Masanobu Tsuji

Born	11 Oct 1902
Died	20 Jul 1968
Nationality	Japan
Category	Ground

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

Masanobu Tsuji was born in the Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan into a poor family. When he was younger, he aspired to become a teacher, but after seeing Japanese Army officers in uniform, he determined to join the military. After failing to enter a military academy, he went to Osaka, Japan to become an apprentice at a shipping company. At the age of 16, he finally entered a military academy in Nagoya, Japan. On 24 Mar 1920, he completed his studies and received a silver watch from Crown Prince Hirohito. After several more years of military training, he joined the Ishikawa 7th Infantry Regiment. In Oct 1927, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. In Dec 1928, he completed studies at the Army College; during the years there, he studied some Russian and Chinese. In 1932, he was assigned to China and participated in actions during the First Battle of Shanghai and was injured in the left knee. He was a staff officer in the Kwantung Army in Northeast China between 1937 and 1939. During WW2, he led trops in Malaya, Burma, and Guadalcanal. He was fanatical in combat, and was wounded 7 times. His often let loose his emotions without reservation, thus he was often transferred by his superiors who were fed up with him, and he was known to commit atrocities against Allied prisoners of war and civilians. After the end of the war, he went into hiding in Thailand, returning to Japan only after he was sure that he would not be tried for war crimes. He wrote a book titled Senko Sanzenri about his hiding, and it became a best seller. He later ran for the Parliament and won a seat. In 1961, he traveled to Laos and disappeared. He was assumed dead on 20 Jul 1968, possibly a casualty of the Laotian Civil War.

Source: Wikipedia.

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