Korechika Anami
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Korechika Anami (阿南 惟幾 Anami Korechika, February 21 1887- August 15 1945) was a Japanese general in World War II.
Military career
- December 1906: Second Lieutenant (Infantry)
- November 1918: was graduated from War College
- April 1919: attached to Army General Staff
- December 1919: Member, same
- February 1922: Major
- August 1923: Staff Officer, Sakhalin Expeditionary Army
- May 1925: Member, Army General Staff
- August 1925: Lieutenant Colonel
- August 1927: official duty, France,
- December 1927: attached to 45th Infantry Regiment
- August 1928: Depot Unit Commander, same
- August 1929: Aide-de-camp to Emperor
- August 1930: Colonel
- August 1933: Regimental Commander, 2nd Guard Regiment, Imperial Guard of Japan
- August 1934: Superintendent, Tokyo Military Preparatory School
- March 1935: Major General
- August 1936: Chief, Military Administration Bureau, War Ministry
- March 1937: Chief, Personnel Bureau, same Ministry
- March 1938: Lieutenant General
- November 1938: 109th Division Commander (China)
- October 1939: Vice-Minister of War
- April 1941: 11th Army Commander (Central China)
- July 1942: Second Area Army Commander (Manchuria)
- May 1943: General
- November 1943: to Southern Theater, where he directed operations in western New Guinea and Halmahera area
- December 1944: Inspector General of Army Aviation, concurrently Military Councellor and Chief, Army Aeronautical Department
- April 1945: War Minister
Political career
In April of 1945 he was made the War Minister of Japan, giving him great power in Japan as a member of the Japanese Cabinet and the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War. He was known as a leader who detested the idea of surrender, and even ordered the arrests of those who talked of it. Some speak of him today as "the very model of a modern samurai." After many losses in battle, and the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the other leaders began to consider a new approach to the war; surrender was an option. Anami opposed this, and proposed instead that a large-scale battle be fought on the Japanese mainland that would cause many Allied casualties and allow Japan to elude surrender and perhaps even keep what it had conquered.Eventually, his arguments were overcome when Hirohito requested an end to the war himself; Anami's supporters suggested that he either vote against surrender or resign from the Cabinet. Either of these moves would have stopped any Japanese surrender. Instead, he ordered his officers to concede, later saying to his brother-in-law, "As a Japanese soldier, I must obey my Emperor." On August 14, 1945, he signed the surrender document with the rest of the Cabinet, then committed suicide by seppuku early the next morning.
External links
- [http://www.doug-long.com/anami.htm - Brief biography]
- [http://www.generals.dk/general/Anami/Korechika/Japan.html - List of Offices]
- [Annotated bibliography for Korechika Anami from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues]
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