Inaba Shiro was a cavalryman, and Gu Shoufu was a classmate of Lu University, in the army cavalry group commander, in December 1937 succeeded Gu Shoufu as the commander of the Japanese Sixth Division, led the Sixth Division to participate in the Battle of Xuzhou, the Battle of Wuhan and the First Battle of Changsha, committed many war crimes in the Chinese battlefield, the last military position in his military career, was as the commander of the Eastern Army of the Japanese mainland, responsible for the security of the Tokyo area, although he was not held responsible for the war criminals by the headquarters of the Allied Forces in Japan, but God did not let him go.
Shiro Inaba
Inaba Shiro (1885-1948), a native of Osaka, Japan, attended the Osaka Army Local Infant School and the CSKA Infantry School, graduated from the 18th Cavalry Section of the Army Non-Commissioned Officer School in November 1905, and was assigned to serve in the 4th Cavalry Regiment of the 4th Division, which was composed of Osaka soldiers and stationed in Osaka, and was promoted to cavalry lieutenant in June of the following year.
On December 25, 1909, Inaba Shiro was admitted to the 24th Class of the Army Academy, where he graduated on November 25, 1912, along with Ozo Yamada, Kenji Toihara, Shouo Tani, Heisuke Yanagawa, Shigeharu Yamaoka, Sadashi Ujimashima, Sadashi Iida, Masaki Ito, Kiyoshi Kazuki, Shigeyasu Suzuki, Bunji Sakai, and Junroro Matsuura.
After graduating from Lu University, Inaba Shiro was assigned to the Army Provincial Military Affairs Bureau for internship, and soon returned to the 4th Cavalry Regiment of the Fourth Division as a squadron leader, and then served as a staff officer in the 15th Division and a staff officer in the Staff Headquarters, and was hired by the Beiyang government as a cavalry instructor at the Beijing Army University.
In December 1926, Inaba Shiro was transferred to the Cavalry Supervision Department, during which he was sent to France to study, the Japanese cavalry was formed to learn and imitate the French cavalry, after returning from France, he became the commander of the 16th Cavalry Regiment, and in August 1929, he was promoted to cavalry Daisa.
Japanese cavalry
On December 22, 1930, Inaba Shiro was transferred back to the Cavalry Supervision Department, and on March 18 of the following year, he was transferred to the Army Cavalry School as Minister of Education, and on August 1 of the same year, he became an officer, assisting the principal in teaching management.
On March 15, 1934, Inaba Shiro was promoted to major general in the army and succeeded Kennosuke Motegi as the commander of the 4th Cavalry Brigade, which was under the command of the 25th Cavalry Regiment and the 26th Cavalry Regiment, which was then subordinate to the operational sequence of the Kwantung Army, and the 6th Division regiment that had been assigned to the right gate of Sakamoto Masamune attacked Chifeng and Chengde and fought on the front line of the Great Wall, and on December 2, 1935, he was transferred back to Japan as the head of the Army Cavalry School.
Shiro Inaba inspects the cavalry
After the outbreak of the July 7 Incident, Inaba Shiro was promoted to lieutenant general on August 2, succeeding Kasai Heijiro as the commander of the Army Cavalry Group, the "Cavalry Group" was established in Hailar in July 1933, under the jurisdiction of the 1st Cavalry Brigade and the 4th Cavalry Brigade, the former under the 13th Cavalry Regiment, the 14th Cavalry Regiment and the Machine Gun Regiment, the latter under the 25th Cavalry Regiment, the 26th Cavalry Regiment and the Machine Gun Regiment, and the Cavalry Group Command directly under the Cavalry Artillery Regiment, the Battle Convoy, the Mechanized Automobile Infantry Brigade and the Heavy Infantry Regiment. It belongs to the operational sequence of the Kwantung Army and is of the same level as the Army Division.
Japanese cavalry units
On December 28, 1937, Inaba Shiro succeeded his Lu Daisuke Tani as the commander of the Sixth Division, and his chief of staff was Kosaburo Ishikawa, who was notorious for his participation in the Nanjing Massacre under the leadership of Tani Shoufu, so the personnel of the commanders at all levels were greatly changed, at this time the 11th Infantry Brigade and the 36th Infantry Brigade of the Division were headed by Major General Katsuji Imamura and Major General Masayoshi Inoue, respectively.
