Lieutenant General Michitarō Komatsubara

Imperial Japanese Army Academy, Tokyo 1907
(wikipedia).

Michitarō Komatsubara (小松原 道太郎 in Japanese) was born on 20 July 1885 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. He was the eldest son of naval engineer Goryo Komatusbara, and brother of Sakanoboro Komatsubara, who would become an Army Colonel.

In 1905 at age 20, Michitarō graduated at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy as member of its 18th class. In 1909-1910 he was assigned to Moscow as military attaché to Russia. There he gained knowledge and understanding of Russian culture and society as well as became fluent in Russian language.

Michitaro Komatsubara (forum.axishistory.com).

He returned to Japan and served in different staff positions in the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and Supreme War Council. During World War I in 1914, he took part in the Battle of Tsingao as member of the Japanese Expeditionary Force. Said battle was fought between Japan and the United Kingdom against Imperial Germany on the German port of Tsingtao in China.

Komatsubara then graduated from the 27th class of the Army Staff College after returning to Japan in 1915, and was assigned as commander of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) 34th Infantry Regiment. He worked in the Soviet Branch at the European and American Military Intelligence section of the Army General Staff from 1919, and was a instructor at the War College in 1926-1927. From 1927-1929, he returned back again to Moscow as military attaché, becoming one of the leading Imperial Army Russian experts.

Upon his return to Japan he became commander of the IJA 57th Infantry regiment between 1930-1932. For the next two years he was Chief of the Special Agency in Harbin, a Russian populated city in northern Manchukuo. In 1934, Michitarō was promoted to Major General and took command of the IJA 8th Infantry Brigade back in Japan. He became then commander of the 1st Imperial Guards Brigade in 1936 and commander of the 2nd Independent Garrison Unit in 1937.

Michitaru Komatsubara
(wikipedia).

He was promoted again to Lieutenant General in 1937 and reassigned to Manchukuo as commander of the IJA 23rd Division, where he took part in the Nomonhan incidents. He was 1,70 m  tall and solidly built, wore eyeglasses and a small mustache, He was extremely meticulous: kept exhaustively detailed diaries, wrote long letters and even composed poems. He was very familiar with northwest Manchukuo after his time in Harbin, but after 32 years of military career, he still did not have any combat experience. During the battles, he commanded his troops with honor and courage, but taking some bad decisions.

Despite that his division was severely decimated at the Nomonhan battle, Komatsubara survived with about four hundred of his men. They slipped through Soviet lines and managed to reach safety. It is said that during the march off from the battlefield, a fellow officer had to took his pistol and prevent him to use his sword to commit suicide, so upset he was with his troops outcome.

After Nomonhan, Komatsubara languished for several months at Kwantung Army Headquarters. His physical condition was deteriorated and his former black hair was now white. He retired from the army on 1940, after 35 years of military career, as a broken and depressed man. On October 6 1940, age fifty-four, he died of stomach cancer, just about one year after the defeat on Nomonhan and the destruction of his 23rd Division.

The Kwantung Army enters Harbin (historyshadow.wordpress.com).

Sources:

- wikipedia

- generals.dk

- Nomonhan, 1939 The Red Army's Victory That Shaped WWII, Stuart D. Goldman.