Biography of Tomoyuki Yamashita,
General Tomoyuki Yamashita, was one of the most capable leaders of the
Japanese Army. Like Yamamoto, he had opposed going to war with the
United States and Britain, but showed great skill in fighting, once the war
had begun. He led the 25th Army in the invasion of Malaya, where it
defeated a British army twice its size by repeated advances through the
supposedly impassable jungle. Yamashita was hailed as "the Tiger of
Malaya", but was then sent to a backwater command in Manchuria by his
enemy of long standing, Prime Minister Tojo. After Tojo's fall from power,
Yamashita returned from this exile, to take command of the 14th Area Army,
defending the Philippines. He arrived only one week before the American
invasion began, but conducted a stubborn, well-run defense, which lasted to
the end of the war. In fact, he held out much longer against MacArthur, than
MacArthur had against the 1942 Japanese invasion. Tragically, after his
surrender, Yamashita was tried and hanged for war crimes committed by
troops not really under his control.