Sadanori Shigeta (15 July 1886 – 28 August 1968) was a Lieutenant-General of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Shigeta commanded the IJA 56th Corps on New Guinea during the Pacific War.
Biography[]
Sadanori Shigeta was born on 15 July 1886 in Niigata Prefecture, Japan to a Shinto family. Shigeta served in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Russo-Japanese War, fighting in Manchuria against the Russian Empire. Shigeta attended the Imperial Japanese Army Academy after the war's end in 1906, and he graduated from the Army War College in 1914. Shigeta rose in the ranks during the Interwar Years, and Shigeta was promoted to Lieutenant in 1917, Captain in 1920, Major in 1924, Colonel in 1929, and Major-General in 1932. Shigeta served in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War before being recalled to command troops on the Japanese home islands, and he was given command of the IJA 56th Corps. His corps was sent to invade New Guinea at the start of the Pacific War in December 1941, and he commanded Japanese forces on New Guinea by June 1944. His forces fought a long and tiresome war with the US Army on the island in 1944, with both sides making advances and attacks. The Japanese were still active when Emperor Hirohito surrendered to the Allied Powers on 15 August 1945, and Shigeta surrendered to the US Army with the remnants of his corps. Shigeta died in 1968 in Tokyo.