Mitsuru Ushijima

Mitsuru Ushijima
General Mitsuru Ushijima
Native name	牛島 満
Born	(1887-07-31)July 31, 1887 Kagoshima, Japan
Died	June 22, 1945(1945-06-22) (aged 57) Okinawa, Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1908 – 1945
Rank	General
Commands held	11th Division Thirty-Second Army
Battles/wars	Siberian Intervention Second Sino-Japanese War World War II
Awards	Order of the Sacred Treasures Order of the Golden Kite (2nd class)

Mitsuru Ushijima (牛島 満, Ushijima Mitsuru^?, 31 July 1887 – 22 June 1945) was a Japanese general who served during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. He was the commanding general of the 32nd Army, which fought in the Battle of Okinawa during the final stages of the war.

Ushijima was a native of Kagoshima city in Kagoshima prefecture on the island of Kyūshū in southern Japan. He graduated from the 20th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1908 and of the 28th class of the Army Staff College in 1916. Soon after graduation, he was assigned to the Japanese Expeditionary Force based at Vladivostok during the Siberian Intervention against Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War.

From 1933 to 1936, Ushijima served in administrative postings within the War Ministry. He was appointed commander of the IJA 1st Infantry Regiment from 1936 to 1937.

With the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ushijima was promoted to major general and appointed commander of the IJA 36th Infantry Brigade. He was recalled to Japan in 1938 to become Commandant of the Toyama Army Infantry School. In 1939, he was promoted to lieutenant general and again given a field command as general officer commanding the IJA 11th Division in central China, participating in many battles in China and Burma.