The "Tiger of Malaya," Japanese General principally responsible for the successful conquest of British Malaya and Singapore during World War II (1939-1945). Born in Kochi Prefecture, Yamashita graduated from the Army Academy in 1908 and the Army War College in 1916. He joined the army general staff office, later serving as military attache in the Japanese embassy in Vienna, Austria. He was rapidly promoted, a rise briefly interrupted by his open sympathy with army mutineers who attempted a coup de tat in 1936. Yamashita became commander of the Japanese army on the Manchurian (now northeastern China) border in 1937 with the rank of lieutenant general, and eventually became the highest-ranking general in the army air force. He developed strategies and tactics for jungle fighting later used in invasions of the Thai and Malay peninsulas. Appointed commander of the Japanese 25th Army in 1941, he was dispatched to Malaya and overran the Malay Peninsula within ten weeks, forcing the surrender of the British fortress installation at Singapore on February 15, 1942. Subsequently, Japan's Prime Minister Tojo Hideki secured Yamashita's removal to army training duties in Manchuria where he served until 1944. On Tojo's resignation, Yamashita was sent to defend the Philippines against American forces, but suffered severe defeats in the Leyte and Luzon campaigns. Maintaining his defense until after the Japanese surrender in August 1945, Yamashita was eventually hanged in Manila in 1946 for war crimes committed under his command, although his defense claimed he was ignorant of the crimes.
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