In December 1941, Kuribayashi was ordered into the field as the Chief of Staff of the Japanese 23rd Army, commanded by Takashi Sakai, in the Invasion of Hong Kong. The 23rd Army's occupation caused horrible massacres in Hong Kong. After the war, the 23rd Army's commander Takashi Sakai was accused of war crimes at the Chinese War Crimes Military Tribunal, found guilty and executed by firing squad on 30 September 1946. According to a former subordinate, General Kuribayashi regularly visited wounded enlisted men in the hospital, which was virtually unheard of for an officer of the General Staff.