Ryūkichi Tanaka | |
|---|---|
 Major General Ryūkichi Tanaka | |
| Native name | 田中 隆吉 |
| Born | (1893-07-09)July 9, 1893 Shimane Prefecture, Japan |
| Died | June 5, 1972(1972-06-05) (aged 78) |
| Allegiance |  Empire of Japan |
| Branch |  Imperial Japanese Army |
| Service years | 1913 -1945 |
| Rank |  Major General |
| Conflicts | Second Sino-Japanese War World War II |
Ryūkichi Tanaka (田中 隆吉,Tanaka Ryūkichi; 9 July 1893 – 5 June 1972) was a major general in theImperial Japanese Army duringWorld War II.
Tanaka was born in what is now part of the city ofYasugi inShimane Prefecture, and attended a military preparatory school inHiroshima. He graduated from the 26th class of theImperial Japanese Army Academy in 1913, specializing inartillery, and was assigned to serve with the IJA 23rd Field Artillery Regiment based onOkayama.[1]
After graduating from the 34th class of theArmy Staff College in 1923, Tanaka served in various staff positions in theImperial Japanese Army General Staff, and came into contact withPan-Asianism theorist and nationalist writerShūmei Ōkawa. He was sent on special assignment toBeijing andKalgan in China and Manchuria from 1927 to 1929 to gathermilitary intelligence. In October 1930, he was based inShanghai, where he developed a close relationship withYoshiko Kawashima, and assisted her in establishing her spy network. He was living together with Kawashima in Shanghai at the time of theShanghai Incident of 1932, which he claimed in his post-war memoirs to have scripted, with Kawashima acting as anAgent provocateur to incite the riot with 20,000 Yen in funds provided by theKwantung Army. However, there is no other written evidence to support this claim other than Tanaka's own memoirs. His relationship with Kawashima soured after a fictionalized account of her exploits was published in Japan which mentioned him by name and after he found that her movements were being closely monitored byKMT agents.
Recalled to Japan in August 1932. Tanaka was appointed commander of the IJA 4th Field Artillery Regiment. He was attached to the IJA 1st Heavy Field Artillery Regiment from 1934 to 1935, and then attached to the 2nd Section of theKwantung Army staff from 1935 to 1937. From 1937 to 1939, Tanaka was commander of the IJA 25th Mountain Artillery Regiment inManchukuo, which was at the disastrousBattle of Lake Khasan against theSoviet Union.
Recalled to Japan again from 1939 to 1940, Tanaka was appointed Chief of the Military Service Section, Military Administration Bureau within the Army Ministry.
In March 1940, he was promoted tomajor general, and briefly returned to China asChief of Staff of theJapanese First Army, during which time he initiated an unsuccessful attempted to woo Chinese warlordYan Xishan ofShanxi Province to support the Japanese cause.[2][page needed] At the end of 1940, Tanaka was recalled back to Japan, and the following year became Commandant of theNakano School, the primary espionage and sabotage training facility for the Japanese army.[3]
Suffering from poor health, Tanaka went into the reserves until September 1942 when he was attached to theEastern Defense Army; however, he was hospitalized from October due to acute depression, and retired from military service in March 1943.
In 1945, Tanaka was recalled and served as Commandant ofRatsu Fortress on the border ofKorea with theSoviet Union atRason. He remained at that post until the end of the war.
During theInternational Military Tribunal for the Far East after the war, Tanaka testified three times for the prosecution and twice for the defense. He was used by chief prosecutorJoseph Keenan to persuadeHideki Tōjō to revise his testimony referring toEmperor Hirohito's ultimate authority.[4] During the trial,Life Magazine nicknamed him "The Monster", stating that he testified that GeneralAraki Sadao was the mastermind behindJapanese militarism, charging GeneralDoihara Kenji with running narcotics operations inManchukuo and blaming Generals Tojo Hideki andAkira Muto of promoting policies favoring atrocities against prisoners of war. On the other hand, he defended GeneralsShunroku Hata andYoshijirō Umezu and Foreign MinisterMamoru Shigemitsu for having attempted to prevent or end the war, and promoted himself as both a war hero and "apostle of peace", stating also that he fully expected to be found guilty and executed.[5]
In 1949, he moved to a cabin atLake Yamanaka, where he attempted suicide in September. He died ofcolorectal cancer in 1972.
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