Kesago Nakajima (15 June 1881 – 28 October 1945) was a Lieutenant-General of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Biography[]
Kesago Nakajima was born on 15 June 1881 in Oita Prefecture, Japan, and he fought in the Russo-Japanese War before attending the Army War College. From 1918 to 1923, he served as a military attache in France, and he was promoted to Major-General in April 1932. He commanded the Maizuru Army District on the Honshu coast before being promoted to Lieutenant-General in March 1936 and being given command of the IJA 16th Division in China. He was the senior officer, alongside Iwane Matsui and Yasuhiko Asahika, who was responsible for the Nanjing massacre, and he led the Japanese Fourth Army in Manchuria from 1938 to 1939. He retired in 1939 and died of illness back in Japan in 1945 before he was ever indicted for his role in war crimes.