a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

He was convicted of war

crimes and sentenced to death by hanging.
Contents

 1Biography
 2References
o 2.1Books
 3External links
 4Notes

Biography[edit]
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Mutō was a native of Hakusui, Kumamoto, and a graduate of the 25th class of
the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1913. He graduated from the 32nd class of
the Army Staff College in 1920. Mutō was assigned as a military
attaché to Germany from 1923–1926. On his return to Japan, he served in various
administrative and staff positions within the Imperial Army General Staff Office.
Mutō was on the strategic planning staff of the General Staff Office in 1935, and was
chief of the military intelligence section of the Kwantung Army at the time of the Marco
Polo Bridge Incident. He is believed to have been one of the planners behind the
incident which sparked the Second Sino-Japanese War.[1][2]
Promoted to Vice Chief of Staff of the Japanese Central China Area Army, Mutō was in
China for many of the initial campaigns of the conflict, and was later charged with
having led troops during the worst excesses of the Nanking Massacre. Mutō was
recalled to Japan in 1939, promoted to major general in 1939, and served on the
Military Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of War.[citation needed]
Promoted to lieutenant general just prior to the start of the Pacific War, Mutō served as
director of the Military Affairs Bureau at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was
assigned command of the Second Imperial Guards Division at Singapore in April 1942.
He was later assigned to command Japanese forces on Sumatra in Japanese
-occupied Netherlands East Indies from June 1944, and was transferred to
the Philippines in October 1944, where he was appointed chief of staff of the Japanese
Fourteenth Area Army under General Tomoyuki Yamashita.[3]
He was accused of having conducted a campaign of slaughter, torture and other
atrocities against the Filipino civilian population, prisoners of war and civilian internees,
[4]
 and by ordering guerrilla containment.
After the surrender of Japan, Mutō was arrested by the American occupation
authorities and charged with war crimes before the International Military Tribunal for the
 Far East. He was convicted for atrocities against civilians and prisoners of war in both
China and the Philippines, and was executed by hanging on 23 December 1948.[5]

References[edit]
Books[edit]

 Fuller, Richard (1992). Shokan: Hirohito's Samurai.

London: Arms and Armor. ISBN 1-85409-151-4.

External links[edit]
 Ammenthorp, Steen. "Ushiroku, Jun". The Generals
of World War II.
 Budge, Kent. "Muto, Akira". Pacific War Online
Encyclopedia.
 Chen, Peter. "Muto, Akira". WW2 Database.

Notes[edit]
1. ^ "WAR RESPONSIBILITY—delving into the past (2)/Konoe,
Hirota sat on their hands". Yomiuri Shimbun. 13 August 2006.
2. ^ Reiji Yoshida (12 August 2006).  "Yasukuni gripes still dog
nation".  The Japan Times.
3. ^ Ammenthorp, The Generals of World War II
4. ^ "Trial Watch: Akira Muto". Archived from  the original on 28
May 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2007.
5. ^ Klip, Andre (2001).  Annotated Leading Cases of
International Criminal Tribunals. ISBN 9789050951418.
Retrieved 1 October 2007.

ii: DA01223157

I: 0000 0000 2501 7088

CN: n81091855

L: 00049370

F: 45626316

ldCat Identities: lccn-n81091855
Categories: 
 1892 births
 1948 deaths
 People from Kumamoto Prefecture
 Japanese generals
 Japanese people convicted of war crimes
 Japanese military personnel of World War II
  Nanjing Massacre perpetrators
 Japanese people convicted of the international crime of
aggression
 Executed military leaders
 People executed by the International Military Tribunal
for the Far East
 People executed for war crimes
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