During the Second World War, there were a huge number of war crimes which were committed
by the Japanese Army. It’s believed that due to the actions of the Japanese, between
3 million to 14 million people and civilians were killed and slaughtered at the hands of
them. After the war a number of Japanese Generals and officials who were key to their war effort
were brought to trial in a trial similar to the nuremberg trials. The Allies wanted the
main aggressors brought to justice, and one man who was sentenced to death was General
Tomoyuki Yamashita. Yamashita was referred to as the Tiger of Malaya, and his command
led to the fall of Singapore to Japan, which was considered to have been the largest capitulation
in British military history, and one of their biggest disasters. But on the gallows inside
of Laguna Prison Camp, he was hanged and was executed for his involvement in war crimes.
Join us today as we look at the execution of General Yamashita, and remember to support
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Yamashita was the son of a doctor, and in November 1905 he graduated from the Japanese
Army Academy, and was considered at the top of his class. He fought in World War 1, and
in May 1916 he was promoted to the rank of captain, and he then served as an military
attache in Bern and Berlin around 1920, and two years later he was promoted to the rank
of Major. He then served inside of the Japanese War Ministry, and aimed to help to reform
and streamline the Japanese Army. He also worked inside the Imperial Headquarters, and
futher promotion came his way, but he became a rival to Hideki Tojo, and other military
generals and leaders. He later fell from favour in the eyes of Emperor Hirohito as he wanted
leniency for those rebel officers who were involved in a coup, and with this Yamashita
resigned from the army as he had lost the faith of the Emperor.
Before the Second World War broke out in Europe, he wanted Japan to end the conflict with China,
and he also wanted to keep peace with America and Britain, however his ideas were ignored
and dismissed. He was later assigned to command the 4th Division, which saw action in northern
China, and he was then sent on a military mission to Germany and Italy and whilst here
he would meet Hitler and Mussolini. Tomoyuki Yamashita wanted the army to be continually
evolving, but his ideas rubbed people up the wrong way, and he did have a significant amount
of tension with Hideki Tojo the War Minister. However on the 6th November 1941, General
Yamashita was put in command of the 25th army and he believed that Victory in Malaya could
occur if the soldiers he had could make an amphibious landing. The Malayan campaign ended
with the fall of Singapore, with the Japanese forces pushing through, and in February 1942,
Yamashita’s 30,000 front line soldiers captured 80,000 British, Australian and Indian troops,
which led to the largest surrender of British soldiers in History. For this, Yamashita was
called the Tiger of Malaya, and then his soldiers occupied Singapore and the area around.
But inside of Singapore, there were a huge number of Japanese war crimes committed against
Allied captured personnel, and also the civilians. One massacre, the Alexandria Hospital massacre
saw Japanese forces break into the hospital, and slaughter a number of doctors and nurses
with bayonets and bulletys, but they also killed a number of patients too, and many
people were forced into small unventilated rooms which were overcrowded and were given
no food or water. This resulted to even more deaths, and many had to pretend and lay with
the dead for hours to survive. Another massacre at Sook Ching, led to around 25,000 to 50,000
deaths. The Japanese targeted a number of people, and there were many execution sites
which claimed the lives of hundreds of victims. The Japanese wanted to get rid of ethnic Chinese
people who were deemed hostile to them, and with this thousands were rounded up and were
shot by rifles and machine guns. Whether Yamashita had ordered these events, or whether he was
actually responsible for these still remains debatable today, and some believe he was not,
but some believe he was. The order to execute 50,000 Chinese people allegedly came from
senior officers within Yamashita’s staff, and his troops had regularly fought in battles
where afterwards they carried out huge killings to keep the population quiet.
