Masao Maruyama (Japanese Army officer)

Masao Maruyama
Lieutenant General Masao Maruyama
Born	September 13, 1889 Nagano Prefecture, Japan[1]
Died	November 11, 1957 (aged 68)[1]
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1911-1944
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	6th Infantry Brigade IJA 2nd Division
Battles/wars	World War II oChina Incident oGuadalcanal campaign

Masao Maruyama (丸山 政男 Maruyama Masao, 13 September 1889 – 11 November 1957), was a Lieutenant General and commander in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.^[1]

Biography

Maruyama was a native of Nagano Prefecture and a graduate of the 23rd class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1911 and of the 31st class of the Army War College in 1919. He was a military attaché to the United Kingdom from 1923–1925, and to British India from 1929-1930. On his return to Japan, he was assigned to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, in charge of British and American military intelligence. He returned to England from 1934–1935, and was assigned to the Japanese embassy in London.^[2]

After his promotion to colonel in 1935, Maruyama returned to the General Staff in Tokyo. From 1937-1938, he was commander of the 4th Regiment of the Imperial Guards. With the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, he was a field commander during the China Incident of July 1937.^[1] On 15 July 1938 he was promoted to major general, and assigned command of the IJA 6th Infantry Brigade.^[1]

As lieutenant general and commander of the IJA 2nd Division, Maruyama and his division were deployed to Guadalcanal from September and October, 1942 in response to the Allied landings on the island. During the resulting Guadalcanal campaign, Maruyama led troops during the October 1942 Matanikau action and the subsequent Battle for Henderson Field, in which Maruyama's troops were decisively defeated.^[3] Maruyama and the survivors of his division were evacuated from Guadalcanal in February, 1943 and he retired from active duty in 1944. He died on 11 November 1957.

Notes

1. L, Klemen (1999–2000). "Lieutenant-General Masao Maruyama". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942.
2. Ammenthorp, The Generals of World War II
3. Frank, Guadalcanal

References

• Ammentorp, Steen. "Maruyama Masao, Lieutenant-General (1889–1957)".
• Frank, Richard (1990). Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-58875-4.
• L, Klemen (1999–2000). "Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942".

Other Information

Books

• Fuller, Richard (1992). Shokan: Hirohito's Samurai. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 1-85409-151-4.
• Griffith, Samuel B. (1963). The Battle for Guadalcanal. Champaign, Illinois, USA: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-06891-2.
• Rottman, Gordon L.; Dr. Duncan Anderson (consultant editor) (2005). Japanese Army in World War II: The South Pacific and New Guinea, 1942-43. Oxford and New York: Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-870-7. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)

Web

• Chen, Peter. "Maruyama Masao". WW2 Database.
• Hough, Frank O.; Ludwig, Verle E., and Shaw, Henry I., Jr. "Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal". History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
• Miller, John Jr. (1949). Guadalcanal: The First Offensive. United States Army In World War II. United States Army Center of Military History. Retrieved 2006-07-04.
• Shaw, Henry I. "First Offensive: The Marine Campaign For Guadalcanal". Marines in World War II Commemorative Series.
• Zimmerman, John L. (1949). "The Guadalcanal Campaign". Marines in World War II Historical Monograph.