The Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office (参謀本部, Sanbō Honbu), also called the Army General Staff, was one of the two principal agencies charged with overseeing the Imperial Japanese Army.
Postcard with view of Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office HQ, circa 1910
The Army Ministry (陸軍省, Rikugunshō) was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry, to replace the Ministry of Military Affairs (Hyōbushō) of the early Meiji government. Initially, the Army Ministry was in charge of both administration and operational command of the Imperial Japanese Army however, from December 1878, the Imperial Army General Staff Office took over all operational control of the Army, leaving the Army Ministry only with administrative functions. The Imperial Army General Staff was thus responsible for the preparation of war plans; the military training and employment of combined arms military intelligence; the direction of troop maneuvers; troop deployments; and the compilation of field service military regulations, military histories, and cartography.
The Chief of the Army General Staff was the senior ranking uniformed officer in the Imperial Japanese Army and enjoyed, along with the War Minister, the Navy Minister, and the Chief of the Navy General Staff, direct access to the Emperor. In wartime, the Imperial Army General Staff formed part of the army section of the Imperial General Headquarters, an ad hoc body under the supervision of the emperor created to assist in coordinating overall command.
History
Following the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867 and the "restoration" of direct imperial rule, the leaders of the new Meiji government sought to reduce Japan's vulnerability to Western imperialism by systematically emulating the technological, governing, social, and military practices of the Western European great powers. Initially, under Ōmura Masujirō and his newly created Ministry of the Military Affairs (Hyōbu-shō), the Japanese military was patterned after that of France. However, the stunning victory of Prussia and the other members of the North German Confederation in the 1870/71 Franco-Prussian War convinced the Meiji oligarchs of the superiority of the Prussian military model and in February 1872, Yamagata Aritomo and Oyama Iwao proposed that the Japanese military be remodeled along Prussian lines. In December 1878, at the urging of Katsura Taro, who had formerly served as a military attaché to Prussia, the Meiji government fully adopted the Prussian/German general staff system (Großer Generalstab) which included the independence of the military from civilian organs of government, thus ensuring that the military would stay above political party maneuvering, and would be loyal directly to the emperor rather than to a Prime Minister who might attempt to usurp the emperor's authority.
The administrative and operational functions of the army were divided between two agencies. A reorganized Ministry of War served as the administrative, supply, and mobilization agency of the army, and an independent Army General Staff had responsibility for strategic planning and command functions. The Chief of the Army General Staff, with direct access to the emperor could operate independently of the civilian government. This complete independence of the military from civilian oversight was codified in the 1889 Meiji Constitution which designated that the Army and Navy were directly under the personal command of the emperor, and not under the civilian leadership or Cabinet.
Yamagata became the first chief of the Army General Staff in 1878. Thanks to Yamagata's influence, the Chief of the Army General Staff became far more powerful than the War Minister. Furthermore, a 1900 imperial ordinance (Military Ministers to be Active-Duty Officers Law (軍部大臣現役武官制, Gumbu daijin gen'eki bukan sei)) decreed that the two service ministers had to be chosen from among the generals or lieutenant generals (admirals or vice admirals) on the active duty roster. By ordering the incumbent War Minister to resign or by ordering generals to refuse an appointment as War Minister, the Chief of the General Staff could effectively force the resignation of the cabinet or forestall the formation of a new one.
The Organization of the Army General Staff Office underwent a number of changes during its history. Immediately before the start of the Pacific War, it was divided into four operational bureaus and a number of supporting organs:
Chief of the Army General Staff (general or Field Marshal) Vice Chief of the Army General Staff (lieutenant general)
General Affairs (personnel, accounting, medical, mobilization planning)[1]
G-1 (Operations)
Strategy and Tactics Department
Land Survey Department (or Land Surveying Bureau)[2]
Note: The given rank for each person is the rank the person held at last, not the rank the person held at the time of their post as Chief of the Army General Staff. For example, the rank of Field Marshal existed only in 1872/73 and from 1898 onward.
^Post created 16 January 1899. Responsible for general affairs, personnel affairs, accounting, war organization and mobilization planning. Post abolished 15 October 1943 and responsibilities taken over by the General Affairs Section subordinated directly to the Vice Chief of the General Staff.
^"Topographic Map of Japan (medium scale) | 調べ方案内 | 国立国会図書館". rnavi.ndl.go.jp. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
^Responsible for cartography, military history matters, translation and archives. Post abolished 15 October 1943 and responsibilities transferred to the Second Bureau
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to General Staff of the Imperial Japanese Army.
U.S. War Department, Handbook of Japanese Military Forces, TM-E 30-480 (1945; Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1991, reprint).
Hayashi, Saburo; Cox, Alvin D (1959). Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War. Quantico, Virginia: The Marine Corps Association.
