On July 7th after the July 7th Incident, 1937, Yamashita was ordered to lead his troops to Beijing to participate in the war and was promoted to Lieutenant General. Attack Nanyuan, Changxindian and Langfang, and slaughter China soldiers and civilians. 1in July, 938, Yamashita was appointed as the chief of staff of the "North China Army" of the Japanese invaders. 1On June 4th, 939, Yamashita ordered the blockade of the British and French Concessions in Tianjin, claiming that the British and French forces should be excluded from China and "China-Japan support" should be implemented.
1July, 940, Yamashita was transferred back to Tokyo as the director of Japan Aviation. On September 27th, the tripartite alliance was established. From February 65438 to July the following year, Yamashita led a Japanese delegation to Europe to inspect the German and Italian troops. After returning to China, he was appointed commander of Manchuria National Defence Force to suppress the anti-Japanese activities of the people in Northeast China.
194 1 year165438+1October 8, Yamashita was ordered to return to Tokyo. The next day, he was appointed commander of the 25th Army, responsible for attacking Malaya and Singapore.
The Japanese army's southward attack covers the whole Southeast Asia and the western half of the Pacific Ocean, the most important of which is to capture Singapore, a British naval base known as "Gibraltar in the East". The 25th Army consists of the backbone of the 5th Division, Guards Division and 18 Division of the Japanese Army, supporting more than 70,000 troops, totaling about 1 10000.
194 1 year165438+1October 26th, a Japanese special plane arrived in Sanya, Hainan. In order to keep secret, Yamashita Tomomi, who stepped out of the plane, was called "masked general" wearing a concorde suit and a hat. The headquarters at the foot of the mountain is located here.
On the same day, the Japan-US peace talks broke down. Japanese transport ships have been assembled in Sanya. Yamashita led his troops to conduct strict pre-war training here. 65438+February 1 At 7: 30 pm, Lieutenant General Yamashita received the code word "Sunrise is a mountain shape". "Sunrise" is the day of war, and "Yamagata" means the 8th. Yamashita was very excited after receiving the order and instructed the troops to continue training. On the 3rd, Yamashita decided: At 7 o'clock before noon on the 4th, the fleet pulled anchor and set out for the Malay Peninsula.
194 1 At the end of the year, Japan-US relations intensified day by day, and the Japanese army's southward advance was expected by the British army. However, Lieutenant General percival, commander of the British army in Malaya, and Admiral Poepon, commander-in-chief of the British army in the Far East, are biased against Japan. They think that the Japanese can only imitate and have no other ability, so it is unlikely that they will attack Malaya on a large scale. Their "Matador Plan" to deal with the Japanese attack is: first, control the Thai territory Songkhla and Pattani Airport near Huokou Gorge with some troops to prevent the Japanese from landing and achieve the goal of defending the Singapore naval base. At that time, there were more than 88,000 defenders in Malaya. However, because Britain adopted the strategy of "Europe first, then Asia", the British troops in the Far East were poorly equipped. From 3: 30 pm on February 6, 65438 to 5: 30 pm on February 7, 65438, a series of important information showed that the Japanese army had taken action, but they were all ignored by percival and Pam. At 6: 30, another early warning plane said, "Four destroyers are 60 miles north of Pattani and heading south along the coast."
Both percival and Popham thought that the war was about to break out, but they both agreed to give up the implementation of the "Matador Plan" because time was tight and no one could come up with any practical measures.
19411At about 0: 00 on February 8, the blue and white light on the Songkhla lighthouse at the foot of the mountain came into view. The sound of huge waves lapping on the shore is getting louder and louder. Around 3 o'clock, Japanese soldiers sneaked ashore. If the British army implements the "Matador Plan" in time, there will be rain and bullets besides rolling waves, and a unique scenery may appear. On the 9th, percival received a report that the Malaysian northern airport was attacked by Japanese planes, leaving only 158 British air force planes, and Britain lost its air superiority.
After the Japanese army seized the air and sea control rights, it cut off the reinforcements and supply lines of the British army on land. 19411212, Yamashita adopted the "central breakthrough" tactic (self-proclaimed "electric drill war") to break through the northern defense line of the British army-Chittagong Line in one fell swoop, and then went south, and the British army retreated along the way.
On the morning of February 1942, 1 1, three Englishmen (one of whom was percival) appeared on the Japanese observation plane, and the "very difficult" British army could not persist. The Japanese army occupied Singapore and renamed it Zhaonan Special City. For more than three months, the Japanese army jumped thousands of miles into the Malay Peninsula and succeeded in one fell swoop.
The masked general was nicknamed "Tiger of Malay".
1 in June, 942, Wen Feng Yamashita was transferred as the commander of the army stationed in Manchuria1and resumed the butcher's knife that slaughtered the people of China. 1February, 943, Yamashita was promoted to general.
1September, 944, Yamashita was transferred to the Philippine 14 Army Commander. 10 In June, Yamashita took office in Manila, and its headquarters was located at the Fortmachinre base about 10 km outside Manila. Yamashita's task is to be responsible for the defense of the whole island of the Philippines and command the 14 army against the US troops stationed in the Philippines. At that time, the 14 Army consisted of 9 divisions and 3 brigades, with about 230,000 people. 10/0 On October 20th, MacArthur commanded 205,000 American troops to counterattack Leyte Island. Yamashita ordered the 35th Army (stationed on Leyte Island) to annihilate the attacking enemy. 12 15, American troops landed on Mindoro Island, which is adjacent to the south of Luzon Island. Yamashita decided to stop the Battle of Leyte Island and allow the 35th Army to withdraw to the south-central part of the Philippine Island. At this time, the United States completely mastered the sea and air superiority. The Japanese domestic supply line was cut off and food and ammunition were scarce. Yamashita had to lead subordinate ministries to stick to Luzon Island. Yamashita invented an anti-tank weapon to resist the landing of American troops. This kind of weapon is a kind of mine with explosives in a slender cylinder, which is called "underground mine". The next day, Yamashita made a decision: 14 Army was divided into three parts, which were deployed in the northern part of Luzon Island, the mountainous area west of Clark Airport and the mountainous area east of Manila. We will establish strong defensive positions in these three areas and are determined to "fight independently and fight forever."
1945 65438+ 10. On 9 October, the US Army 2 100 landing craft and 203,000 men attacked Renya Bay under the command of Lieutenant General General Walter Krueger. In addition, MacArthur also prepared a follow-up force of about 200,000 people. Yamashita ordered a counterattack, but it had little effect. 65438+1October 3 1 day, two American divisions landed in Batangas. After entering February, the Japanese army will soon be parried. In March, American troops occupied Manila. In April, American troops entered Baguio City. Subsequently, Yamashita moved to Sakamoto, Kaiyanggan and other places to command its remnants to carry out unnecessary "resistance" with the US military and Philippine guerrillas. On August 15, Emperor Hirohito's armistice letter came on the radio. On September 3rd, Yamashita held a surrender signing ceremony in the villa of High Commissioner Baguio. One of the representatives of the Allies was Pasival, who was captured at the foot of the mountain a few years ago.
After the signing ceremony of surrender, Yamashita Wen Feng became a prisoner of war and was detained in the new Bilibide prison in the south of Manila. 1946 On February 23rd, Yamashita was sentenced to be hanged by a military court in Manila at the age of 60.