On this date, September 12, 1945, Japanese
Field Marshal Hajime Sugiyama committed suicide by shooting himself. I will
post information about this Japanese General from Wikipedia.
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Hajime Sugiyama (杉山 元
Sugiyama Hajime)
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Hajime Sugiyama (杉山 元
Sugiyama Hajime) in military uniform.
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Born
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January 1, 1880
Kokura, Fukuoka Prefecture |
Died
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September 12, 1945 (aged 65)
Tokyo, Japan |
Allegiance
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Empire of Japan
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Service/branch
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Imperial Japanese Army
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Years of service
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1901 - 1945
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Rank
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Field Marshal
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Commands held
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12th Division
Northern China Area Army First General Army |
Battles/wars
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Russo-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War World War II |
Awards
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Order of the Golden Kite, Order of the Rising Sun
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Hajime Sugiyama
(杉山 元 Sugiyama Hajime / Sugiyama Gen, January 1, 1880 – September 12,
1945) was a field marshal who served as successively as chief of the Army
General Staff, and minister of war in the Imperial Japanese Army during World
War II between 1937 and 1944. As War Minister in 1937, he was one of the
principal architects of the China Incident or second Sino-Japanese War. Later,
as Army Chief of Staff in 1940 and 1941, he was a leading advocate of expansion
into Southeast Asia and later preventive war against the United States.
Biography
Born
to a former samurai family from Kokura (now part of Kitakyushu City), Fukuoka Prefecture,
Sugiyama was commissioned as a lieutenant in the infantry in 1901 after
graduation from the 12th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, and
served in the Russo-Japanese War.
After
graduating from the 22nd class of the Army Staff College in 1910 and serving on
the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, Sugiyama was posted as military
attaché to the Philippines and Singapore in 1912. Promoted to major in 1913, he
was posted again as military attaché to British India in 1915. During this time,
he also visited Germany, and became acquainted with the use of aircraft in
combat in World War I.
On
his return, Sugiyama was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and commander of the
2nd Air Battalion in December 1918. He was a strong proponent of military
aviation, and after his promotion to colonel in 1921, became the first head of
the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in 1922.
In
May 1925, Sugiyama became a major general and acting Vice War Minister in June
1930. In August, he became Vice War Minister and a lieutenant general. He
returned to command the expanded Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in March
1933. Sugiyama was promoted to full general in November 1936.
Political
career
Although
never elected to political office, Sugiyama is regarded as a nationalist politician.
He started in the Toseiha faction,
led by Kazushige Ugaki,
with Koiso Kuniaki, Yoshijirō Umezu, Tetsuzan Nagata, and Hideki Tōjō. They opposed the radical Kodaha faction under Sadao Araki. Later both
factions combined in the Imperial Way
Faction movement, and Sugiyama became one of its ideological
leaders.
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Japanese news photo June 1, 1943
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Second
Sino-Japanese War
Shortly
after the February 26
Incident, Sugiyama became Minister of War.
Under his tenure, the situation between Japanese forces in Manchukuo and China
became more severe, cumulating with the Marco Polo
Bridge Incident and the invasion of Shanxi Province.
Sugiyama
briefly accepted a field command as commanding general of North China Area Army
and the Mongolia Garrison Army in December 1938.
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Japanese Prime Minister Kuniaki
Koiso (1880–1950, in office 1944–45, third from the left, front row) and
the members of his cabinet, including Naval Minister Mitsumasa
Yonai (to the right of Koiso) who was ranked with the prime minister, on
the inaugural day of his administration.
Sugiyama (left on first row), as minister of
War in Kuniaki Koiso's (third from left on front row) cabinet, with Mitsumasa
Yonai (right on front row)
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World
War II
n
his return to Japan, Sugiyama was briefly appointed head of Yasukuni Shrine in 1939. On September 3,
1940, he succeeded elderly Prince Kan'in
Kotohito as Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff. He
was one of the leading Army officers lobbying for war with the West. However,
on September 5, 1941, on the verge of the war against the United States and
Great Britain, he was severely berated by Emperor Hirohito for having earlier predicted
in 1937 that Japanese
invasion of China would be completed within three months, and
challenged over his confidence in a quick victory over the Western powers.
Sugiyama
was awarded the honorary rank of field marshal in 1943. As the war fronts
collapsed on all sides, Sugiyama was relieved of his post as Chief of the
General Staff on February 21, 1944, by General Hideki Tōjō (who continued to serve
concurrently as Prime Minister).
Sugiyama
was appointed to the Inspector-general of Military Training, which was still
one of the most prestigious positions in the Army. After Tōjō's ouster in 1944,
Sugiyama again became Minister of War. In July 1945, he was asked to take command
of the First General Army, which directed defenses of the Japanese mainland
against the anticipated Allied invasion.
Ten
days after the surrender of Japan, after finishing preparations for the final
dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Army as dictated by the victorious Allied
Powers, Sugiyama committed suicide by shooting himself four times in the chest
with his revolver while seated at his desk in his office. At home, his wife
also killed herself. His grave is at the Tama Cemetery, in Fuchū, Tokyo.
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