Editing Hitoshi Imamura (section)

==Trial for war crimes, imprisonment, and self-imprisonment==
Along with the naval commander at Rabaul, Vice Admiral [[Jinichi Kusaka]], Imamura surrendered the Japanese forces in New Guinea and the southern Pacific Islands to Australian forces, representing the Allies, in September 1945. Imamura was detained at Rabaul by the [[Australian Army]], as he and troops under his command were accused of [[war crimes]], including the execution of Allied [[prisoners of war]]. One infamous example, called the "pig-basket atrocity", occurred when  prisoners captured in eastern Java were transported in bamboo baskets used for pigs.<ref>[http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/massacres_pacific.html Pig Basket Atrocity]</ref><ref>[https://deindischekwestie.nl/we-saw-5-open-trucks-they-were-loaded-with-bamboo-baskets-with-there-in-laying-white-men/ van Kampen, We saw 5 open trucks, they were loaded with bamboo baskets with there in laying white men…, 5 March 2018]</ref>{{better source|reason=Self-published|date=October 2024}} In April 1946, Imamura wrote to the Australian commander at Rabaul, requesting that his own trial for war crimes be expedited in order to speed the prosecution of war criminals under his command.<ref>[http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/AJRP/AJRP2.nsf/a428b853097fe85eca256532001f170d/4383a015b21191cf8525660f006d0465?OpenDocument Australian War Memorial – AJRP<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Imamura was charged with "unlawfully [disregarding and failing] to discharge his duty{{nbsp}}... to control the members of his command, whereby they committed brutal atrocities and other high crimes".<ref>[http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/yamashita6.htm Trial of Tomoyuki Yamashita. Law Reports, UNWCC, 1948. Part VI<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208093731/http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/yamashita6.htm |date=8 December 2006 }}</ref> He was tried by an Australian military court at Rabaul on 1–16 May 1947; he was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for ten years. Imamura served his imprisonment at [[Sugamo Prison]] in [[Tokyo]] until he was released in 1954. He considered his imprisonment  too light with respect to his responsibility for the crimes of his subordinates, so he had a replica of the prison built in his garden, and he stayed there until his death in 1968.<ref>Van Reybrouck, 2020, page 212</ref>


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{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Rikichi Andō]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Commander of [[5th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|5th Division]]|years=1938&ndash;1940}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Aketo Nakamura]]}}
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{{s-bef|before=none}}
{{s-ttl|title=Commander of [[23rd Army (Japan)|23rd Army]]|years=1941}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Takashi Sakai]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=none}}
{{s-ttl|title=Commander of [[16th Army (Japan)|16th Army]]|years=1941&ndash;1942}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Kumakichi Harada]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=none}}
{{s-ttl|title=Commander of [[Japanese Eighth Area Army|Eighth Area Army]]|years=1942&ndash;1945}}
{{s-aft|after=none}}
{{s-end}}