On May 3, 1946, a court-martial to try Japanese war criminals officially began in Tokyo, and the top ten Japanese standing in the dock were the "candidates" for Class A war criminals who were closely watched by the court, some of whom had served as prime ministers, ministers of war, generals, foreign ministers and other "high officials" during the war, and later after trial, the top seven "war maniacs" were sentenced to hanging, and soon after that, they were executed.
Among these seven "demons on earth", there was a Japanese lieutenant general whose rank and position were not too high, and looking at the whole of Japan, there were many war criminals of higher rank than him, but why was he finally sentenced to hanging? Today we will get to know the "lowest-ranking" person among the hanged war criminals - Muto Akira.
Born on December 15, 1892, to a small landowner family in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, Akira Muto attended the Army Non-Commissioned Officer School in his early years before being selected for further study at the Army University because of his excellent grades. After graduation, Akira Muto was first sent to Germany to serve, and then transferred back to the general staff headquarters from squad leader all the way to the position of chief of the operations section.
In Japan at that time, the chief of the operations section of the General Staff Headquarters was a real power, not only had the right to speak at the decision-making level, but also held the power to transfer troops, and after this post was the chief of operations, the deputy chief and the chief of the general, and the chief was generally a member of the Japanese imperial family, so Muto Akira seemed to be just a small section chief, but it had to be said that this small officer was a existence that could mobilize thousands of troops, and even the commander had to obediently obey.
After the outbreak of the July 7 Incident, two voices appeared in the Headquarters of the Japanese General Staff, lest the world not be chaotic
Akira Muto was the representative of all the staff officers who "supported expansion", but his "indirect superior" Ishihara Guan'er not only advocated "no expansion", but also made suggestions to Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe
: Make use of relations in China as soon as possible to start a meeting with Chiang Kai-shek as soon as possible in order to end this dispute as soon as possible, otherwise the navy, which has always been "not dealing with" the army, will definitely provoke trouble in Shanghai.
In the face of Ishihara Guan'er's "bitter mouth", the Japanese army base camp not only ignored it, but also fell into a situation of "almost madness", vowing to make the Lugou Bridge incident bigger, it is best to start an all-round war, and soon after the July 7 Incident, the Japanese Navy was really told by Ishihara Guan'er, and really provoked an incident in Shanghai.
After the outbreak of the Battle of Songhu, under the insistence and opposition of Ishihara Guan'er, the first batch of Japanese troops to reinforce Shanghai had only two divisions, which was tantamount to completely offending
In continental phase
Gen Sugiyama
The head of the general, as well as the chief of the military affairs and military division
Shinichi Tanaka and Akira Muto, the chief of the Operations Division, were two main warring factions in important positions. When the war in Shanghai intensified, Ishihara Guan'er not only did not change his mind, but also often showed an attitude of "not caring about himself", while Muto Akira, who was the main war faction, was now working with his men to formulate a battle plan in Shanghai. One day, as they were concentrating on the battle, Ishihara suddenly walked in, and after a little thought, he extended his finger to the map on the table, then moved slowly on the map and pointed to one of the places
"The attack will be blocked here. After saying that, he turned and left, leaving only a group of staff officers who were dumbfounded, and then Muto Akira reacted, and then said to the people around him: "Look, I will say that he is sick." ”
Later, Ishihara Guan'er was kicked out of the staff headquarters, Muto Akira became the "bellwether" of many staff officers, and in order to make meritorious contributions, he personally flew to the North China Front garrison to "borrow troops" from Terauchi Shouichi to form the 10th Army, which later landed in Hangzhou Bay and eventually forced hundreds of thousands of nationalist troops
Full retreat
And this plan to land in Hangzhou Bay was planned by Muto Akira. After the fall of Shanghai, the Japanese base camp drew an armistice line, but Muto Akira did not understand this very much, and later, at his instigation, the general staff headquarters sent a telegram to the Japanese base camp, demanding an immediate attack on Nanjing, and then the order to attack Nanjing was officially issued to the Shanghai dispatch army.
After the fall of Nanjing, Muto Akira
Not only did he ride into the city with Matsui Ishigen, but he also announced to the Japanese army that he could choose a camp at will in the city of Nanjing. As a result, this order was like opening the cage of the beast, and the Japanese army rushed to the streets and alleys of Nanjing, killing men when they saw them, raping women when they saw them, and robbing them when they saw their belongings, which eventually shocked the whole world
Nanjing Massacre
Tragedy happened.
Before the outbreak of the Pacific War, when the Japanese headquarters sought advice from the General Staff Headquarters,
Muto Akira, who has always been the representative of the main war faction, made it clear that he did not support "going north to the Soviet Union" or "going south to the Pacific" (it may be that the defeat in the Chinese battlefield turned him into a "cool faction"), and also made peace with his original "ally" Shinichi Tanaka (advocating going south) for this matter.
There was a fight,
As a result, when Japan declared war on the United States, he became the "second Ishihara Guan'er".
During the Pacific War, Akira Muto first served as the division commander of the Guards Division, and then due to the needs of the front, he and his division came to the Pacific Theater, and during this period
He committed many vicious acts of involvement in massacres (he was found in Sumatra, Manila and other places).
After Japan's surrender, Akira Muto was identified as a Class A war criminal, and at first, he was still in court for himself
Every kind of defense, but with the appearance of a Japanese witness, his life began to enter the countdown, and this "key witness" was the former colleague Takayoshi Tanaka. In court, most of the charges against Muto Akira were about the holocaust, but in order to survive, Tanaka Takayoshi chose to stage a farce of "dog bites dog" directly in the courtroom, not only "biting" senior war criminals such as Hideki Tojo, Seishiro Itagaki, kenji Doihara, and even Muto Akira was given a crime of "participating in and launching the Pacific War" by him (in fact, he was not active in launching the Pacific War).
You know, the Americans hate the war criminals who participated in this incident, and there is no suspense, Muto Akira was not only listed as a Class A war criminal, but also became a member of the "Hanged Seven", and finally executed on December 23, 1948, since then, this stubborn Japanese fascist war criminal finally got his due end.
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