Minoru Sasaki

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Minoru Sasaki
1 January 1893 - April 27, 1961

General Minoru (Noboru) Sasaki
Allegiance Flag of Japan Empire of Japan
Service/branch Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service 1914 - 1946
Rank Major General
Commands held 4th Cavalry Brigade,
Nanto (Southeast) Detachment
Battles/wars World War II
o Solomon Islands
o Battle of New Georgia
In this Japanese name, the family name is Sasaki.

Minoru Sasaki (佐々木 登 Sasaki Minoru?), sometimes referred to as Noburo Sasaki, was a commander in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. He was born 1 January 1893 and died 27 April 1961.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Sasaki graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1914 as a cavalry officer. He was sent as a military attaché to Russia and Poland in the 1920s, and served in a number of staff positions within the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff.

From 1939-1940, Sasaki was commander of the IJA 4th Cavalry Brigade. He became Chief of Staff of the IJA 6th Army in China in 1940. From 1942-1943, he was attached to the Armored Warfare Department within the Ministry of War, and promoted the development of tanks and armored warfare within the Japanese military. [1]

However, as the war situation continued to deteriorate for the Japanese military in the Solomon Islands, Sasaki was reassigned to command the Southern Detachment in 1943. He led the Japanese forces during the Battle of New Georgia from June 1943 to August 1943. After fighting an effective, but ultimately unsuccessful delaying campaign, his forces retreated to Kolombangara, only to be bypassed and left starve, with little chance of reinforcement or resupply. He and his surviving forces managed to successfully escape by barge to Choiseul and Bougainville and then to Rabaul. Sasaki was promoted to lieutenant general in October 1944. [2]

He was later attached to the IJA 8th Area Army Headquarters at Rabaul until the end of the war.

[edit] References

[edit] Books

  • Altobello, Brian (2000). Into the Shadows Furious. Presidio Press. ISBN 0-89141-717-6. 
  • Bergerud, Eric M. (1997). Touched with Fire : The Land War in the South Pacific. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-024696-7. 
  • Fuller, Richard (1992). Shokan: Hirohito's Samurai. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 1854091514. 
  • Hammel, Eric M. (1999). Munda Trail: The New Georgia Campaign, June-August 1943. Pacifica Press. ISBN 0-935553-38-X. 
  • Hayashi, Saburo (1959). Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War. Marine Corps. Association. ASIN B000ID3YRK. 
  • McGee, William L. (2002). The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville--Pacific War Turning Point, Volume 2 (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII). BMC Publications. ISBN 0-9701678-7-3. 
  • Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, vol. 6 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Castle Books. 0785813071. 

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Ammenthorp, The Generals of World War II
  2. ^ Budge, Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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