Moritake Tanabe: Japanese General Linked to Nanjing Massacre Executed After WW2

World History: True Stories of the 20th Century · May 3, 2026 · 17m

Moritake Tanabe was a Japanese major general whose wartime command roles tied him to atrocities in China and later led to his execution after World War II. Major General Moritake Tanabe was a key architect of one of the most horrifying atrocities of World War II: the Nanjing Massacre. A career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army, Tanabe rose through the ranks with discipline and education, graduating from the Army Staff College and later commanding units during Japan’s aggressive expansion into China. In 1937, as Chief of Staff of the newly formed 10th Army, Tanabe played a central role in…