The division's four infantry regiment commanders were: Fumio Hirashima, commander of the 13th Infantry Regiment, Minao Iwasaki, 23rd Infantry Regiment Commander Sano Toraisa, and 45th Infantry Regiment Commander Junku Daisa, Commander of the 45th Infantry Regiment, Gunisa Furuken Kuzō, Commander of the 6th Cavalry Regiment directly under the division headquarters, Daisaku Ogawa Ichiro, Commander of the 6th Field Artillery Regiment, Masayoshi Masuda, Commander of the 6th Engineer Squadron, Masayoshi Masayoshi Daisa, Commander of the 6th Infantry Regiment, Andaburo Takaya, and field hospitals.
The Japanese invasion of China
The 6th Division participated in the Battle of Xuzhou between the north and the south, in order to implement the Battle of Wuhan, the Japanese base camp was formed into the Japanese Eleventh Army on June 21, 1938, and was transferred to the commander of the 2nd Division of the Kwantung Army, Lieutenant General Okamura Ningji, as the commander, Inaba Shiro's 6th Division was incorporated into the combat sequence of the army, the Eleventh Army was subordinate to the combat sequence of the Central China Dispatch Army, and was the main force of the Japanese army in the Implementation of the Battle of Wuhan.
In July 1938, Inaba Shiro led the Sixth Division along the north bank of the Yangtze River, attacked alone all the way, defeated Xu Yuanquan's 26th Group Army and occupied Hefei, and then defeated Li Pinxian's 11th Army to occupy Huangmei and Guangji, and in September of that year, he broke through the heavy resistance of Li Yannian's 11th Army, occupied the fortress of Tianjia town, smashed the last line of defense of the three towns of Wuhan, and the combat effectiveness of the Sixth Division regiment was deeply praised by Okamura Ningji.
The Japanese chief entered Wuhan
After the Battle of Wuhan, the Sino-Japanese War entered a stalemate phase, the Japanese Eleventh Army first broke the deadlock in March 1939 and launched an attack on Nanchang, in which Inaba Shiro's Sixth Division attacked alone in the direction of Wuning, which was located on the north bank of the Xiushui River, backed by The Mufu Mountain, and the terrain was very dangerous, and was garrisoned by Wang Lingji's 30th Army.
On March 21, 1939, the Japanese Sixth Division attacked Wuning in two ways, although the aircraft bombarded the artillery cover, but the Chinese defenders took advantage of the favorable terrain to stubbornly block, resulting in the Sixth Division and regiment fighting hard for two days, still did not break through the Chinese defenders' positions, the embarrassed and angry Inaba Shiro launched a new round of offensive on the morning of March 23, and used chemical weapons such as incendiary bombs and chemical bombs, causing the Chinese defenders to suffer heavy losses, so they began to resist one by one, and retreated to the south bank of Xiushui, and the Sixth Division occupied Wuning. At the instigation of the 6th Division, Ito Masaki's 101st Division captured Nanchang.
The Japanese army occupies Nanchang
In September 1939, Inaba Shiro led the Sixth Division to participate in the First Battle of Changsha, with the assistance and cooperation of the "Nara Detachment" and the "Uemura Detachment", launched a fierce attack on the Xinqianghe Defense Line from the middle road, and the Chinese defenders were Guan Linzheng's 15th Army, with the 52nd Army to hold the Xinqianghe Defense Line, and the 73rd Army to control the Miluo River area to build a second line of defense.
Inaba Shiro's Sixth Division, together with the "Nara Detachment" and the "Uemura Detachment", had a combined strength of nearly 50,000 men against the 5th Corps of the 15th Army of The Guan Lin, and the Japanese Army finally broke through the "Buring Defense Line" after a bitter battle, forcing the 5 corps of the 15th Army to retreat one after another.
Japanese forces in attack
Shortly after the First Battle of Changsha, Inaba Shiro received an order to return to Japan and succeeded Fumanaburo Kawagishi as commander of the Eastern Defense Army on December 1, 1939, and commander of the Eastern Army on August 1 of the following year, taking on the task of garrisoning and defending the Tokyo area, with its headquarters in Tokyo.
On the eve of the outbreak of the Pacific War, Inaba Shiro was transferred to the reserve on December 2, 1941, because of his age, and a few days later, the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, leading to the outbreak of the Pacific War, at this time the Japanese army was seriously short of senior generals in various battlefields, but Inaba Shiro was not reconvened, although he performed well as the commander of the Sixth Division and was awarded a gold eagle medal of the second class.
Shiro Inaba died on March 13, 1948, and his classmate of Lu University and former commander of the Sixth Division, Gu Shoufu, was executed on April 26, 1947 at Yuhuatai in Nanjing, and could not but be touched, perhaps in fear and fright, not impossible, in Inaba Shiro died at the age of 62.