26 Facts About Shunroku Hata

Shunroku Hata was a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

Shunroku Hata was the last surviving Japanese military officer with a marshal's rank.

Shunroku Hata was a native of Fukushima Prefecture, where his father was a samurai of the Aizu Domain.

Unable to afford the tuition, Shunroku Hata enrolled in the Army Cadet School instead, going on to graduate in the 12th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1901 as a second lieutenant in the artillery.

Shunroku Hata graduated from the 22nd class of the Army Staff College with top rankings in November 1910.

Shunroku Hata was promoted to major in September 1914 and to lieutenant colonel in July 1918, while still in Europe, and he stayed on as a member of the Japanese delegation to the Versailles Peace Treaty negotiations in February 1919.

On his return to Japan, Shunroku Hata was promoted to colonel and given command of the 16th Field Artillery Regiment in July 1921, and was promoted to major general and commander of the 4th Heavy Field Artillery Brigade in March 1926.

Shunroku Hata was assigned to the strategic planning division of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, serving as chief of the Fourth Bureau in July 1927 and Chief of the First Bureau in August 1928.

Shunroku Hata was promoted to lieutenant general in August 1931 and became Inspector General of Artillery Training.

Shunroku Hata was then given a field command, that of the 14th Division in August 1933.

Shunroku Hata's rise after the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War was then very rapid: Military Councilor, Inspector General of Military Training and promotion rank of general all in late 1937.

Shunroku Hata was appointed as commanding general of the Central China Expeditionary Army in February 1938, to replace General Matsui Iwane, who had been recalled to Japan over the Nanjing Massacre.

Shunroku Hata became Senior Aide-de-Camp to Emperor Showa in May 1939 followed by a stint as Minister of War from August 1939 to July 1940 during the terms of Prime Minister Nobuyuki Abe and Mitsumasa Yonai.

In July 1940, Shunroku Hata had a pivotal role in bringing down the Yonai cabinet by resigning his post as Minister of War.

Shunroku Hata returned to China as commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army in March 1941.

Shunroku Hata was the main Japanese commander at the time of Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, during which Chinese sources claim that over 250,000 civilians were killed.

Shunroku Hata was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal on June 2,1944 following Japanese victory at Operation Ichi-Go.

Shunroku Hata was requested to take command of the Second General Army, based in Hiroshima from 1944 to 1945 in preparation for the anticipated Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands.

Shunroku Hata was thus in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing and survived.

One of the only senior figures to survive the explosion, Shunroku Hata took command of the city and relief efforts in the following days.

Shunroku Hata was one of the senior generals who agreed with the decision to surrender, but asked that he be stripped of his title of Field Marshal in atonement for the Army's failures in the war.

Shunroku Hata was arrested by the American occupation authorities after the end of the war, and charged with war crimes.

Shunroku Hata was the only surviving Japanese Field Marshal who faced criminal charges along with other defendants.

Shunroku Hata was paroled in 1955, and headed a charitable foundation for the welfare of former soldiers from 1958.

Shunroku Hata died in 1962, while attending a ceremony honouring the war dead.

Shunroku Hata's older brother, Eitaro Shunroku Hata, was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, from July 1929 until his death, in May 1930, from acute nephritis.