The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Sakurai Tokutaro was an instructor at the Military Police School when war broke out in the Pacific. He later served in Burma, commanding the infantry group of 55 Division in the Battle of the Admin Box, then commanded one of the numerous divisions hastily raised for the final defense of Japan. Hastings (2007) says that he
conformed to every caricature of Allied imagination. He was a China veteran notorious for ruthlessness and brutality. As an accessory to his uniform, he affected around his neck a string of pearls. His off-duty party piece was to perform a Chinese dance naked, with lighted cigarettes flaring from his nostrils.
He was nonetheless a dangerous opponent, skilled at cutting the communications of enemy forces. Slim countered in the Arakan by denying Sakurai any communications lines to cut.
| 1897 |
Born |
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| 1937 |
Colonel
|
Staff, 1 Army |
| 1938 |
Instructor, War College |
|
| 1940 |
Headquarters, China
Expeditionary Army |
|
| 1940 |
Chief of staff, 34 Division |
|
| 1941 |
Instructor, Military Police School |
|
| 1942 |
Commander, 65 Regiment |
|
| 1943-8 |
Major
general |
Commander, Infantry Group, 55 Division,
Burma |
| 1944-12 |
Headquarters, Burma
Area Army |
|
| 1945 |
Commander, 212 Division |
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| 1945 |
Retires |
|
| 1980 |
Dies |
References
Generals.dk (accessed 2008-11-15)
London Gazette (1951-4-6; accessed 2013-1-1)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2008, 2011-2012 by Kent G. Budge. Index