Shin'ichi Kitaoka, "Army as Bureaucracy: Japanese Militarism Revisited", Journal of Military History, special issue 57 (October 1993): 67–83.
Edgerton, Robert B. (1999). Warriors of the Rising Sun: A History of the Japanese Military. Westview Press. ISBN0-8133-3600-7.
Harries, Meirion (1994). Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. Random House. ISBN0-679-75303-6.
January 23, 2023
imperial, japanese, army, general, staff, office, 参謀本部, sanbō, honbu, also, called, army, general, staff, principal, agencies, charged, with, overseeing, imperial, japanese, army, postcard, with, view, circa, 1910, contents, role, history, organization, chiefs. The Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office 参謀本部 Sanbō Honbu also called the Army General Staff was one of the two principal agencies charged with overseeing the Imperial Japanese Army Postcard with view of Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office HQ circa 1910 Contents 1 Role 2 History 3 Organization 4 Chiefs of the General Staff 5 See also 6 Notes 7 ReferencesRole EditThe Army Ministry 陸軍省 Rikugunshō was created in April 1872 along with the Navy Ministry to replace the Ministry of Military Affairs Hyōbushō of the early Meiji government Initially the Army Ministry was in charge of both administration and operational command of the Imperial Japanese Army however from December 1878 the Imperial Army General Staff Office took over all operational control of the Army leaving the Army Ministry only with administrative functions The Imperial Army General Staff was thus responsible for the preparation of war plans the military training and employment of combined arms military intelligence the direction of troop maneuvers troop deployments and the compilation of field service military regulations military histories and cartography The Chief of the Army General Staff was the senior ranking uniformed officer in the Imperial Japanese Army and enjoyed along with the War Minister the Navy Minister and the Chief of the Navy General Staff direct access to the Emperor In wartime the Imperial Army General Staff formed part of the army section of the Imperial General Headquarters an ad hoc body under the supervision of the emperor created to assist in coordinating overall command History EditFollowing the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867 and the restoration of direct imperial rule the leaders of the new Meiji government sought to reduce Japan s vulnerability to Western imperialism by systematically emulating the technological governing social and military practices of the Western European great powers Initially under Ōmura Masujirō and his newly created Ministry of the Military Affairs Hyōbu shō the Japanese military was patterned after that of France However the stunning victory of Prussia and the other members of the North German Confederation in the 1870 71 Franco Prussian War convinced the Meiji oligarchs of the superiority of the Prussian military model and in February 1872 Yamagata Aritomo and Oyama Iwao proposed that the Japanese military be remodeled along Prussian lines In December 1878 at the urging of Katsura Taro who had formerly served as a military attache to Prussia the Meiji government fully adopted the Prussian German general staff system Grosser Generalstab which included the independence of the military from civilian organs of government thus ensuring that the military would stay above political party maneuvering and would be loyal directly to the emperor rather than to a Prime Minister who might attempt to usurp the emperor s authority The administrative and operational functions of the army were divided between two agencies A reorganized Ministry of War served as the administrative supply and mobilization agency of the army and an independent Army General Staff had responsibility for strategic planning and command functions The Chief of the Army General Staff with direct access to the emperor could operate independently of the civilian government This complete independence of the military from civilian oversight was codified in the 1889 Meiji Constitution which designated that the Army and Navy were directly under the personal command of the emperor and not under the civilian leadership or Cabinet Yamagata became the first chief of the Army General Staff in 1878 Thanks to Yamagata s influence the Chief of the Army General Staff became far more powerful than the War Minister Furthermore a 1900 imperial ordinance Military Ministers to be Active Duty Officers Law 軍部大臣現役武官制 Gumbu daijin gen eki bukan sei decreed that the two service ministers had to be chosen from among the generals or lieutenant generals admirals or vice admirals on the active duty roster By ordering the incumbent War Minister to resign or by ordering generals to refuse an appointment as War Minister the Chief of the General Staff could effectively force the resignation of the cabinet or forestall the formation of a new one Of the seventeen officers who served as Chief of the Army General Staff between 