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Hata Shunroku was commissioned as an artillerist in the Japanese Army in 1901, graduating at the top of his class. He graduated with "top scholarly rank" from the War College in 1910. He was a military student in Germany in 1912 and participated in the peace conference following the First World War. In March 1941 he was given command of China Expeditionary Army, based in Nanking. He became a field marshal in March 1943. In November 1944 he returned to Japan to command forces against the expected Allied invasion, serving first as Inspector-General of Military Education and then as commander of 2 General Army. His headquarters was in Hiroshima but he was elsewhere when the nuclear attack destroyed the city,
Hata was serving as Minister of War in 1940 and
was one of the "Big Three" who controlled the Army. His resignation as
War Minister in July 1940 brought down the Yonai cabinet and likely
ensured that the Japanese would join the Tripartite Pact. When the Hiranuma
government fell, Hata supported the choice of Tojo as the new War
Minister, feeling he could be counted on to support the Army point of
view. Hata was a top candidate to succeed Tojo as Prime Minister in June
1944, but the position went to Koiso Kuniaki, a former general and the
governor-general of Korea. When the
Koiso cabinet fell in April 1945, Tojo again tried to get Hata
appointed as Prime Minister. The second rejection of Hata marked a
decisive decline in the Army's control of the government.
Hata was among the top army leaders who agreed to accept the Emperor's decision to end the war, but he requested that he be allowed to give up his rank of Field Marshall in atonement for the Army's failure. He was sentenced to life imprisonment as a war criminal for failing to prevent atrocities by his troops in China, but was released after just a few years.
| 1879
|
Born |
|
| 1901 |
Second
lieutenant |
Graduates from Military Academy,
standing first in his class |
| 1909 |
Army War College |
|
| 1912 |
Student, Germany |
|
| 1919 |
Colonel
|
Instructor, War College |
| 1919 |
Chief, Maneuvers Branch, 2
Section, 1 Bureau, General Staff |
|
| 1921 |
Commander, 16 Field Artillery Regiment |
|
| 1922 |
Commander, Field Artillery
School Training Regiment |
|
| 1923 |
Chief, 2 Section (Maneuvers), 1
Bureau, General Staff |
|
| 1926 |
Major
general |
Commander, 4 Heavy Field
Artillery Brigade |
| 1927 |
Head, 4 Bureau, General Staff |
|
| 1928 |
Head, 1 Bureau, General Staff |
|
| 1931 |
Inspector of Artillery |
|
| 1933 |
Lieutenant
general |
Commander, 14 Division |
| 1935 |
Head, Army Aeronautical
Department, War Ministry |
|
| 1936 |
Commander, Taiwan Army District |
|
| 1937 |
Supreme War Council |
|
| 1937 |
Inspector-general of military
training |
|
| 1938 |
Commander, Central China Expeditionary Army |
|
| 1938 |
Supreme War Council |
|
| 1939 |
Chief aide-de-camp to the Emperor |
|
| 1939 |
General |
Minister of war |
| 1940 |
Supreme War Council |
|
| 1941-3
|
Commander in chief, China
Expeditionary Army |
|
| 1943-3 |
Field marshal |
|
| 1944-11
|
Inspector-general of military
training |
|
| 1945 |
Commander, 2 General
Army |
|
| 1945 |
General |
Retires |
| 1945 |
Arrested and tried as war criminal |
|
| 1948 |
Sentenced to life in prison |
|
| 1954 |
Released |
|
| 1962 |
Dies |
References
Generals.dk
(accessed 2008-2-5)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2010, 2012 by Kent G. Budge. Index
