Toshinari Maeda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is a Japanese name; the family name is Maeda.
Marquis Toshinara Maeda (Japanese: 前田利為侯爵 Maeda Toshinara Kōshaku; 5 June 1885 – 5 September 1942), was a Japanese general and the first commander of the Japanese forces in northern Borneo (Sarawak, Brunei, Labuan, and North Borneo) in World War II.
Maeda was the 16th marquis of the Maeda clan and he became a member of the Japanese House of Peers in 1910. He graduated from the Army War College in 1911 and went on to further studies in Europe. In 1923, he became a battalion head in the Imperial Guard of Japan and in 1937 he was a made a commanding general of a division.
In April 1942, Maeda was charged with the occupation of northern Borneo and, in September of that year, he was killed in an air crash flying to Labuan Island which was renamed for him.