Yamashita would later apologise to survivors of a massacre, and he even caught some of
his soldiers looting and punished them. It was said he gave the order ‘no looting,
no assault, no arson,’ and that any soldier committing these acts would be punished. But
these warnings were not listened to and there were large scale acts of violence, but he
continued to be arguing with the War Ministry. He treated some prisoners of war humanely,
which was not considered acceptable. But he was then reassigned in July 1942 to Manchukuo,
and was given a post commanding the First Area Army. This kept him quiet during the
Pacfici War, and Tojo the Prime Minister was responsible for ousting him and keeping him
away. But on the 26th September 1944, as the war was going poorly for the Japanese, Yamashita
was brought back in from the cold after Tojo and his cabinet fell from power. He took command
of the Fourteenth Area Army, to defend the Philippines. American forces would land, but
Yamashita was in command ov 262,000 soldiers in defensive groups.
He did not declare Manilla an open city, before it’s capture meaning that defending militaries
will not defend the city in battle. This was supposed to be done to save lives and the
city, however Manilla turned into a huge battlefield, and there were large scale atrocities and
deaths. Street to Street fighting broke out, and it’s believed that 100,000 civilians
were killed. But after the surrender of Japan, from the 29th October to 7th December 1945,
Yamashita was placed on trial in Manila for war crimes relating to the massacre, and the
atrocities against the civilians and POWs. He was held responsible, and he nodded his
head when asked by his subordinates to execute people without trials. The main accusation
was that he failed in his duty as a commander of the Japanese forces to prevent atrocities
and he failed to control those soldiers. Their crimes were placed onto him, and one witness
claimed that Yamashita had said, ‘"wipe out the whole Philippines...since everyone
in the Islands were either guerrillas or active supporters of the guerrillas."
The defence claimed he was not involved in war crimes specifically, and he denied knowledge
of any crimes committed by his men. He said he would have punished them harshly if he
knew, and he said that ‘My command was as big as MacArthur's or Lord Louis Mountbatten's.
How could I tell if some of my soldiers misbehaved themselves? It was impossible for any man
in my position to control every action of his subordinate commanders, let alone the
deeds of individual soldiers. The charges are completely new to me. If they had happened,
and I had known about them, I would have punished the wrongdoers severely. But in war someone
has to lose. What I am really being charged with is losing the war.’ General Yamashita
was found guilty of war crimes and was sentenced to death. His trial was criticised, and some
even believed it was a miscarriage of justice.
There was an appeal for clemency, however the death sentence was confirmed. Yamashita
was held at Los Banos Laguna Prison Camp, 30 miles south of Manila, and he was to remain
there until his execution. He was led out to the gallows in the courtyard, and there
were 13 steps he was led up by prison guards. He was then passed over to the executioner,
who asked him for any final words. It was claimed that he then said, ‘As I said in
the Manila Supreme Court that I have done with my all capacity, so I don't ashame [sic]
in front of the gods for what I have done when I have died. But if you say to me 'you
do not have any ability to command the Japanese Army' I should say nothing for it, because
it is my own nature. Now, our war criminal trial going under your kindness and right.
I know that all your American and American military affairs always has tolerant and rightful
judgment. When I have been investigated in Manila court I have had a good treatment,
kindful attitude from your good natured officers who protected me all the time. I never forget
for what they have done for me even if I had died. I don't blame my executioner. I'll pray
the gods bless them. Please send my thankful word to Col. Clarke and Lt. Col. Feldhaus,
Lt. Col. Hendrix, Maj. Guy, Capt. Sandburg, Capt. Reel, at Manila court, and Col. Arnard.
I thank you.’ After this the executioner placed the noose around his neck, along with
a cap and final checks were made before he was placed over the trapdoor and then the
lever was released that opened the trapdoor. Yamashita passed through it, and within seconds
was dead.
Today General Tomoyuki Yamashita’s execution remains a controversial one, as his trial
set a precedent called command responsibility, meaning a commander could be held accountable
for the crimes of his soldiers, even if he did not order them. He was a skilled military
commander who forced the worst disaster in British Military history, however under his
command a huge number of war crimes were committed by the Japanese army.
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