Yasuyo Yamasaki

Who was Yasuyo Yamasaki?

Colonel Yasuyo Yamasaki was a professional Army officer who commanded the Japanese forces on Attu during the Battle of the Aleutian Islands.

Yamasaki was a native of what is now part of Tsuru, Yamanashi, where his father was a Buddhist priest. He graduated from the 25th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1913, and served in the Siberian Intervention from April 1918 to December 1920. In May 1928, he was part of the Japanese expeditionary force to mainland China during the Jinan Incident.

Yamasaki was promoted to colonel in March 1940. Later that year he assumed command of the 130th Infantry Regiment.

In February 1943 Yamasaki became commanding officer of the 2nd District Force of the North Sea Defense Force, the capacity in which he went to the Aleutians. He arrived on Attu in April 1943 by submarine. His orders were to hold the island without outside help.

The 2,650 defenders under Yamasaki did not contest the landings but rather dug in on high ground away from the shore. The battle produced some of the bloodiest fighting in the Pacific Theatre, similar to the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.