Renya Mutaguchi

Lieutenant-General Renya Mutaguchi (牟田口 廉也, Mutaguchi Ren'ya; 7 October 1888 – 2 August 1966) was an Imperial Japanese Army officer who served in World War II. He was the field commander of Japanese forces during the Battle of Imphal.

Biography

Mutaguchi was a native of Saga Prefecture. He graduated from the 22nd class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1910 and from the 29th class of the Army Staff College in 1917.

Mutaguchi served in the Japanese forces with the Siberian Intervention against the Bolshevik Red Army in the Russian Far East. Afterwards, he was sent as a military attaché to France.¹

Promoted to major in 1926 and colonel in 1930, from 1933–1936 he served in the General Affairs Section of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff in Tokyo, before being transferred to China in 1936 to take command of the Japanese garrison force in Beijing. He was commander of the IJA 1st Infantry Regiment in China from 1936–1938. Units responsible to Mutaguchi were involved in the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 7 July 1937, which helped launch the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Mutaguchi was promoted to major general in 1938, and served as Chief of Staff of the Fourth Army from 1938–1939. He was then recalled to Japan and served from 1939–1941 as Commandant of the Military Preparatory School.