Moritake Tanabe was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, commanding the IJA 25th Army from April 1943 until the surrender of Japan.
10 Facts About Moritake Tanabe
2.
Moritake Tanabe was from Ishikawa prefecture, where his father was a former samurai of Kaga Domain and later a colonel in the early Imperial Japanese Army.
3.
Moritake Tanabe returned to the field to command the IJA 34th Infantry Regiment from 1936 to 1937, before his promotion to major general in August 1937 and returning to the Toyama Army Infantry School as its commandant.
4.
Moritake Tanabe was recalled to Japan to become commandant of the IJA Tank School, located in Chiba.
5.
Moritake Tanabe was promoted to lieutenant general in October 1939, and given command of the IJA 41st Division.
6.
Moritake Tanabe was recalled to Japan at the end of 1941 to serve as Vice Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, and was in this position at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which he had strenuously opposed.
7.
Moritake Tanabe was instrumental in helping put an end to the disastrous attrition of Japanese forces at Guadalcanal.
8.
Moritake Tanabe was dispatched to Japanese-occupied Sumatra in the Netherlands East Indies to take command of the IJA 25th Army under the Japanese Seventh Area Army at Fort de Kock, in April 1943.
9.
Moritake Tanabe remained at this post for the remainder of the war.
10.
Moritake Tanabe was sentenced to death on 30 December 1948 and executed on 10 July 1949.