Yoshijirō Umezu

Biography

Yoshijirō Umezu was born in Nakatsu, Ōita, Japan, where his family had run a bookstore since the 18th century. While at Kumamoto Prefectural Seiseikou High School, he decided to pursue a military career. He graduated from the 15th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy on November 30, 1903, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry on February 12, 1904. Promoted to lieutenant on June 30, 1905, he entered the 23rd class of the Army Staff College, graduating first in 1911. After promotion to captain on March 25, 1912, he studied in Germany and Denmark, serving as a military observer in Denmark during World War I. He became a major on June 1, 1918, and from 1919 to 1921 was military attaché to Switzerland. Promoted to lieutenant colonel on February 8, 1922, and colonel on December 15, 1925, he served as an instructor at the Army Staff College from 1923 to 1924 and commanded the IJA 3rd Infantry Regiment from 1924 to 1926. He was promoted to major general in August 1930 and commanded the IJA 1st Infantry Brigade. After working at the General Staff from August 1933, he was sent as military attaché to Switzerland from November 1933. Returning to Japan in March 1934, he commanded the Japanese China Garrison Army and repelled a large-scale Chinese incursion into Rehe Province in November. In June 1935 he signed the He–Umezu Agreement, giving Japan control over ten provinces of Hebei. Promoted to lieutenant general in August 1935, he commanded the Sendai-based IJA 2nd Division. He strongly opposed the February 26 incident attempted coup in 1936. Appointed Vice Minister of the Army in March 1936 under Army Minister Hisaichi Terauchi, he purged many radical kōdōha members from the army. He returned to China in May 1938 as commander-in-chief of the IJA 1st Army, then a garrison force in occupied Northern China. From September 1939 he was commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, a garrison force in Manchukuo. He was promoted to full general on August 1, 1940. In July 1944, he became the final Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff and a member of the Supreme War Council after Hideki Tojo's resignation. Along with Army Minister Korechika Anami and Navy Chief Soemu Toyoda, Umezu opposed surrender in August 1945, believing Japan should fight on to force better peace terms. He was aware of a planned coup by junior officers but did nothing to aid or hinder it. Ordered by Emperor Hirohito, he signed the instrument of surrender on September 2, 1945, on the USS Missouri, as the Army's senior representative. He entered the reserves on November 30. Arrested by SCAP, he was tried at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, found guilty of Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, and 32 (waging a war of aggression), and sentenced to life imprisonment on November 12, 1948. He died from rectal cancer in 1949 while incarcerated. He converted to Catholicism one day before his death, with last rites performed by a Catholic priest; his daughter became a Catholic nun.