Tomoyuki Yamashita ( Yamashita Tomoyuki, November 8, 1885 February 23, 1946;

also called Yamashita Tomobumi [2]) was an Imperial Japanese Army general during World War II. At
the forefront of the invasion of Malaya and Singapore, his accomplishment of conquering Malaya
and Singapore in 70 days led to the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, calling the ignominious
fall of Singapore to the Japanese the "worst disaster" and "largest capitulation" in British military
history.[3] The accomplishment earned Yamashita the sobriquet "The Tiger of Malaya". Later in the
war, he was assigned to defend the Philippines from the advancing US forces. While he was unable
to stop the US advance, he was able to hold on to part of Luzon until after the formal Japanese
surrender in August 1945.
After the war, Yamashita was tried for war crimes committed by troops under his command during
the Japanese defense of the occupied Philippines in 1944. In a controversial trial, Yamashita was
found guilty of his troops' atrocities even though there was no evidence that he approved or even
knew of them. This ruling holding the commander responsible for his or her subordinates' war
crimes as long as the commander did not attempt to discover and stop them from occurring came
to be known as the Yamashita standard. Yamashita was sentenced to death, and executed by
hanging in 1946.