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war and social upheaval: World War II -- biographies Col. Masanobu Tsuji v
World War II Biographies: Col. Masanobu Tsuji (Japan, 1901-c61)
Figure 1.-- Col. Masanobu Tsuji oversaw the murder of tens of thousands of Singapore and Malay Chinese, mostly young men (the Sook Ching). He was then ordered to the Philippines. Soon after, the starving men on Bataan were forced to surrender. Some 60,000 Filipinos and 15,000 Americans were driven by the Japanese on the infamous Bataan Death March. Tsuji on Gen. Homma's staff tried to simplify the process and have the Americans murdered. Homma rejected this, but Tsuji played a role in the ensuing mistreatment and unsupervised murder of many of the POWs on the March. He also oversaw the search for members of the Philippines Government who were then executed.
Col Masanobu Tsuji ( 辻 政信 ) was born in 1901 and became an extreme xenephobic Army officer. He even stood out in an Army known for its fanatical nationalism. During World War II he became an important tactical planner. He was never promoted to be a general officer, in part because even the Japanese military saw him as irrational. He became a leading proponent of gekokujō (leading from below/loyal insubordination). This meant that political and military superiors that were not suffiently aggressive should be removed, even asasinated. Tsuji's aggresive spirit did have one great success. He was on the staff of General Tomoyuki Yamashita and developed the succesful plans for defeating the superior British force on Malaya and Singapore (1942). In Sinapore he planned the Sook Ching, the systematic murder of ethnic Chinese. He was then transferred to the staff of General Homma in the Philippines. Other than than the Malaya campaign, his aggressive tactics led to major failures. He supported the Strike North Faction and his first failure had been the offensive against the Soviets on the Manchurian-Mongolian border (1939). After that disaster, he understandably argued against furher attacks on the Soviets and came up with the brilliant idea of attacking America. He supported the Strike South Faction with a new strategy of going to war with America and Britain, concluding that they were soft and would not fight a long bloody war. His other major failures were Guadalcanal (1942). And unlike the rest of the Pacific War, here the Japanese held all the advantages. Two other failures were New Guinea--Kokooda Trail (1942) and Burma (1944-45). Few Japanese soldiers survived these blunders. In addition to an aggressive military spirit, Tsuji was deeply involved in some of the Japanese atrocities during the War, including the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. He wanted to kill American prisoners. He was not allowed to do this, but is known to have killed some. The Bataan Death March became known in America as well as Japananese atriocities on Guadalcanal set the tone of the Pacific War. Tsuji not only killed some, but ate their body parts which he personally roasted. He incoraged other officers to do the same. (He was not the only Japanese offcer to do so.) After the 1945 Burma dissater he elluded trial as a war criminal by wisely refusing to come home to occupied Japan. He disappeared in Thialand which had been a Japanese ally. He resurfaced in Japan after the war crimes trials. He suppoted hyper-nationlistic ideals and the need for remilitarization. He was elected to the Diet (1949). There is even a statue honoring his war service in Japan. He disappeared in Laos amist unknoiwn circumstances (1961).
