Background
Masanobu Tsuji was born on October 11, 1900 in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.
Memorial statue of Masanobu Tsuji in Kaga, Ishikawa
政信 辻
Masanobu Tsuji was born on October 11, 1900 in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.
Masanobu Tsuji received his secondary education at a military academy and then graduated from the War College. After graduating from Staff College (1931) he joined the Imperial Army.
Tsuji served as a staff officer in the Kwantung Army in 1937-1939. His aggressive and insubordinate attitude exacerbated the Soviet-Japanese border conflicts, and helped incite to the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939. After the defeat at Khalkhin Gol, Tsuji opposed any further conflicts with the USSR. After their attack on the USSR in 1941, the Germans urged the Japanese to join the invasion, and many in the Japanese military wanted to avenge the defeat at Khalkhin Gol. Yet Tsuji was an influential advocate of the attack on the United States. Tsuji later wrote that his experience of Soviet fire-power at Khalkhin Gol convinced him not to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.
Masanobu Tsuji was then assigned to the Operations Section of the General staff, where he became a strong advocate of war with the United States and Britain. It has been alleged that in late 1941, he planned the assassination of Prime Minister Konoye. When the war with America and Britain started, Tsuji was on the staff of General Tomoyuki Yamashita, whose army invaded Malaya.Was a colonel during World War II and as a staff officer directed the attack against Malaya. After the end of the war, to avoid being tried as a war criminal, he disguised himself as a priest and remained in French Indo-China.
Masanobu Tsuji was then transferred to the staff of General Homma in the Philippines. After the U.S. surrender there, Tsuji sought to have all American prisoners killed, and encouraged the brutal mistreatment and casual murder of prisoners in the Bataan Death March. He also had many captured officials of the Philippines government executed.
Tsuji planned the Japanese overland attack in New Guinea, via the Kokoda Trail. In this as in other operations, he ordered bold offensive moves regardless of difficulties or the costs to the troops involved. In late 1942, Tsuji went to Guadalcanal, where he planned and led the last major Japanese attack on October 23-24. After these attacks were defeated, Tsuji went to Tokyo in person to urge additional reinforcements. But he then accepted the Navy's conclusion that nothing could get through, and recommended the evacuation of the remaining troops. He impressed the Emperor with his frankness.
In mid-1944, Tsuji was sent to Burma, where Japanese forces had been repulsed at Imphal. Tsuji was assigned to 33rd Army, which faced the Chinese in northeastern Burma.
In 1948, he was allowed to resign from Chinese service and returned to Japan in 1949. He wrote an account of his underground activities and on various other subjects. Was elected to House of Representatives (1952) and on two other occasions. Works: "Underground Escape," "Fifteen to One" and Senko Sanzenri (3,000 Leagues of Underground Flight).
In April 1961, he traveled to Laos and was never heard from again. He may have been killed in the Laotian Civil War, but there were also rumors that he became an adviser to the North Vietnamese government. He was declared dead on July 20, 1968.
Masanobu Tsuji held strong "pan-Asian" views and thought that the people of other Asian countries should support Japan against Western powers. His ultra-nationalist and militarist views and his war record won him the support of many like-minded Japanese nationalists.
Masanobu Tsuji was an energetic and efficient planner, if notoriously arrogant, and once helped quell panic in the ranks by ostentiously having a bath under fire in the front lines.