was a lieutenant general in the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. He was commander of the Japanese garrison in Chichijima, Ogasawara Islands, and was later tried and executed for the Chichijima incident, a war crime involving torture, extrajudicial execution and cannibalism of American prisoners of war.
Biography Early life and military career Tachibana was a native of Ehime Prefecture. After graduating from a private school, he attended the 25th class of Imperial Japanese Army Academy and graduated in 1913. He had a relatively undistinguished early career as an officer. From September 1916 to January, he studied gymnastics at the Army Toyama School. He was promoted to captain in August 1923 and in March 1924 commanded a battalion of the IJA 12th Infantry Regiment. He subsequently served on the staff of the IJA 11th Division and was sent as an Army representative to the Takamatsu Commercial High School. He became a major in August 1930 and lieutenant colonel in August 1935. During the mid-1930s he was assigned to the Manchukuo Imperial Army as a liaison officer. In August 1939, he was given command of the IJA 65th Infantry Regiment, which saw combat at the Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang in the Second Sino-Japanese War.
World War II In 1942, Tachibana was assigned to the staff of the Hiroshima regional defense command, and promoted to major general in March 1943. In May 1944, he became commander of the IJA 1st Independent Combined Brigade, which was tasked with the defense of the Ogasawara Islands against invasion by American forces in the preliminary preparations to Operation Downfall. He was further promoted to lieutenant general on March 23, 1945, and given command of the IJA 109th Division.
By mid-1945, due to the Allied naval blockade, the 25,000 Japanese troops on Chichijima had run low on supplies. However, although the daily ration of rice had been reduced from 400g per person a day to 240g, the troops were in no risk of starvation. In what later came to be called the Chichijima incident,Japanese War Crimes Index and February/March 1945list of 7 of 8 POWs killed Tachibana's senior staff turned to cannibalism. Nine American airmen escaped from their planes after being shot down during bombing raids on Chichijima, eight of whom were captured. The ninth, the only one to evade capture, was future US President George H. W. Bush, then a 20-year-old pilot.Hearn, Sorties into Hell Over a period of several months, the prisoners were executed, and allegedly by the order of Major Sueyo Matoba, their bodies were butchered by the division's medical orderlies and the livers and other organs consumed by the senior staff, including Matoba's superior Tachibana."Unthinkable Crime", Time, September 16, 1946.
At the end of the war, Tachibana and his staff were arrested by the American occupation authorities and were deported to Guam, where they stood trial for war crimes in connection with the Chichijima Incident in August 1946.Maga. Judgment at Tokyo However, as cannibalism was not covered under international law at the time, Tachibana was charged with "prevention of honorable burial". Tachibana was sentenced to death by hanging along with four other defendants, including Major Matoba. He and the other defendants executed were buried in unmarked graves on Guam.
Decorations 1945 – Order of the Sacred Treasure, 2nd class『官報』第5427号「叙任及辞令」February 19, 1945
See also Cannibalism in Asia Flyboys: A True Story of Courage Japanese war crimes List of incidents of cannibalism
References
External links
Surrender of Bonin Islands, September 3, 1945 Researching Japanese War Crimes - Introductory Essays (pp. 102-110). Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records. Interagency Working Group, Washington DC, 2006.
Footnotes