Yamashita was a Japanese career Army officer who served in the Russo- Japanese war, and World War I. Yamashita led the Japanese in Northern China in 1939. In 1941 he headed the Malayan campaign that resulted in the quick capture of Singapore. He then commanded Japanese forces in the Philippines and led attacks on Bataan and Corregidor. US forces defeated him when they returned to the Philippines in 1945. He was captured, tried as a war criminal, and hung.
