Muto Akira
| Akira Mutō | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 15 December 1892 Hakusui, (present day of Minamiaso, Kumamoto) Japan |
| Died | 23 December 1948 (aged 56) Sugamo Prison, Tokyo, Japan |
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
| Service/branch | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1913–1945 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Commands held | Imperial Guards Division |
| Battles/wars |
Second Sino-Japanese War World War II |
Akira Mutō (武藤 章 Mutō Akira, 15 December 1892 – 23 December 1948) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. He was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death by hanging.
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.
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.
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