Heitaro Kimura： Conspirator to Start the Pacific War
By Wang Xiliang
In November 1948， the International Military Tribunal for the Far East pronounced 28 Japanese war criminals guilty of crimes of anti-peace， anti-humanity and violating international laws on war respectively， and sentenced seven of them including Heitaro Kimura to the gallows. Kimura acted as Vice Minister of War in Fumimaro Konoye and Hideki Tojo"s cabinets successively， and later went to Burma to hold the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Burma Area Army. In the tribunal， the Japanese side voiced grievances for him， claiming that he was just assistant to the War Minister， so shouldn"t undertake responsibility for the war. We might give an account of what he had done during the aggression war and what grounds the tribunal had for its judgment.
Kimura was born in Saitama Prefecture in September 1888. After graduating from the Japanese Military Academy and the Army War College， he held in succession the posts of staff officer in the General Staff， military attaché at the Japanese Embassy in Germany and instructor at the Army War College. He attended the 1929 Disarmament Conference in London， advocating that Japan should break away from Western countries" restraint and engage in arms expansion independently.
Planning the Pacific War
After the September 18 Incident， Kimura served successively as Commanding Officer of the 22nd Artillery Regiment， Chief of the Economics and Mobilization Bureau with the War Ministry and General Officer commanding the 32nd Division. After the Nomonhan Battle that inflicted heavy casualties on the troublemaking Kwantung Army， the General Headquarters appointed Yoshijiro Umezu the army"s Commander-in-Chief in 1939 and Kimura Chief of Staff in 1940 respectively. After taking office， hardliner Kimura energetically prepared for the army"s large-scale maneuver and planned to make war on the Soviet Union.
In July 1940 Tojo assumed the office of War Minister in Konoye"s cabinet， and recommended Kimura to be his assistant. Since then Kimura became Tojo"s right-hand man. They conspired together to unleash the Pacific War.
In October 1941 Tojo succeeded Konoye as Prime Minister， while holding concurrent posts of the minister of war， interior and munitions. In the capacity of Vice War Minister， Kimura along with Akira Muto， then head of the Military Affairs Bureau， had de facto control over the Ministry of War. On October 24 Tojo chaired the General Headquarters" joint conference， arranging matters concerning the war with the US in accordance with the plan made by the War Ministry. After the meeting， Japanese troops were rapidly moved to the assembly area， and the navy was also engaged to carry out drills for a planned raid upon Pearl Harbor. Kimura was the brain behind all these military deployments. The Emperor on November 5 approved the War Ministry"s battle plan against the US， UK and Netherlands， and decided to formally proclaim war in the beginning of December.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Burma Area Army， taking an indulgent attitude toward outrages committed by Japanese army.
After the Pacific War began， by May 1942 Japanese forces captured Singapore， Hong Kong， the Philippines and Burma in succession. In August 1943 the Japanese government declared unctuously to recognize Burma"s independence， and set up the Japanese embassy in Yangon.
In fact， Japanese aggressors wantonly plundered the rich resources of the Southeast Asian and Pacific nations， and ruthlessly suppressed the local people"s revolts to maintain its colonial rule. As Vice War Minister， Kimura was unable to shake off the responsibility for the brutalization of the Allied POWs in the notorious Bataan Death March， the massacre in Singapore and Malaysia， and the year-long construction of the Siam-Burma Railway between November 1942 and October 1943， in which hundreds of thousands of civilians and POWs were subjected to penal servitude， and a total 10，000-20，000 POWs and 250，000 civilian forced laborers died miserably.
In July 1944 Kimura was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Burma Area Army. He took an indulgent attitude toward the outrages committed by the Japanese army. He press-ganged more than 300，000 Indonesian conscripts， driving them to Burma and New Guinea to fight. About 90 percent of them died later in the tropical jungles.
Following the defeat of the Joint Fleet， Japanese forces made one retreat after another in the Southeast Asian battlegrounds. Kimura tried desperately to retrieve the bad situation. In October 1944， Sino-US and UK-Indo allied forces launched a counterattack on Burma， inflicting grievous losses on three Japanese divisions under Kimura"s command. By the beginning of 1945， the allied forces were pressing on toward Yangon. Leaving the remnants of his routed army behind， Kimura on April 23 fled by plane from the besieged city.
Punishment
After Japan declared unconditional surrender， the US occupation authorities put Kimura"s name on the list of Class-A war criminal suspects.
On November 12， 1948， the International Military Tribunal for the Far East pronounced Kimura guilty of crimes of conspiring for aggression wars， starting aggression on China， the US， the UK and the Netherlands， violating international laws on war and others， and sentenced him to be hanged.
The Japanese defense counsel argued that as Vice War Minister， Kimura shouldn"t be regarded as a principal. However， the prosecutor pointed out that during the war， Kimura held the de facto reins of the War Ministry， bearing the responsibility for implementing Japan"s aggression policy. He should also be accused of conniving at his subordinates" evildoing during his tenure of office. Kimura was hanged on December 23 at Sugamo Prison.