He was stationed in Europe between 1924 and 1927 as a military attache to France and the League of Nations. After his return to Tokyo, he served as a battalion commander in the 1st Infantry Regiment, and in various administrative posts within the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff. In August 1935, on his promotion to colonel, he was given command of the IJA 20th Infantry Regiment. In August 1937, he was assigned as a military liaison to France.
After his promotion to lieutenant general in August 1941, he was sent to Taiwan in September 1941 to command the newly-formed IJA 48th Division. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the IJA 48th Division was among the first Japanese forces to land in the Philippines as part of the IJA 14th Army, and Tsuchihashi's forces captured Manila, but did not participate in the Battle of Bataan. [1] Instead, in January 1942 his division was transferred to the control of the IJA 16th Army in eastern Java, where was assigned the capture of Surabaya and its strategic oil fields on 7 March 1942.
Afterwards, Tsuchihashi and the IJA 48th Division was subsequently assigned to garrison the island of Timor. Although the island had been captured by Japan in the Battle of Timor, much of the island was still in the hands of Australian and Dutchcommandos.[2] Tsuchihashi launched a major counter-offensive in an attempt to push the Australians into a corner on the south coast of the island.[3] The Japanese also recruited significant numbers of Timorese civilians, who provided intelligence on Allied movements.[4] The island was secured when the remaining Australian commandos were evacuated in December 1942.
In November 1944, Tsuchihashi was sent to French Indochina to reorganize and take command of the 38th Army. In March 1945, he played a crucial role in the Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina and became the provisional Governors-General of French Indochina. Tsuchihachi maintained the Japanese policy of neutrality in Indochinese internal politics, and formed a government of French-trained but nationalist ministers.[5] Just before the Japanese surrender, Tsuchihashi met with envoys of the Viet Minh and agreed to turn over power to their movement; however, only days later, French forces arrived to reimpose colonial rule.
After the surrender of Japan, Tsuchihashi was taken prisoner by the Nationalist Chinese in Hanoi and held in a prisoner of war camp in Guangdong province, China. In January 1948, he was transferred to French control in Saigon, where he remained until he was released in July 1949. He returned to Japan in June 1950, where he lived in obscurity until his death in 1972.
References
Fukagawa, Hideki (1981). (陸海軍将官人事総覧 (陸軍篇)) Army and Navy General Personnel Directory (Army). Tokyo: Fuyo Shobo. ISBN4829500026.
^Yenne, Bill (2014). The Imperial Japanese Army: The Invincible Years 1941–42. Osprey Publishing. ISBN978-1782009320.
^Rottman, George (2002). World War II Pacific Island Guide: A Geo-Military Study. Westport: Greenwood Press. ISBN0-313-31395-4.
^White, Ken (2002). Criado: A Story of East Timor. Briar Hill: Indra Publishing. p. 92. ISBN0-9578735-4-9.
^ Dennis, Peter; et al. (2008). The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (Second ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press Australia & New Zealand. ISBN978-0-19-551784-2.
^Hammer, Ellen J. (1955), The Struggle for Indochina 1940-1955: Vietnam and the French Experience, Stanford University Press, pp. 481