Lieutenant general ( Lt Gen , LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank originates from the Old European System . The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages , where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a captain general .
24-567: Baron Yoshitoshi Tokugawa ( 徳川 好敏 , Tokugawa Yoshitoshi , 24 July 1884 – 17 April 1963) was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army and one of the pioneers of military aviation in Japan. The first Japanese to obtain his pilot's licence from the Aéro-Club de France , he is credited with having made the first flight in a powered aircraft in Japan in 1910. Tokugawa Yoshitoshi
48-604: A Farman III biplane , which he shipped back to Japan. On 19 December 1910, Tokugawa flew Japan's first successful powered aircraft flight at Yoyogi Parade Ground where Tokyo's Yoyogi Park is now located, only seven years after the Wright Brothers' first flight in the United States. On 5 April 1911, Tokugawa piloted the inaugural flight at Japan's first permanent airfield in Tokorozawa . Shortly afterwards, he successfully took
72-492: A Prime Minister who might attempt to usurp the emperor's authority. The administrative and operational functions of the army were divided between two agencies. A reorganized Ministry of War served as the administrative, supply, and mobilization agency of the army, and an independent Army General Staff had responsibility for strategic planning and command functions. The Chief of the Army General Staff, with direct access to
96-477: A major outranks a lieutenant ) is due to the derivation of major general from sergeant major general , which was a rank subordinate to lieutenant general (as a lieutenant outranks a sergeant major ). Several countries (e.g. Balkan states) use the rank of lieutenant colonel general instead of lieutenant general, in an attempt to solve this apparent anomaly. In contrast, in Russia and a number of other countries of
120-524: A single Nieuport VI-M monoplane flew 86 sorties between them. In December 1915, a air battalion was created under the Army Transport Command, which became responsible for all air operations. However, serious interest in military aviation did not develop until after World War I . Japanese military observers in Western Europe were quick to spot the advantages of the new technology. Tokugawa led
144-416: Is equivalent to the navy rank of vice admiral , and in air forces with a separate rank structure, it is equivalent to air marshal . In the United States, a lieutenant general has a three star insignia and commands an army corps , typically made up of three army divisions , and consisting of around 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers. The seeming incongruity that a lieutenant general outranks a major general (whereas
168-580: The Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1903, after having specialized in military engineering . In 1909, he was sent as a military attaché to France , specifically to study aeronautical engineering and military applications for the use of aircraft in combat. He became the first Japanese to obtain his pilot's licence from the Aéro-Club de France . On orders of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff , he purchased
192-859: The War Minister , the Navy Minister , and the Chief of the Navy General Staff , direct access to the Emperor . In wartime, the Imperial Army General Staff formed part of the army section of the Imperial General Headquarters , an ad hoc body under the supervision of the emperor created to assist in coordinating overall command. Following the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867 and
216-570: The "restoration" of direct imperial rule, the leaders of the new Meiji government sought to reduce Japan's vulnerability to Western imperialism by systematically emulating the technological, governing, social, and military practices of the Western European great powers. Initially, under Ōmura Masujirō and his newly created Ministry of the Military Affairs ( Hyōbu-shō ), the Japanese military
240-719: The 2nd Air Battalion, was commander of the 1st Air Regiment, and after his promotion to lieutenant general was commander of the Imperial Japanese Army Aviation Corps three times through the 1920s and 1930s. In 1928, he was created a baron in the kazoku peerage. He served as Director of the Training Department in the Tokorozawa Army Aviation School , as Commandant of the same school and the Akeno Army Aviation School , and
264-534: The Chief of the Army General Staff became far more powerful than the War Minister. Furthermore, a 1900 imperial ordinance ( Military Ministers to be Active-Duty Officers Law [ zh ] ( 軍部大臣現役武官制 , Gumbu daijin gen'eki bukan sei ) ) decreed that the two service ministers had to be chosen from among the generals or lieutenant generals ( admirals or vice admirals ) on the active duty roster. By ordering
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#1732848568384288-646: The Emperor. The American Occupation authorities abolished the Imperial Army General Staff in September 1945. The Organization of the Army General Staff Office underwent a number of changes during its history. Immediately before the start of the Pacific War , it was divided into four operational bureaus and a number of supporting organs: Chief of the Army General Staff (general or Field Marshal) Vice Chief of
