Hyotaro Kimura

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Hyotaro Kimura (Kimura Hyōtarō, sometimes spelled Kimura Heitaro, 1888-1948) was a Japanese army officer who played a major, although comparatively little-known role in Japanese planning and policy before and during World War II.

Kimura graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1908, and from Army War College in 1916, commissioned as an artillery officer. In the late 1920s he was attached to the Inspectorate of Artillery and an instructor at the Field Artillery School.

In 1929 he was attached to the General Staff and was a member of the Japanese Delegation to the London Disarmament Conference from 1929 to 1931. From 1931 to 1932, as a Lieutenant-Colonel, he commanded the 22nd Artillery Regiment, then was appointed Instructor at the Field Artillery School until 1934 and then the Coastal Artillery School.

In 1935, he first served in an influential role close to the centre of Japanese policy when he was appointed Chief of the Control Section in the Economic Mobilisation Bureau at the Ministry of War. The next year, he was appointed Head of the Ordnance Bureau.

He attained the rank of major general in the Japanese Army in 1936 after serving as Chief of Control Section, Economic Mobilization Bureau, Ministry of War from 1935 to 1936. He then was Head of the Ordnance Bureau, Ministry of War until 1939 when he attained the rank of lieutenant general with the 32nd Division in 1939-1940.

In 1939, he returned to line duty as Lieutenant-General, commanding the 32nd Division in China. In 1940, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Expeditionary Army (equivalent to an American or British Army Group), in Manchuria.

Kimura returned to the Ministry of War in 1941, now as Vice Minister of War, serving under War Minister Hideki Tojo. He assisted in the planning of the war against China as well as the Pacific War as Vice-Minister of War from 1941 to 1943. From 1943 to 1944 he was a member of the Supreme War Council. In this position, he had a major influence on strategy and policy.

Late in 1944, as the course of the war went against Japan, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Burma Area Army, defending Burma against the Allied South East Asia Command. The situation there was not promising; the Japanese forces were under severe pressure on every front, and the Allies had complete air superiority. Reinforcements and munitions were short, and it was hoped that Kimura could make his command logistically self-sufficient.

Rather than defend all of Burma, Kimura fell back behind the Irrawaddy River, a move which dislocated the Allied plans. Unfortunately, such was Allied material superiority that they were able to switch the main weight of their offensive, and capture the vital positions of Meiktila and Mandalay. From this point, only a delaying action was possible. Kimura opted to preserve his forces rather than defend the capital, Rangoon, to the last man. He was responsible for the construction of the Death Railway, which led to the death and brutalization of thousands of prisoners of war. He attained the rank of general in 1945. He was still reorganising his forces when Japan surrendered in mid-1945.

In the post-war trials of Japanese leaders, Kimura was accused of war crimes against Chinese civilians and Allied prisoners of war, and for his part in Japan's aggressive policy during and after 1941. Found guilty in 1948, he was condemned to death by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and hanged as a war criminal.