Japanese Leaders in WWII
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
Minister of the Navy and Commander in Chief of the 1st Fleet. Yamamoto
was the architect of the Japanese carrier forces and planned the surprise
attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour. Yamamoto was killed when
his aircraft was shot down following the discovery of his flight plans
by the Americans in April 1943.
Chuichi Nagumo
Gruff, conservative, not overly-imaginative, and at his core profoundly
suspicious of the potency of carrier-based airpower, Nagumo was placed in
charge of the most powerful naval air armada of the first half of the war:
Kido Butai, Japan's carrier strike force. He was in charge of executing
Yamamoto's plan for a Pearl Harbor attack, which was also ironic, because
he and Yamamoto got along very poorly, and Nagumo didn't believe in
Yamamoto's plan at all. The result; a spectacular, but somewhat superficial
victory in Hawaii, wherein the US heavy surface units were largely destroyed
or disabled, but our escort vessels and (much more important) our oil tanks
farms and repair facilities escaped practically untouched (despite the urging
of his staff officers to launch a second attack and destroy them). This, in
turn, left the US Navy with both the carrier escorts and the logistical
underpinnings necessary to carry on the war.
After Pearl Harbor, Nagumo commanded Kido Butai through its subsequent
six-month long reign of terror, during which it roamed the Pacific with
seeming invincibility, until it was finally dismembered at the Battle of
Midway. Thereafter he went on to lead the Combined Fleet's carrier aviation
forces through a series of uninspiring performances around the Solomons,
finally being removed from command after the Battle of Santa Cruz, October
25-27, 1942. He died by his own hand during the invasion of Saipan in July,
1944.
Aritomo Goto
Admiral Goto participated in several of the major campaigns of the war,
being commander of Cruiser Division 6 (Aoba, Furutaka, Kako, and Kinugasa).
His ships supplied the bulk of the muscle Admiral Mikawa used to such good
effect at the Battle of Savo Island. Goto was killed aboard the Aoba during
the Battle of Cape Esperance, October 11-12, 1942.
Gunichi Mikawa
Victor at the Battle of Savo Island, the worst defeat ever suffered
by the United States Navy. With a 'pickup team' of mostly aging cruisers and
a lone destroyer, Mikawa sortied down 'The Slot' shortly after the U.S. Marine
Corps landed on Guadalcanal. Through a combination of determination, good
luck, and lapses in command and control on the part of the Allied naval
forces, Mikawa's force achieved total surprise, and quickly sank four Allied
heavy cruisers while suffering only minor damage to his own vessels.
Unfortunately, he then promptly withdrew from the scene of the fight before
destroying the Allied transports anchored in the Sound, for which act he has
been endlessly pilloried by historians on both sides...
Tamon Yamaguchi
Perhaps Japan's most gifted carrier admiral, Yamaguchi was astute,
aggressive, and ambitious. Unfortunately for Japan's war effort, he was also
heavily steeped in the Bushido Code, which meant that he was pretty much
obligated to do away with himself after having lost his carrier Hiryu during
the closing stages of the Battle of Midway.
Jisaburo Ozawa
Commander of Japan's carrier forces from November 1942 through the
remainder of the war. Ozawa, who's nickname was 'The Gargoyle', was commonly
regarded as one of the three ugliest admirals in the Navy. He also happened to
be a fine commander, compassionate towards his men, and unselfish in his
operational planning. It was his ill fate to be the commander of a fleet that
was doomed, through a combination of logistical, technological, and training
inferiorities, to lose an uninterrupted series of battles to the ever-expanding
American naval forces. His fleet ended its combat career off of the
Phillipines as nothing more than a bait force, flight decks empty for lack of
planes and pilots. Nevertheless, Ozawa played his role intelligently and
professionally until the end.
Tameichi Hara
Captain of destroyer Amatsukaze at the beginning of the war,
and squadron commander aboard Shigure during much of the fighting in the
Solomons. He survived several very close scrapes in the Solomons, including
being the lone destroyer to survive the fiasco off of Vella LaVella on August
6, 1943, where three of four Japanese ships involved (Hagikaze, Arashi, and
Kawakaze) were all ambushed and sunk within the space of a few minutes in the
Battle of Kula Gulf. By the end of the war he had become skipper of Yahagi,
which accompanied (and was sunk along with) Yamato on her final sortie, although
Hara again survived. Hara exemplified the best in Japanese surface commanders;
highly skilled (particularly in torpedo warfare and night fighting), hard
driving, and aggressive. He was also bitterly critical of the Japanese Navy's
handling of the war.
Raizo Tanaka
Raizo was a genius, probably one of the finest squadron commanders of
the entire war to serve on either side. He routinely defeated superior Allied
forces in the Solomons, or escaped with the bulk of his forces from traps that
should have meant his annihilation, the Battle of Tassafaronga, November 30,
1942, being a prime example. His primary working assets were often no more
inspiring than a handful of overloaded, overworked destroyer transports.
Fortunately for the U.S., he was removed from surface command shortly after
the final evacuation from Guadalcanal, presumably a casualty of the Navy's
finger-pointing as to who was to blame for the debacle.
General Hideki Tojo
Prime Minister, Chief of Staff of the Army, and Minister of War from
October 1941 until July 1944. Tojo could almost be described as the dictator
of Japan. He was the principal director of all Japanese war operations.
When military fortunes began to turn against Japan he attempted to stabilize
his position by handing over his post of Minister of War to Umezu. However
after the fall of Saipan in July 1944 he resigned his remaining posts and
was succeeded by Koiso. After his resignation he attempted to commit suicide,
he lived, but only to be found guilty of war crimes by the Allies and was
hanged.
Lt General Kuniaki Koiso
Appointed Prime Minister after the fall of Tojo in 1944, Koiso was
almost a token Prime Minister as he was not party to any military decisions.
He was not popular with either government ministers who favoured making
peace, nor with those who wished to persecute the war until the bitter
end. He resigned in April 1945 after his demands to be included in military
decisions were rejected.
Kantaro Suzuki
Suzuki became Prime Minister in April 1945 after the collapse of Koiso's
premiership. He was one of the Japanese leaders who were in favour of peace,
and it was he who finally asked Emperor Hirohito to decide on the surrender
of Japan. Suzuki resigned after the surrender was announced.
General Yoshijiro Umezu
Chief of Staff of the Army from July 1944. Previously he had been Minister
of War when Tojo relinquised this post. Umezu was one of the government
leaders who were in favour of continuing the war as long as possible. He
was a reluctant participant in the signing of the Japanese instrument of
surrender on the USS Missouri.
Special Thanks to Phil's World War II Page
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