Yoshio Tachibana

Infobox Military Person
name= Yoshio Tachibana
lived= d. September 24 1946
placeofbirth=Ehime prefecture, Japan
placeofdeath= Guam


caption= Lieutenant-General Yoshio Tachibana, Japanese Imperial Army, prepares to sign documents surrendering the Bonin Islands
nickname=
allegiance=Empire of Japan
branch=
serviceyears=1903 -1945
rank=Lieutenant General
commands=IJA 109th Division
unit=
battles= World War II
awards=
family=
laterwork=nihongo|Yoshio Tachibana|立花芳夫|Tachibana Yoshio|extra= d. September 24 1946 was a lieutenant general of the Japanese Imperial Army. He was commander of the Japanese troops in Chichijima, Ogasawara Islands, and was held responsible for the “Chichijima Incident” a war crime involving torture, extrajudicial execution and cannibalism of Allied prisoners of war.

Biography

Tachibana was a native of Ehime prefecture. He graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1913, and had a relatively undistinguished early career. From 1924-1925 he was assigned to the Manchukuo Imperial Army as a liaison officer. In 1942, he was assigned to the staff of the Hiroshima regional defense command, and promoted to major general in March 1943. In May 1944, he became commander of the IJA 1st Independent Combined Brigade. He was further promoted to lieutenant general on March 23 1945, and given command of the IJA 109th Division, which was tasked with the defense of the Bonin Islands against invasion by American forces in the preliminary preparations to Operation Downfall.

By mid-1945, due to the Allied naval blockade, Japanese troops on Chichijima had run low on supplies and were starving. In what came to known later as the “Ogasawara Incident”, Tachibana, known to his staff as a sadistic, alcoholic commander, issued an ordered that all American prisoners of war (downed aviators) be killed. [Hearn, "Sorties into Hell"] Two were beheaded in a public ceremony and per a highly sensationalized account in "Time Magazine" , their livers were immediately cut from their bodies and served as "sukiyaki" ."Time", [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,888305,00.html Unthinkable Crime] , September 16, 1946.] While the Time Magazine article was sensationalized, it was not disputed that eight prisoners of war were executed, and some of the bodies were butchered by the division’s medical orderlies and portions were eaten by the senior staff of the Japanese garrison.

At the end of the war, Tachibana and his staff were arrested by the American occupation authorities and were deported to Guam, where they stood trial for war crimes in connection with the Ogasawara Incident in August 1946. [Maga. "Judgment at Tokyo"] However, as cannibalism was not covered under international law at the time, so Tachibana was charged with "prevention of honorable burial" in addition to his execution of prisoners, and along with four other defendants, was sentenced to death by hanging.

References

*cite book
last = Hearn
first = Chester
authorlink =
year = 2005
title = Sorties Into Hell: The Hidden War on Chichi Jima
publisher = The Lyons Press
location =
id = ISBN 1592286879
*cite book
last = Maga
first = Timothy P.
authorlink =
year = 2001
title = Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes Trials
publisher = University Press of Kentucky
location =
id = ISBN 0-8131-2177-9

Hearn, Sorties into Hell

External links

* [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/japansur/js-10k.htm Surrender of Bonin Islands, September 3, 1945]
* [http://www.archives.gov/iwg/japanese-war-crimes/introductory-essays.pdf Researching Japanese War Crimes - Introductory Essays (pp. 102-110)] . Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records. Interagency Working Group, Washington DC, 2006.

Notes