Gensui Count Terauchi Hisaichi | |
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Japanese General Count Terauchi Hisaichi, 1930s
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Born | August 8, 1879 Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan |
Died | June 12, 1946 Malaya |
(aged 66) (natural causes)
Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
Service/branch | Imperial Japanese Army |
Years of service | 1900–1945 |
Rank | Gensui (Marshal) |
Commands held |
5th Division 4th Division Taiwan Army of Japan Northern China Area Army Southern Expeditionary Army Group |
Battles/wars |
Russo-Japanese War Second Sino-Japanese War World War II |
Awards | Order of the Rising Sun (1st class) |
Count Hisaichi Terauchi (寺内 寿一 Terauchi Hisaichi?, 8 August 1879 – 12 June 1946) was a Gensui (or Marshal) in the Imperial Japanese Army and Commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group during World War II. He was ordered to lead the occupation over Southeast Asia (Singapore and Indonesia).
Terauchi was born in Yamaguchi prefecture, and was the eldest son of Gensui Count Terauchi Masatake, the first Governor-General of Korea and the 9th Prime Minister of Japan. He graduated from the 11th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1900, and served as a junior officer in the Russo-Japanese War.
After the war, Terauchi returned to the Army Staff College and graduated from the 21st class in 1909. He spent time in as a military attaché in Germany and worked as a lecturer at the Military Academy.
In early November 1919, he succeeded to the hereditary title of hakushaku (count) under the kazoku peerage system, upon the death of his father, and was raised in military rank to colonel. He became a major general in 1924. In September 1926, the Sanyō Main Line train he was riding on derailed in an accident that killed 34 people, but Terauchi was not injured.