312-704: The Ministry of Military Affairs ( Hyōbushō ) of the early Meiji government . Initially, the Army Ministry was in charge of both administration and operational command of the Imperial Japanese Army however, from December 1878, the Imperial Army General Staff Office took over all operational control of the Army, leaving the Army Ministry only with administrative functions. The Imperial Army General Staff
336-430: The emperor could operate independently of the civilian government. This complete independence of the military from civilian oversight was codified in the 1889 Meiji Constitution which designated that the Army and Navy were directly under the personal command of the emperor, and not under the civilian leadership or Cabinet . Yamagata became the first chief of the Army General Staff in 1878. Thanks to Yamagata's influence,
360-518: The equivalent of lieutenant general. Imperial Japanese Army General Staff The Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office ( 参謀本部 , Sanbō Honbu ) , also called the Army General Staff, was one of the two principal agencies charged with overseeing the Imperial Japanese Army . The Army Ministry ( 陸軍省 , Rikugunshō ) was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry , to replace
384-561: The first aerial photographs in Japan to prove the utility of the aircraft for reconnaissance. On 23 April 1911, he set a Japanese record with a Blériot Aéronautique , flying 48 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes 30 seconds. Also in 1911, several more aircraft were imported and an improved version of the Farman III biplane, the Kaishiki No.1 , was built and flown by Tokugawa in Japan. Tokugawa, together with fellow aviation pioneer Hino Kumazo promoted
408-446: The former Soviet Union , lieutenant general is a rank immediately below colonel general , and above major general – in these systems there is no use of the brigadier general of many Western countries. In addition, some countries use the lieutenant general as the rank of divisional commander, and some have designated them with French revolutionary system . For example, some countries of South America use divisional general as
432-679: The incumbent War Minister to resign or by ordering generals to refuse an appointment as War Minister, the Chief of the General Staff could effectively force the resignation of the cabinet or forestall the formation of a new one. Of the seventeen officers who served as Chief of the Army General Staff between 1879 and 1945, three were members of the Imperial Family ( Prince Arisugawa Taruhito , Prince Komatsu Akihito , and Prince Kan'in Kotohito ) and thus enjoyed great prestige by virtue of their ties to
456-662: The new technology to the army. Despite budgetary cutbacks by Army Minister Ugaki Kazushige , the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service was established in 1912. In 1914, with the outbreak of war, the Japanese laid siege to the German colony of Tsingtao , aircraft from the army together with seaplanes flown from the Japanese seaplane carrier Wakamiya conducted reconnaissance and bombing operations. The Provisional Air Corps consisting of four Maurice Farman MF.7 biplanes and
480-518: The urging of Katsura Taro , who had formerly served as a military attaché to Prussia, the Meiji government fully adopted the Prussian/German general staff system ( Großer Generalstab ) which included the independence of the military from civilian organs of government, thus ensuring that the military would stay above political party maneuvering, and would be loyal directly to the emperor rather than to
504-511: Was born in Tokyo and was the son of Count Tokugawa Atsumori (1856–1924) (head of the Shimizu Tokugawa clan ). Through his father, he was the grandnephew of the last Shōgun , Tokugawa Yoshinobu . Although his father had been created a count in the kazoku peerage in 1884, he had relinquished the title in 1899, so Yoshitoshi did not inherit his title. Tokugawa graduated from the 15th class of
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#1732848568384528-861: Was later attached to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff . Tokugawa came to be known in Japan as "the Grandfather of Flight" He entered the active reserve in 1939 and was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun in 1940. He was recalled to command the Imperial Army Aviation School in March 1944, before finally retiring the following year. Lieutenant general In modern armies, lieutenant general normally ranks immediately below general (or colonel general ) and above major general ; it
552-578: Was patterned after that of France . However, the stunning victory of Prussia and the other members of the North German Confederation in the 1870/71 Franco-Prussian War convinced the Meiji oligarchs of the superiority of the Prussian military model and in February 1872, Yamagata Aritomo and Oyama Iwao proposed that the Japanese military be remodeled along Prussian lines. In December 1878, at
576-421: Was thus responsible for the preparation of war plans ; the military training and employment of combined arms military intelligence ; the direction of troop maneuvers; troop deployments; and the compilation of field service military regulations, military histories, and cartography . The Chief of the Army General Staff was the senior ranking uniformed officer in the Imperial Japanese Army and enjoyed, along with
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