A twist of fate

6 Nov 1941 (X-32)
In one of those twists of fate that consigns a person into relative obscurity while ensuring another's place in the pages of history, Lt-General Iida Shijiro, General Officer Commanding of the Japanese 25th Army since it's inception in July 1941, relinquishes his post and takes command of 15th Army, Replacing him would be a general who would soon need no introduction. Lt-General Yamashita Tomoyuki

Both the 25th and 15th Armies were under the Southern Expeditionary Army, an army group tasked to the attack and occupation of Allied territories across South East Asia and as far as the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.

2 years after Europe was set aflame, war had finally reached the shores of the Pacific.

#fallofsingapore75th

Lt-Gen Iida Shijiro, taking command of 15th Army he led it into Burma from Thailand. The army took Rangoon, cutting the Burma Road in isolating China in March 1942. By May Allied troops had been driven back into India and China. He ended the war in command of an army in Manchukuo where he was captured as a prisoner of war and held by the Soviet Union till 1950. Returning to Japan he lived out the rest of his days, passing away in Tokyo in 1980.

Lt-Gen Yamashita Tomoyuki