Sadaaki Konishi
Konishi in U.S. custody
Born	January 19, 1916 Fukuoka Prefecture , Kyushu , Empire of Japan
Died	April 30, 1949 (1949-04-30) (aged 33) Sugamo Prison , Tokyo , Occupied Japan
Cause of death	Execution by hanging
Criminal status	Executed
Conviction(s)	War crimes
Criminal penalty	Death
Military career
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/ branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Rank	Lieutenant
Unit	Kudo unit, Saito battalion, 17th infantry regiment, 8th infantry division
Commands held	Kudo unit
Battles/wars	World War II Raid at Los Banos

Sadaaki Konishi (January 19, 1916 ? April 30, 1949) was a lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War .

Biography [ edit ]

Konishi was a lieutenant in the IJA, and was the second-in-command over an internment camp at the University of the Philippines at Los Banos in Laguna Province, Philippines.

He was cruel to the prisoners interned there, whom he deliberately starved. Konishi would withhold salt in order to give cramps to the internees, and cut off the food rations for all of the people who were held there as prisoners. He went so far as to dump a truck load of fruit on the asphalt behind the camp, telling the prisoners that if they wanted any food, they would have to go to the ground and eat it. But in the extreme 110 °F (43 °C) heat, the fruit rotted in the pile, and it was well beyond scavenging. This was because of his racism, as one internee told US interviewers that he called himself the "strongest white race hater in the army". ^[1]

On February 23, 1945, units of the U.S. 11th Airborne Division , the 503d Infantry Regiment (United States) and the Filipino guerillas attacked the camp, trying to liberate most of the prisoners. Most of the prisoners were extricated, but Konishi escaped. He returned a few days later with a force of men, but by then the camp was empty. The Japanese massacred some 1,500 men, women, and children in adjacent towns which they suspected of collaborating with the liberators. Konishi later admitted that he'd helped plan this massacre. After the war, he was tried for and convicted of war crimes by an American military tribunal in the Philippines. The charges against him included the starvation deaths of over 300 prisoners of war and ordering the killings of three American civilians. Konishi was sentenced to death. He was later transported to Japan, where he was executed by hanging in 1949. ^{[2] [3]}

See also [ edit ]

• Raid on Los Banos

References [ edit ]

Bibliography [ edit ]

Detailed narratives, from documents, about his conduct as commander in Los Banos, his trial, his incarceration and execution, and the misinformation about his fate are available in Henderson, Bruce, 2015, Rescue at Los Banos: the most daring prison camp raid of World War II , New York: William Morrow, HarperCollins, 2015. ISBN   978-0-06-232506-8 . ISBN   978-0-06-240329-2 .

Further reading [ edit ]

• Arthur, Anthony, Deliverance at Los Banos , Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s, 1985. ISBN   0-312-19185-5
• Flanagan, Edward, The Los Banos Raid: the 11th Airborne jumps at dawn , Presidio, 1986. ISBN   0-89141-250-6
• Holm, Jeremy C., When Angels Fall: From Toccoa to Tokyo, the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II , Amazon, 2019. ASIN   1087303184
• Rottman, G.L., The Los Banos Prison Camp Raid , Oxford: Osprey, 2010. ISBN   9781849080750