Information About

Matsuji Ijuin




Born in Tokyo , Ijuin entered the Japanese Naval Academy graduating in 1915. Trained in torpedo tactics and early submarine warfare between 1922 and 1924, Ijuin would command several destroyers during the mid 1920s and early 1930s until his appointment as aide-de-camp to Japanese supported Manchurian Emperor Henry Pu-Yi in 1932.

Promoted to Captain in 1938, Ijuin would command several destroyer flotillas until the following year. Seeing no direct action during the early months of World War II , Ijuin would eventually command the battleship '' IJN Kongo '' by December 1942. Commanding the 3rd Destroyer Squadron during the Battle of Vella Lavella, Ijuin successfully evacuated the 600 man Japanese garrison repulsing attacks by American naval forces under Frank R. Walker on October 6 - October 7 , 1943 . Leading screening forces at Empress Augusta Bay ( Bougainville , Solomons ) on November 2 during the Solomon Islands Campaign , Ijuin would later be killed in an accident while at Singapore until 1944.


REFERENCES

  • Morison, Samuel Eliot. ''History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. VI: Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942 - 1 May 1944 '', Boston, 1950.



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