The Kwantung Army staff officer whose Border Defense Guide sparked the Nomonhan Incident
After the war, General Ryukichi Tanaka testified that 'the most determined single protagonist in favor of war with the United States was Tsuji Masanobu.'
An operations staff officer of the Kwantung Army, Masanobu Tsuji drafted the 'Border Defense Guide' that touched off the 1939 Nomonhan Incident, pushing the border war with the Soviet Union forward by gekokujō, insubordination from below. After the defeat, his encounter with Soviet firepower turned him against war with the USSR, yet he became the most forceful advocate of war against the United States. A planner of the Malayan campaign and an instigator of the Bataan Death March and Sook Ching massacres, he evaded a war-crimes trial, returned to Japan, and was re-elected to the Diet.
Career Timeline
- 1934Active in the Tōseiha (Control Faction), helped block the Kōdōha coup
- 1937–1939Kwantung Army operations staff officer
- 1939.04Authored the 'Border Defense Guide', instigating the Nomonhan Incident
- 1941General Staff Operations Section, advocate of war against the United States
- 1941–1942Planned the Malayan campaign; Sook Ching massacres after Singapore's fall
- 1942Bataan Death March; Guadalcanal offensive
- 1952Elected to the Diet (re-elected)