace conditions for Japan.

Nevertheless, at the request of the Tennō , he signed the unconditional surrender of Japan together with Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru on September 2, 1945 on board the battleship Missouri .

From September 23, 1945 to October 1, 1945 he was Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Main Army .

Umezu was one of the main defendants in the Tōkyō war crimes trials and was sentenced to life imprisonment . He died of colon cancer while in detention . Umezu was a close friend of General and Army Minister Anami Korechika , who was also from Oita Prefecture.

literature

• Jōhō, Yoshio: Saigo no sanbō sōchō Umezu Yoshijirō. Fuyō Shobo, Tokyo, 1976.

Web links

Commons : Yoshijiro Umezu  - collection of images, videos and audio files

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