1879 and 1945 three were members of the Imperial Family Prince Arisugawa Taruhito Prince Komatsu Akihito and Prince Kan in Kotohito and thus enjoyed great prestige by virtue of their ties to the Emperor The American Occupation authorities abolished the Imperial Army General Staff in September 1945 Organization EditThe Organization of the Army General Staff Office underwent a number of changes during its history Immediately before the start of the Pacific War it was divided into four operational bureaus and a number of supporting organs Chief of the Army General Staff general or Field Marshal Vice Chief of the Army General Staff lieutenant general General Affairs personnel accounting medical mobilization planning 1 G 1 Operations Strategy and Tactics Department Land Survey Department or Land Surveying Bureau 2 G 2 Intelligence Russia Department Europe and North America Department China Department Others Department G 3 Transport amp Communications G 4 Historical and Maps 3 G 5 Fortifications from Jan 1889 Dec 1908 General Staff CollegeChiefs of the General Staff EditNote The given rank for each person is the rank the person held at last not the rank the person held at the time of their post as Chief of the Army General Staff For example the rank of Field Marshal existed only in 1872 73 and from 1898 onward No Portrait Chief of the General Staff Took office Left office Time in office1 Aritomo Yamagata Field MarshalCount Yamagata Aritomo 1838 1922 24 December 18784 September 18823 years 254 days2 Iwao Ōyama Field MarshalŌyama Iwao 1842 1916 4 September 188213 February 18841 year 162 days3 Aritomo Yamagata Field MarshalMarquis Yamagata Aritomo 1838 1922 13 February 188422 December 18851 year 312 days4 Taruhito Arisugawa GeneralPrince Arisugawa Taruhito 1835 1895 22 December 188514 May 18882 years 144 days5 Takeo Ozawa Lieutenant GeneralOzawa Takeo ja 1844 1926 14 May 18889 March 1889301 days6 Taruhito Arisugawa GeneralPrince Arisugawa Taruhito 1835 1895 9 March 188915 January 1895 5 years 318 days7 Akihito Komatsu Field MarshalPrince Komatsu Akihito 1846 1903 26 January 189520 January 18982 years 359 days8 Soroku Kawakami GeneralKawakami Soroku 1848 1899 20 January 189811 May 1899 1 year 111 days9 Iwao Ōyama Field MarshalPrince Ōyama Iwao 1842 1916 16 May 189920 June 19045 years 35 days10 Aritomo Yamagata Field MarshalPrince Yamagata Aritomo 1838 1922 20 June 190420 December 19051 year 183 days11 Iwao Ōyama Field MarshalPrince Ōyama Iwao 1842 1916 20 December 190511 April 1906112 days12 Gentarō Kodama GeneralKodama Gentarō 1852 1906 11 April 190623 July 1906 103 days13 Yasukata Oku Field MarshalBaron Oku Yasukata 1847 1930 30 July 190620 January 19125 years 174 days14 Yoshimichi Hasegawa Field MarshalHasegawa Yoshimichi 1850 1924 20 January 191217 December 19153 years 331 days15 Yusaku Uehara Field MarshalUehara Yusaku 1856 1933 17 December 191517 March 19237 years 90 days16 Misao Kawai GeneralKawai Misao ja 1864 1941 17 March 19232 March 19262 years 350 days17 Soroku Suzuki GeneralSuzuki Soroku ja 1865 1940 2 March 192619 February 19303 years 354 days18 Hanzo Kanaya GeneralKanaya Hanzo ja 1873 1933 19 February 193023 December 19311 year 307 days19 Kotohito Kan in Field MarshalPrince Kan in Kotohito 1865 1945 23 December 19313 October 19408 years 285 days20 Sugiyama Hajime Field MarshalHajime Sugiyama 1880 1945 3 October 194021 February 19443 years 141 days21 Tojo Hideki GeneralHideki Tojo 1884 1948 21 February 194418 July 1944148 days22 Umezu Yoshijirō GeneralYoshijirō Umezu 1882 1949 18 July 1944September 19451 year 45 daysSee also EditMinistry of the ArmyNotes Edit Post created 16 January 1899 Responsible for general affairs personnel affairs accounting war organization and mobilization planning Post abolished 15 October 1943 and responsibilities taken over by the General Affairs Section subordinated directly to the Vice Chief of the General Staff Topographic Map of Japan medium scale 調べ方案内 国立国会図書館 rnavi ndl go jp Retrieved 15 September 2019 Responsible for cartography military history matters translation and archives Post abolished 15 October 1943 and responsibilities transferred to the Second BureauReferences Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to General Staff of the Imperial Japanese Army U S War Department Handbook of Japanese Military Forces TM E 30 480 1945 Baton Rouge and London Louisiana State University Press 1991 reprint Hayashi Saburo Cox Alvin D 1959 Kogun The Japanese Army in the Pacific War Quantico Virginia The Marine Corps Association Shin ichi Kitaoka Army as Bureaucracy Japanese Militarism Revisited Journal of Military History special issue 57 October 1993 67 83 Edgerton Robert B 1999 Warriors of the Rising Sun A History of the Japanese Military Westview Press ISBN 0 8133 3600 7 Harries Meirion 1994 Soldiers of the Sun The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army Random House ISBN 0 679 75303 6 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office amp oldid 1093413194, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
