16 Facts About Yoshitsugu Tatekawa

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa was a lieutenant-general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II.

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa went to Niigata Takada Junior High School and graduated from the 13th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, specializing in cavalry.

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa served as a lieutenant in the Russo-Japanese War, where in January 1905, by direct order of Field Marshal Oyama Iwao, he led a five-man cavalry squadron on a 23-day 1200 km reconnaissance mission far behind enemy lines in Manchuria.

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa's exploits were later publicized in a number of novels and in a serialized story for the Shonen Club youth magazine, and a fictionalized version became a movie.

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa was sent as a military attache to the United Kingdom in November 1911 and to British India in July 1913.

In March 1928, Yoshitsugu Tatekawa was promoted to major general and became the military liaison to the Embassy of Japan in Beijing.

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa was appointed head of the Second Bureau of the General Staff in August 1929, where he was in position to provide information and assistance to plotters of the March incident, who aimed at making Ugaki prime minister.

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa was dispatched by Army Minister Jiro Minami to Manchuria for the specific purpose of curbing the insubordination and militarist behavior of the Kwantung Army.

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa was sent with a letter from Minami to the commander of the Kwantung Army, Lieutenant General Shigeru Honjo, together with a second letter written by General Kanaya Hanzo, the head of the Army General Staff.

In December 1931, Yoshitsugu Tatekawa was on the Japanese delegation to the Geneva Disarmament Conference and from July 1932 was the Japanese permanent representative to the League of Nations in Geneva until Japan officially withdrew from the League in March 1933.

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa was promoted to lieutenant general in August 1932.

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa was transferred to command the IJA 4th Division in December 1935.

In September 1940, Yoshitsugu Tatekawa was appointed as ambassador to the Soviet Union.

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa remained ambassador until March 1942, when he had to return to Japan because of health problems.

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa died on September 9,1945, and was buried at the Tama Cemetery in Fuchu, Tokyo.

Yoshitsugu Tatekawa is voiced by Takaya Hashi in Japanese and by Rob Mungle in English.