Sakonju Naomasa began the war as a captain in
command of naval forces at Hankow.
He was a rear admiral in
command of
Cruiser
Division 16 by March 1944. While on a commerce raid that month,
Sakonju ordered the
beheading of
69
passengers from the British
merchant ship Behar.
On 7 June 1944, Skonju's cruiser division escorted a force attempting a counterlanding on Biak that spotted a superior Allied force on radar just in time to escape.
During the Leyte campaign, Sakonju's division was held in reserve near Manila for counterlandings at Leyte and elsewhere. It was annihilated on a "Tokyo Express" run to Leyte on late October 1944. Sakonju himself survived, only to be hanged by the British in 1948 for the Behar atrocity.
| 1890-6-6 | born | |
| 1912-7-17 | Midshipman |
Graduates from Naval Academy, standing 98 in a class of 144. Assigned to Soya |
| 1913-5-1 | Suwo | |
| 1913-12-1 | Ensign | |
| 1914-3-23 | Hashidate | |
| 1914-12-1 | Torpedo
School Basic Course |
|
| 1915-5-26 | Gunnery
School Basic Course |
|
| 1915-12-13 |
Lieutenant junior
grade |
Kasuga |
| 1916-12-1 | Maizuru
Sailor Corps |
|
| 1917-12-1 | Niitaka | |
| 1918-1-25 | Adzuma | |
| 1918-9-4 | Harukaze | |
| 1918-12-1 | Torpedo School Advanced Course |
|
| 1919-12-1 | Lieutenant | Tenryu |
| 1920-12-1 | 1 Naval District |
|
| 1921-7-11 | Chief, Chichijima Radio Station | |
| 1922-8-19 | Sasebo
Air Group |
|
| 1922-12-1 | Mutsu | |
| 1923-12-1 | Wakamiya | |
| 1924-12-1 | Instructor, Torpedo School |
|
| 1925-12-1 | Lieutenant commander |
|
| 1926-12-1 | Staff, Destroyer
Squadron 1 |
|
| 1927-12-1 | Staff, Destroyer Squadron 2 |
|
| 1929-2-1 | Staff, Training Fleet | |
| 1929-12-24 | Instructor, Torpedo School |
|
| 1930-6-1 | Instructor, Communications School |
|
| 1930-12-1 | Commander | |
| 1933-3-10 | Executive officer, Kako | |
| 1933-11-15 | Manchuria Expeditionary Force | |
| 1935-10.31 | Navy General Staff |
|
| 1935-11-15 | Captain | Chief, Tokyo Radio Station |
| 1936-12-1 | Commander, Settsu | |
| 1938-7-20 | Navy General Staff |
|
| 1940-9-25 | 4 Naval District |
|
| 1940-10-15 | Chief of staff, 4 Naval District | |
| 1941-8-11 | Navy General Staff |
|
| 1941-9-1 | Attache, Thailand | |
| 1941-10-15 | Rear admiral |
|
| 1943-7-15 | Navy General Staff |
|
| 1943-9-10 | Staff, Southwestern Area Fleet |
|
| 1943-9-16 | Commander, Cruiser Division 16 |
|
| 1944-10-15 | Vice admiral |
|
| 1944-11-15 | Navy General Staff |
|
| 1944-12-1 | Staff, China Area Fleet |
|
| 1944-12-15 | Chief of staff, China Area Fleet |
|
| 1946-6-12 | Retires | |
| 1948-1-21 | Hanged for war crimes |
References
Materials
of IJN (accessed 2007-12-10)
Prados (1995)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007 by Kent G. Budge. Index