Minoru Sasaki

Minoru Sasaki (佐佐木 登) sometimes referred to as Noburo Sasaki, was a commander in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

Biography
Sasaki graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1914 as a cavalry officer. He was sent as a military attaché to Russia and Poland in the 1920s, and served in a number of staff positions within the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff.

From 1939-1940, Sasaki was commander of the IJA 4th Cavalry Brigade. He became Chief of Staff of the IJA 6th Army in China in 1940. From 1942-1943, he was attached to the Armored Warfare Department within the Ministry of War, and promoted the development of tanks and armored warfare within the Japanese military.

However, as the war situation continued to deteriorate for the Japanese military in the Solomon Islands, Sasaki was reassigned to command the Southern Detachment in 1943. He led the Japanese forces during the Battle of New Georgia from June 1943 to August 1943. After fighting an effective, but ultimately unsuccessful delaying campaign, his forces retreated to Kolombangara, only to be bypassed and left to starve, with little chance of reinforcement or resupply. He and his surviving forces managed to successfully escape by barge to Choiseul and Bougainville and then to Rabaul. Sasaki was promoted to lieutenant general in October 1944.

He was later attached to the IJA 8th Area Army Headquarters at Rabaul until the end of the war.