Shigekazu Shimazaki.html



Shigekazu Shimazaki
9 September 1908 - 9 January　19451
Shigekazu Shimazaki
Place of birth	Ōita, Japan
Place of death	near Taiwan (†KIA)
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Navy
Years of service	1929-1945
Rank	Commander, posthumously Rear Admiral
Commands held	Wing Leader Zuikaku, Senior Air Officer 752nd Kokutai (based in Taiwan), Senior Air Officer Nagoya Kokutai, Staff officer 2nd Air Fleet, Staff officer 3rd Air Fleet
Battles/wars	World War II (Attack on Pearl Harbor, Indian Ocean raid, Battle of the Coral Sea, Aerial Battle of Taiwan-Okinawa)

In this Japanese name, the family name is Shimazaki.

Shigekazu Shimazaki (嶋崎重和, Shimazaki Shigekazu^?, September 9, 1908 – January 9, 1945), was a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during World War II.

Biography

Shimazaki was a native of Ōita Prefecture and a graduate of the 57th class of the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy in 1929, ranking 31st of 122 cadets. He served his midshipman duty on the cruisers Iwate and Haguro, after which, as a second lieutenant, transferred to the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, enrolling in flight training in 1932. By 1934, he was serving as an instructor at Kasumigaura, Ibaraki in torpedo bomber piloting and techniques. ²

From 1935 to 1937, he alternated tours of duty as section commander on the aircraft carrier Kaga and ground training. With the start of the Second Sino Japanese War in 1937, his group was deployed to the ground base in Shanghai, where he experienced a number of bombing missions as the war between Japan and China escalated. He was transferred to Soryu from March to December 1938, returning to Yokosuka as an instructor. He returned to combat duty on Akagi from November 1939 to November 1940, when he was promoted to lieutenant commander. ³

In September 1941 Shimazaki was assigned as equipping officer of the new carrier Zuikaku, responsible for forming its new air wing, with himself becoming its commander when the ship was ready for duty.

Shimazaki is best known as the leader of the second wave of the air attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941⁴. He was piloting Nakajima B5N2 Kate and led the attack group of 54 torpedo bombers and 81 dive bombers. For this success he and Mitsuo Fuchida, the leader of the 1st wave of attack, were awarded with an audience with Emperor Shōwa at the Tokyo Imperial Palace on December 25.⁵

Four months later Shimazaki was again on board Zuikaku and participated in the raid on Trinkomalee on April 9, 1942, during which he led eighteen B5N Kates and bombed the ground facilities of the port city of the British-ruled Ceylon⁶.

A month later Shimazaki participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea, where he again scored a notable success in crippling the USS Lexington, which later sank. ⁷. In the morning of May 7, 1942 his attack group took off Zuikaku in search of the US aircraft carriers. Although they did not find the carriers, they found fleet oiler USS Neosho and its escort detroyer USS Sims instead. Shimazaki immediately ordered his bombers to attack, sinking Sims sink and heavily damaging Neosho ⁸.

In July 1942 Shimazaki was transferred to Kure Naval District. He spent the rest of his career as a ground based air officer. He was promoted to commander in October 1944.

Shimazaki was killed in action in January 1945, near Taiwan, as a staff officer of the IJN 3rd Air Fleet. He was posthumously promoted two ranks to rear admiral.⁹.

Nakajima B5N2 Kate from the carrier Shokaku. The tail mark 'EI-311' indicates this is one of the torpedo bombers led by Shimazaki during the attack on Pearl Harbor.¹⁰

References

• Agawa, Hiroyuki (2000). The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Kodansha International. ISBN 4-7700-2539-4. 
• Prange, Gordon (1982). At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. Penguin. ISBN 0140157344. 
• Stille, Mark (2007). USN Carriers vs IJN Carriers: The Pacific, 1942. Osprey. ISBN 1846032482. 

Notes

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