stunning victory, one of the greatest in mili-
tary history, and Yamashita became publicly
hailed as the “Tiger of Malaysia.”
Yamashita’s newfound celebrity only
brought him greater contempt from Tojo, who
refused him a visit to Tokyo for a traditional
audience with the emperor. Instead, Tojo ex-
iled the victorious general a third time by re-
turning him to Manchuria. Thus, the Japanese
war effort was deprived of Yamashita’s con-
siderable talents for the next two years. It was
not until 1944, when the American capture of
Saipan triggered the downfall of Tojo’s gov-
ernment, that he was recalled to active ser-
vice. Yamashita subsequently gained an ap-
pointment to head the 14th Area Army and
was tasked with defending the Philippine Is-
lands. In December 1944, a huge invasion
force under Gen. Douglas MacArthur stormed
ashore. Yamashita, outnumbered on land, sea,
and air, had little recourse but to withdraw his
forces deeper and deeper into mountain re-
cesses, where American advantages in fire-
power were minimized. After severe fighting
and heavy losses on both sides, he ordered
the city of Manila abandoned. Army units in-
stantly complied, but a large detachment of
naval infantry under Adm. Sanji Iwabuchi
chose to remain and fought to the death.
These troops, completely independent of
army command, also committed widespread
atrocities against civilian Filipinos within the
city. But Yamashita, holed up in the moun-
tains on Luzon, remained unaware of this de-
velopment—and certainly would have op-
posed it. He nonetheless staved off defeat for
several months before finally surrendering in
September 1945. The general was then rather
surprised to find himself arrested by Allied
authorities and charged with war crimes.
The U.S. government, and General Mac-
Arthur in particular, had decided that Ya-
mashita, as senior commander presiding, was
responsible for the conduct of all Japanese
troops in the Philippines. He was thereby re-
sponsible for atrocities committed by naval
troops, whether he exercised control over
them or not. But the general flatly denied any
culpability for the misdeeds. “They were be-
yond anything that I would have expected,”
he insisted. “If I could have foreseen these
things, I would have concentrated all my ef-
forts toward preventing it.” He also testified
that, under the Japanese system of command,
naval infantry could be controlled only by
naval officers. This fact was known to Ameri-
can military authorities, but the court refused
to consider it. The general was then convicted
of war crimes and sentenced to hang. Ya-
mashita’s American defense attorneys under-
took a desperate appeal of his sentence, but
neither the U.S. Supreme Court, President
Harry S. Truman, nor MacArthur himself
would rescind it. The Tiger of Malaysia calmly
approached the gallows and was executed on
February 23, 1946. The legality of his death,
viewed by many historians as a personal
vendetta by MacArthur, has remained a
source of controversy ever since. Yamashita
is nonetheless regarded as an important mili-
tary figure.Bibliography
Barker, A. J. Yamashita.New York: Ballantine Books,
1973; Connaughton, Richard M., et al. The Battle
for Manila: The Most Devastating Untold Story of
World War II.Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1995;
Cortesi, Lawrence. The Battle for Manila.New
York: Kensington, 1984; Elphick, Peter. Singapore,
the Pregnable Fortress: A Study in Deception,
Discord, and Desertion. London: Hodder and
Stoughton, 1995; Guy, George F. “Defense of Ya-
mashita.”Journal of Legal Studies(1995–1996):
215–235; Hoyt, Edwin P. Three Military Leaders:
Heihachiro Togo, Isoroku Yamamoto, Tomoyuki
Yamashita. New York: Kodansha International,
1993; Johnson, Galen I. “Defending Japanese War
Lords: American Attorneys at the Tokyo War
Crimes Trial, 1946–1948.” Unpublished Ph.D. dis-
sertation, University of Kansas, 1998; Lael, Richard
L. The Yamashita Precedent: War Crimes and
Command Responsibility.Wilmington, DE: Schol-
arly Resources, 1982; Livesey, Anthony. Great
Commanders and Their Battles. New York:
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