Toyoda, Soemu, 1885-1957

Soemu Toyoda was born in Japan in 1885. He graduated from the Japanese Naval Academy in 1905 at which time he was appointed a naval cadet. In the years following the completion of his time at the Naval Academy Toyoda, received several naval recognitions and rose in the ranks. By 1941 Toyota had reached the rank of Admiral and on 18 September 1941 he was appointed Commandant of Kure Naval District, just three months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In November 1942 he became a member of the Supreme War Council and in May 1943 he took command of the Yokosuka Naval District. In May of the following year Toyoda was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, a position he held for just over a year. In early May 1945 he was also appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Naval Forces, a position Toyoda held concurrently with his position as Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet through May 1945. By the end of the month Toyoda had been released from his other duties and was appointed Chief of the Naval General Staff, a position he held through the end of the war. In his position as the Chief of the Naval General Staff, Toyoda participated in the Imperial Conferences concerning the Japanese surrender. Because of Admiral Toyoda's positon at the end of the war he was charged as a war criminal and tried in Tokyo, Japan before a military tribunal in October 1948. Admiral Toyoda plead not guilty and was subsequently the only one of the accused Japanese War criminals found not guilty on all counts. In 1957 Toyoda died of a heart attack.

From the description of Soemu Toyoda Tribunal transcripts, 1948. (Utah State University). WorldCat record id: 71127892

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