THE LAST SURVIVING FIELD MARSHAL OF JAPAN: SHUNROKU HATA (JULY 26, 1879 TO MAY 10, 1962)

Field Marshal Shunroku Hata (畑俊六Hata Shunroku)

Field Marshal Shunroku Hata (畑俊六Hata Shunroku, July 26, 1879 – May 10, 1962), was a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. He was the last surviving Japanese military officer with a marshal's rank.

Hata (on the left) with his brother before Russo-Japanese War.

Biography

Early years

Hata was a native of Fukushima prefecture, where his father was an ex-samurai of the Aizu domain. At the age of 12, the family relocated to Hakodate, Hokkaidō, but at the age of 14, he was accepted into the prestigious First Tokyo Middle School. However, his father died the same year, and unable to afford the tuitions, he enrolled in the Army Cadet School instead, going on to graduate of the 12th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, in 1901 as a second lieutenant in the artillery. Hata served in the Russo-Japanese War. He graduated from the 22nd class of the Army Staff College with top rankings in November 1910.

Sent as a military attaché to Germany in March 1912, Hata stayed in Europe throughout World War I as a military observer. He was promoted to major in September 1914 and to lieutenant colonel in July 1918, while still in Europe, and he stayed on as a member of the Japanese delegation to the Versailles Peace Treaty negotiations in February 1919.

On his return to Japan, Hata was given command of the IJA 16th Field Artillery Regiment in July 1921, and was promoted to major general and commander of the IJA 4th Heavy Field Artillery Brigade in March 1926.

Hata was subsequently assigned to the strategic planning division of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, serving as chief of the Fourth Bureau in July 1927 and Chief of the First Bureau in August 1928.

Hata was promoted to lieutenant general in August 1931 and became Inspector General of Artillery Training. He was then given a field command, that of the IJA 14th Division in August 1933. After serving as head of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service from December 1935, he became commander of the Taiwan Army of Japan in 1936.

Field Marshal Terauchi Hisaichi in Xuzhou With Hata

Second Sino-Japanese War

His rise after the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War was then very rapid: Military Councilor, Inspector General of Military Training and promotion rank of general all in late 1937. He was appointed as commanding general of the Central China Expeditionary Army in February 1938, to replace General Matsui Iwane, who had been recalled to Japan over the Nanjing Incident. Hata became Senior Aide-de-Camp to Emperor Shōwa in May 1939 followed by a stint as Minister of War from August 1939 to July 1940 during the terms of Prime Minister Nobuyuki Abe and Mitsumasa Yonai. In July 1940, Hata had a pivotal role in bringing down the Yonai cabinet by resigning post as Minister of War.

Hata returned to China as commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army in March 1941. He was the main Japanese commander at the time of Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, during which Chinese sources claim that over 250,000 civilians were killed. Hata was promoted to the rank of field marshal on June 2, 1944.

Hata was requested to take command of the Second General Army, based in Hiroshima from 1944 to 1945 in preparation for the anticipated Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands. He was thus in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing. Hata was one of the senior generals who agreed with the decision to surrender, but asked that he be stripped of his title of Field Marshal in atonement for the Army’s failures in the war.

Shunroku Hata (畑俊六Hata Shunroku) during the trial in 1946.

Judgment

ata was arrested by the American occupation authorities after the end of the war, and charged with war crimes. In 1948, as a result of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, he was sentenced to life imprisonment under the charges of: “Conspiracy, waging aggressive war, disregarding his duty to prevent atrocities”. Hata was paroled in 1954, and headed a charitable foundation for the welfare of former soldiers from 1958. He died in 1962, while attending a ceremony honoring the war dead.

Hata's brother, Eitaro Hata (1872–1930), was also a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and commander-in-chief of the Kwangtung Army.

Promotions

• Second Lieutenant: June 1901
• Lieutenant: November 1903
• Captain: June 1905
• Major: April 1914
• Lieutenant Colonel: July 1918
• Colonel: July 20, 1921
• Major General: March 2, 1926
• Lieutenant General: August 1, 1931
• General: November 1, 1937
• Marshal: June 2, 1944

INTERNET SOURCE: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shunroku_Hata

Shunroku Hata (畑俊六Hata Shunroku)

Shunroku Hata(July 26, 1879 – May 10, 1962) was a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. He was appointed as commanding general of the Central China Expeditionary Army in February 1938, to replace General Matsui Iwane. Hata returned to China as commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army in March 1941 and was the main commander at the time of the Changjiao Massacre. He was awarded the rank of field marshal on June 2, 1944. Hata was arrested by the American occupation authorities after the end of the war, and charged with war crimes. In 1948, as a result of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, he was sentenced to life imprisonment under the charges of conspiracy, waging aggressive war, and disregarding his duty to prevent atrocities. He was paroled in 1955, and died later in 1962.

Shunroku Hata (畑俊六Hata Shunroku)

Sourced

• We are against dependence on a change in the international situation for the solution of the China Incident.
• Quoted in "Tokyo Record" - Page 149 - by Otto David Tolischus - 1943

• I retained no records and I am not a good writer anyhow. So the best approach is for historians like you to extract the facts directly from people like me.
• Quoted in "Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939" - by Alvin D. Coox - Page 1184 - 1990

• Asia, in cooperation with Europe, is about to take simultaneous action towards realization of a New World Order.
• Quoted in "The Secret History of the War" - Page 342 - 1945

• The kind of slaughter and violence that we have seen in this war, was in my experience very rare during the Russo-Japanese war. In modern war, the whole people are mobilized. Hence the majority of the troops correspond to the people as a whole. An army in which scandals and atrocities occur in great numbers, must surely reflect a decline in public morality?
• Quoted in "Singapore, 1941-1942" - Page 269 - by Louis Allen - History - 1993

• As the rising sun melts thinly frozen ice, so the Japanese Army is overcoming Chinese troops.
• 1939. Quoted in "Objective: Limited" - "Time Magazine" article - December 20, 1943

• I will take responsibility for all operations.
• Quoted in "The Nebraska State Journal" - Newspaper - December 4, 1945

• We should not miss the present opportunity or we shall be blamed by posterity.
• Quoted in "Enter Japan" - "Time Magazine" article - July 8, 1940