Hatazō Adachi

Hatazō Adachi
General Hatazō Adachi
Born	17 June 1890 Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan
Died	10 September 1947(1947-09-10) (aged 57) Rabaul, Bismark Archipelago
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1910–1945
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	37th Infantry Division 18th Army
Battles/wars	Second Sino-Japanese War World War II New Guinea campaign
Awards	Order of the Rising Sun, 1st class

Hatazō Adachi (安達 二十三, Adachi Hatazō^?, 17 June 1890 – 10 September 1947) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

Adachi was born into an impoverished samurai family in Ishikawa Prefecture in 1890 (the 23rd year of the reign of Emperor Meiji, which is why his father chose the kanji for "23" to represent his given name "Hatazō"). Too poor to afford the military preparatory schools necessary for a career in the Imperial Japanese Navy, as a youth he tested into the fiercely competitive Tokyo Cadet Academy, which enabled him to enter the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, from which he graduated from the 22nd class in 1910.

Adachi served with the 1st Imperial Guards Division, and then graduated from the 34th class of the Army War College in 1922. Unlike many Army officers of his day, Adachi avoided involvement in the political factions which plagued the Japanese Army in the 1930s. After serving in a number of staff and administrative positions within the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, Adachi was assigned to the Railway Guard unit of the Kwangtung Army, responsible for the security of the South Manchuria Railway in 1933.

Adachi was promoted to colonel in 1934, and was given command of the IJA 12th Infantry Regiment in 1936. During the Shanghai Incident of July 1937, Adachi also gained a reputation of leading his troops from the front, where the fighting was the thickest. He was injured by a mortar barrage in September, which permanently damaged his right leg.